Reflections on the Gospel – Mark 8:27-38 - Pentecost 16
Do You Know Jesus?
Do you know Jesus? Has anyone ever
asked you that question? Usually the asker really just wants to know if you are
“saved.” And to that question we
Lutherans can answer a resounding “yes.”
For we have been saved by grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ. But that doesn’t really answer the
question, does it? Do you know
Jesus? Well, do you?
Martin Luther believed he knew
Jesus. He had grown up in the
context of a church that taught that Jesus was a stern judge who was ready to
condemn sinners to the agonies of the fires of hell for all unconfessed sins.
For the young Martin Luther, Jesus was terrifying. He knew he was a sinner and he knew he could not possibly
confess all of his many sins for he could not remember them all. He also knew that despite his best
intentions he continued to sin; he continued to put himself first. He was convinced that he would be
condemned and he expected Jesus would do the condemning. And then something happened. Luther began to study the New
Testament, in particular the letters of Paul and he discovered something he
hadn’t known before. Jesus is not
the harsh judge, but rather Jesus reaches out with grace and love to all of
God’s children and offers forgiveness and life free and without condition. It turns out Luther didn’t know Jesus
at all. He thought he did, but
discovered there was much, much, much more about Jesus than he ever dreamed.
Peter and the other disciples had
been with Jesus for a while. They
were certain they knew him. Jesus
was different than other popular preachers and healers, but being with him was
exhilarating. They were certain
that they had hitched their wagon (so to speak) to the right horse – the one
that would lead to glory and power! So they were not too surprised when Jesus
asked them what the people were saying about him – “who do people say that I
am?” That’s easy, they think you
are a prophet or Elijah or John the Baptist come back from the dead. Then Jesus
surprises them with the next question – “but who do you say that I
am?” Now, they could all answer
this question. They had probably
been whispering about it for months.
They knew Jesus was the Messiah, but they were afraid to say, so from
the text we get the sense that there was an uncomfortable silence. Finally Peter, the (sort of) leader of
the group speaks up and says what everyone else had in their minds: “You are the Messiah!” And Jesus tells
everyone to keep quiet.
This command to silence is actually
a common response for Jesus throughout Mark’s Gospel. Scholars and theologians
call this Mark’s “Messianic Secret.”
Why does Jesus want everyone to keep quiet about their belief that he is
the Messiah? Well the next few
verses give us the answer. The
people of Judea, along with the disciples had been anxiously expecting the
Messiah for some time. And they
knew who he was and what to expect.
The Messiah would be a powerful King, like King David. He would unify the people, drive out
the foreign tyrants – the Romans – and establish the Kingdom of Israel, forever. He would do this with his power and might
and he would do this with violence and the result would be his glorious
ascension to the throne of his ancestor King David. Everyone knew this.
That is who the disciples believed Jesus to be. That is what Peter is saying when he
tells Jesus – “You are the Messiah!”
Jesus tells them to keep quiet because while he might have the title right,
he had the definition wrong.
In the verses that follow Jesus
then tries to define for the disciples what a Messiah really is. What does it mean that he is the
Messiah? Jesus tells them that it
means suffering, rejection, execution and resurrection. Peter and the others seemed to have
missed the “resurrection” part because Peter then tried to correct Jesus. THAT is not what a Messiah is, says
Peter. Stop talking like
that! Jesus not only rebukes Peter
(rebuke seems like such a gentle word for such a harsh put down), but he then
goes on to tell the disciples and others that if they want to be his followers
not only do they need to come to grips with this new way of defining a Messiah,
but they can expect the same treatment.
Being a disciple of Jesus means 1. Denying oneself and 2. Things are
turned upside down – trying to save your life will mean you will loose it and
loosing it up will mean you will save it.
It should not be too surprising to note that at the crucifixion all of
these disciples abandoned and denied that they even knew Jesus. And they were telling the truth: they
didn’t know him, really. They
thought they did, but they had gotten it wrong. They had been simply projecting their own ideas upon Jesus.
So, do you know Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? Is Jesus the judge that you have to
please? Is Jesus the angry avenger
who takes out human sinfulness on innocent people, sometimes centuries later? Is Jesus the promiser of success and
prosperity? If you do everything
that (some interpreter tells you) Jesus wants you to do, do you expect that
everything will go your way and that you will be wealthy and influential? Is
Jesus only interested in your personal piety? Is the Jesus you know completely unconcerned with broader
issues of justice and hunger but is completely uncompromising when it comes to
personal morality? Many in our society believe in these and many other
illusions about Jesus. Maybe for
some of us this is who Jesus is.
Our Gospel for today reminds us that we do not have the whole picture.
In fact, we only have a little bit of the picture, or maybe we don’t have the
right picture at all. Who is
Jesus? Look at the cross. Only when you see Jesus on the cross
can you understand who Jesus is? Only when you see Jesus on the cross can you
understand the resurrection. Jesus
is the one who loves us so desperately that he endures crucifixion so that we
might live. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the one who is calling us to
follow him to the cross; to deny ourselves and give of ourselves to others; to
love unconditionally as he loved us.
Who is Jesus? The one
calling us to give up our lives to him!
Comments
Post a Comment