Lectionary Reflection — 16 September 2018
27 Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, “Who do the people say I am?”
28 “Some say ‘John the Baptizer,’” they said. “Others say ‘Elijah.’ Still others say ‘one of the prophets.’”
29 He then asked, “And you — what are you saying about me? Who am I?”
Peter gave the answer: “You’re the Christ, the Messiah.”
30-32 Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: “It’s necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.” He said this simply and clearly so they couldn’t miss it.
32-33 But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. “Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works.”
34-37 Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your whole self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the whole you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
38 “If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”
Other readings: Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; James 3:1-12
I’m really struggling.
I’ve been trying to write Lectionary reflections every week but I’ve really been struggling of late. Sometimes, the feelings and thoughts don’t come easily. Oh, I know there’s the “easy” reflection — to ask you, dear reader, “Who do you think Jesus is?” I mean, that’s such a great question, but I feel like it’s been asked to death. I’m absolutely sure that it will be asked in a lot of churches today. Whether in sermons, homilies, or Bible studies someone is going to ask that question.
But I think asking that question misses the point of the story, actually. We no longer have a decision to make for an answer, do we. It’s been answered. So, if we answer anything other than, “Jesus is the Messiah,” we’re giving the wrong answer.
But what the Messiah means has been identified, too, hasn’t it. To Jesus it was really clear what Messiah meant. For Jesus, Messiah meant, “an ordeal of suffering, [being] tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, [being] killed, and after three days [rising] up alive.” Sure, there’s also the whole ushering in God’s Realm but that’s the outcome of this meaning of Messiah. It’s the result of the Messiah suffering, dying, being buried, and rising three days later. God’s Realm coming fully on earth isn’t the Messiah; it’s the fruit of the Messiah.
What’s also defined is what it means to follow Jesus. What the work of God looks like in the lives of people.
After Jesus told the disciples about his upcoming suffering, Peter rejected that way. “That’s not how the Messiah works! Following God isn’t about suffering! It’s about destroying God’s enemies and freeing Israel! It’s about health and wealth and owning a Rolls Royce and supporting the power of the world! It’s about not only supporting the ways of Empire but actually joining in and becoming Empire!”
Jesus’ response to this might be hyperbolic but I’m starting the think he was spot on. The old King James version is always how I hear this rebuke, “Get thee behind me, Satan” (Mark 8.33; KJV).2 The reason I’m beginning to think this isn’t hyperbolic is because Peter’s suggestions are the opposite of The Way God actually works. And I emphasised “the way” because that’s exactly what Jesus did next.
After he rebuked Peter for his misunderstanding, Jesus looked over the crowd. I’m sure he could see confusion on their faces — they all think of Messiah in the same way. Even today there are many people who think at the “Second Coming” Jesus will be what the people of Jesus’ day were expecting — a military King who will wipe out their enemies and make them all “healthy, wealthy, and wise.” In other words, it’s all about timing in their minds. “The first coming was about suffering,” we’re told, “but the second coming will be about kicking @$$ and taking names!”
But it’s not. It’s never been about that. That’s part of the lie the Satan sold and people bought it.
Jesus calls the crowd together and lays it out plainly — “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. … Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. … Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your whole self.”
This is it right here — the Way of Jesus, the Way of being wholly human is the way of self-sacrifice. If following The Way of Jesus is anything other than this, then we haven’t let him lead. If we aren’t putting the needs of other people before our own, we’re not walking in The Way of Jesus. If we aren’t loving God, our neighbors, and our enemies self-sacrificially,3 then, again, we’re not walking in The Way of Jesus.
This is the message, the lesson, that Jesus taught both in word and action. It’s the lesson that the people of his day needed to learn.
And it’s the lesson that we still need to learn today.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
2. Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version. The King James Version is in the public domain in the United States and, therefore, not subject to copyright.
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