Meditation for Lent I Year B 2015 Marked for Discipleship The Cost of Discipleship

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1 Meditation for Lent I Year B 2015 Marked for Discipleship The Cost of Discipleship If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it. What good is it to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? Before we get started on unpacking this extraordinarily dangerous statement of Jesus yes, I did say dangerous but more on that in a few moments I want to bring you back seven days ago to Ash Wednesday where we began our Lenten journey. Last Wednesday our brows were marked in ashes in the sign of the cross. The ashes in the sign of the cross remind us of some really important things: We were reminded of our mortality and our need of God. The cross reminds of human sin and that brokenness and injustice are a part of life. The cross reminds us that our innocent friend Jesus was abused and tortured and executed. The cross reminds us that Jesus loved us and is loving us still even unto death. The cross in ashes is the counterpart to the cross that was traced on our brow when we were baptized, when the words 1

2 You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. The cross in ashes reminded us of all these very important things but it also signifies that we are marked for discipleship. What does it mean to be marked for discipleship? Most of us have probably heard the expression He s a marked man --? We know it generally means that the marked person is singled out for special treatment with the implication of being harmed or killed. To say that someone is a marked man is to say that they have a target on their back. Now that s rather chilling, isn t it? Now do you see why I said this statement about discipleship from Jesus is extraordinary and dangerous? Who is not interested in saving their lives, in making them worthwhile, full and rich, worth the living? Deep down within us, every one of us has a hunger for life and a desire to find it, to the full extent of what it was designed to be. This is what Jesus is talking about. If this is what you want, Jesus says, I'll tell you how to receive it. There are two attitudes toward life that are possible, and you can have only one or the other. 2

3 One attitude is to save your life now: hoard it, clutch it, cling to it, grasp it, try to get hold of it for yourself, take care of yourself, trust yourself, see that in every situation your first and major concern is, What's in it for me? That is one way to live, and millions are living that way today. As Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber puts it So much of the American ethos is based on the notion of rugged individualism as though the goal in life is to become some combination of Paul Bunion, the unsinkable Molly Brown and the Marlboro Man. The other attitude is lose it: fling it away, disregard what advantage there may be for you in a situation, and move out in dependence upon God, careless of what may happen to you. Abraham obeyed God, went out into a land he knew not where, on a march without a map, apparently careless of what would happen to him. His neighbors reproached and rebuked him for not caring about himself. This is to be a way of life, Jesus says. Trusting God, following Jesus self-giving example. But this if we follow the Jesus speaking to us in the Gospel of Mark means following a marked man a man singled out for special treatment one who will be arrested, beaten, and crucified. 3

4 This is the Jesus who says deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him. And if you try and save your life (yourself!) you ll lose it; and if you lose it for the sake of the gospel you ll gain it. Of course this saying of Jesus that we are to deny the self and lose our life to gain it has been abused and perverted. Perverted into messages like arthritis is my cross to bear or my sister is my cross to bear or alcoholism or any addiction is my cross to bear. This statement has been used to tell people to deny their dignity and pick up your cross of continued domestic abuse. When Jesus says deny yourself he s not talking about Lenten practices of fasting from sugar or chocolate or alcohol or even meat. When Jesus says deny yourself he means deny the self that wants to see itself as separate from God and others. Deny the self that believes that spirituality is a suffering or danger avoidance program. Deny the self that does not feel worthy of God s love. Deny the self that thinks it is more worthy of God s love than one s enemy is. Deny the self that has bought into every kind of stereotypes of gender, race, religion and financial standing. Deny the self that insists on doing everything all by myself. 4

5 Deny the self that is turned in on the self. Because Jesus wants us to know that dying to those false selves no matter how painful, will bring you real life. This is the extraordinary, dangerous message of the Cross to those who are dying it is foolishness, but to those who are living (truly living), it is wisdom. So which of these would you rather be: A foolish saver or wise loser? That s a really painful and difficult choice after all we all want to be wise but who wants to be a loser? Just before Jesus makes the statements from the gospel of Mark, Jesus tries to tell Peter that the Messiah who Peter has proclaimed Jesus to be must undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, and priests, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He tried to tell Peter of this great mystery of God and Peter (and by the way Peter was not really alone in this) was not convinced. Peter thought Jesus had lost his mind. Peter tried to tell Jesus that his message was a huge downer a real turn-off and he tried to get Jesus to get more upbeat so he wouldn t turn the guys away. Jesus tries to teach Peter the great paschal mystery of his suffering death and resurrection but Peter couldn t get it from just being told. Because some things have to be experienced. Peter had to follow Jesus and experience Good Friday and Easter. 5

6 Without experiencing how at the cross God can gather up all of humanity s violence and abusive power and even gather up Peter s own denial of Jesus into God s own self and then respond with nothing but love and forgiveness Without experiencing the resurrection after three days of fear and a complete loss of hope. Without having experienced all of this, he couldn t know it just by being told it will happen. Fellow disciples, the same is true for us. There is no way I can preach or any pastor or lay person can preach a good enough sermon to convince you that it is not in self-sufficiency and individualism but in dying to self and living to God where life is to be found. One of the paradoxes of discipleship: We come to know who Jesus truly is by following him, yet we can't truly follow him until we know who he truly is. I have experienced the way in which God takes the mess of my own making and makes something new in me and in my life. Always something I would never have chosen or created for myself. I ve experienced it through moments of wisdom caught during informal discussions, unexpected friendships, times when I ve been called to forgive as I have been forgiven. This is experiencing the death and resurrection, the losing and denying of self and receiving joy and grace which is the shape of our baptismal life the one which began with the cross marked on our brow. 6

7 And so, in remembrance of our baptisms and that as disciples we are called to be wise losers make the sign of the cross on your brow, and on your lips, and on your heart as I repeat the words of the gospel: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it. What good is it to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul? 7