Scott Hoezee quotes that great font of wisdom, Yogi Berra: If you come to a fork in the

Transcription

1 Following Jesus with Passion (A Lenten Sermon Series on Passionate Spirituality) Mark 8:31-38 Sunday, March 4, 2012 The Rev. Sharon Snapp-Kolas, preaching Scripture. Prayer. Opening. Scott Hoezee quotes that great font of wisdom, Yogi Berra: If you come to a fork in the road, take it. In Mark, chapter 8, the disciples are presented with a fork in the road and, like Yogi Berra, they want to take it. As Hoezee puts it, They want it both ways. They want to follow Jesus; but they want Jesus to go in the direction they want him to go. They want a successful military leader who will oust the Romans and the corrupt Sanhedrin from Jerusalem and seat Jesus on Herod s throne. That s the Jesus they want to follow: the successful Jesus. Jesus does not suffer from the same lack of clarity at the fork in the road. He may not want to go to the cross. But in Mark, chapter 8, he makes it clear that this is his destination. And he tries to explain the situation to his disciples. They are not thrilled with Jesus plan. Peter, in particular, is having none of it. After rebuking Peter, Jesus teaches the crowds and the disciples, saying, If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. In order to follow Jesus we must first deny ourselves. I. Follow Jesus: Deny Yourself. Now this idea of self-denial can get tricky. People can get all out of balance, denying themselves and focusing their whole attention on others. In the Christian life, balance is so important. We don t want to be letting go of the positive things in our lives. What we want to 1

2 deny within ourselves are the things that we hold onto that get in the way of our relationship with God. Jesus says it this way: For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it (v. 35). The life we try to save, if it is a life without Jesus, is not worth saving. In A.A. and N.A. and other anonymous groups, there are 12 steps devoted to letting go of a life that leads to death, in order to find a true life that is centered in a higher power. Christians call that higher power God. We claim Jesus as our higher power. Self-denial is about denying ourselves things we shouldn t have in our life anyway. Things like substance abuse or greed or selfishness or self-centeredness. Billy D. Strayhorn tells this story about self-denial in his book, At Cross Purposes: Arthur Gordon visited a kindergarten class where the teacher frequently reminded misbehaving children to stop being a WAM. The kids straightened up as soon as their teacher pointed out they were being a WAM. What was a WAM? Why was being a WAM so bad? The teacher explained that WAM stands for What About Me? She was training the children to be less self-centered. She wanted them to think of others' needs, not just their own. So, she taught them that no one liked a WAM, a self-centered person who only asked, What About Me? Instead, this teacher was teaching the children to be a WAY, or as she explained it, people who ask, What About You? Strayhorn continues: You and I are people of the Way. We ask What About You? Oh, occasionally we forget who we really are. We get lost and Lose Our Spiritual Toehold and become a WAM. But for the most part we are people of the WAY. 2

3 I would add that the Christian faith is about balance; that we ought to include ourselves as well as others in the equation. Jesus does this. He preaches and teaches and heals during his journey to Jerusalem. He also goes off alone to pray. And he does not burden himself with the need to be all things to all people. He includes himself in the equation. I believe he calls us to do the same. In fact, for some of us, part of our self-denial is to let go of the need to be needed. Still, Jesus does go to the cross, and he calls his followers to take up their crosses, as well. II. Follow Jesus:Take Up Your Cross. He says, For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life (v. 36)? We think we re supposed to be happy. But what if life is not about being happy? What if the pursuit of happiness is a vain pursuit? What if I am not the center of the Universe? What if you are not the center of the Universe? Perhaps the purpose of life is the joy that comes from taking up your cross, rather than chasing after happiness. Then again, following Jesus can have happiness as a bi-product. But it s like that butterfly cliché if you try to catch the butterfly of happiness, it flies away. But if you focus on what s important, you may find the butterfly of happiness sitting on your shoulder one day. King Duncan writes that, According to research conducted by George Gallup, 12% of Americans are highly spiritually committed. They are those who truly understand what Jesus meant when he said, deny yourself, take up a cross and follow me. Gallup says the members of this group are a breed apart from the rest of the populace in at least four ways: 1. They are happier. 2. Their families are stronger. 3. They are tolerant of people of different races and 3

4 religions. 4. They are community-minded. They are involved in service to others. That is cross bearing that really makes a difference. I question the finding that Christians are happier. Maybe it s a matter of semantics. I would agree that Christians are more joyful. But joy is not dependent on circumstances or emotions. We do not have to feel happy in order to be filled with the joy of the Lord. We make a decision, regardless of our situation, to claim the joy of the Lord as our promised assurance. Billy Graham reminds us that, When Jesus said, if you are going to follow me, you have to take up a cross, it was the same as saying, Come and bring your electric chair with you. Take up the gas chamber and follow me. He did not have a beautiful gold cross in mind -- the cross on a church steeple or on the front of your Bible. Jesus had in mind a place of execution. There is a serious, life and death reality to cross-carrying that is beyond the question of happiness. It is about following Jesus, with passion. III. Follow Jesus, with Passion. Jesus says that, Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels (v. 38). Jesus wants us to follow him with passion. He does not want us to be ashamed of him; he wants us to claim his cross that symbol of humiliation and execution as a sign of victory. Winifred Collin, in her book, Living, Loving and Giving, quotes Frederick Buechner, a favorite author of mine, and of hers, as well. Says Collin of Buechner, in [his book] Listening to Your Life, [Buechner] asks a series of questions designed to help us think about where we have been and where we are going 4

5 Buechner s questions can be of help to you and to me as we seek to follow Jesus more passionately. They are not easy questions. In fact, if we take them seriously; if we wrestle with them earnestly; they can be very painful. They can also be very eye-opening, like a light that cuts through the darkness. Here are Buechner s questions: When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore? If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be, in twenty-five words or less? Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember? Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for? If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it? Buechner makes these comments: To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are but of what you are failing to become. It can be a pretty depressing business, all in all, but if sack cloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end. Buechner calls us to do some deep soul-searching as a part of our Lenten journey. So does Jesus. Self-denial, cross-carrying, following a condemned criminal as our leader and example this is heavy stuff. 5

6 Closing. Harriet Tubman knew a bit about following Jesus with passion. Writes Harvard Stephens, Jr., in his book, Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way: Harriet Tubman was a brave woman who escaped slavery during the Civil War. Despite a huge reward for her capture, she returned to the slave-holding states over nineteen times to lead hundreds of African-Americans out of slavery's clutches into territory where they could live with liberty. Harriet Tubman was a Christian and she became a great warrior in the battle to dismantle the cruel institution of slavery. When asked about the source of her fearless strength, she would always say: It wasn't me, it was the Lord. I always told him, 'I trust you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me.' And he always did. Harriet Tubman, the Black Moses, was never captured, and there are countless stories like these, and new stories are being told daily. They are the stories of Christian people who learn to lead because they keep rediscovering what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus says, Follow me. His desire for us is that we would find purpose and meaning in life, as Harriet Tubman did. His desire for us is that we would follow him with joy and passion. His plan for us is that our lives might be richer and freer for following him. He doesn t promise that life will be easy; he doesn t promise that we will always be happy. But he does promise that if we lose our lives in service to him, we will find the lives we were meant to live. May it be so for you. Amen. 6