The Sermon I Did Not Want To Preach

For the Second Sunday of Lent, the Lectionary - that is the suggested Scripture Readings for that particular Sunday - included Mark 8:31-38.  This is the passage where Jesus is openly telling others that he will be killed and then rise on the 3rd day.  The Apostle Peter, trying to be a "good guy" comes up to Jesus and (in my own words) tells him that it doesn't have to be that way - they'd protect him (yes, I'm taking some liberties with the text, but the point is that he didn't want Jesus to suffer).  Jesus then oddly says to Peter "Get behind me, Satan!"  After saying that, Jesus then tells the people who are gathered there how to have eternal life.  He says they have to give up their lives to keep them.  He says that to be a follower people have to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him.

"Woah," I thought "No more Mr. Nice Jesus."
No more 6 lb. 7 oz. Baby Jesus (OK, if you're a Ricky Bobby Fan from the movie Talledega Nights, I probably butchered that reference, but that's beside the point).

This Jesus is making us choose between life and death.  Not his life and death, but our own.  And if it's not life and death, it's at least going to seriously affect our comfort!  I HAD to choose a different passage to preach from.  The lectionary is, after all, a guide, not a rule.  The church police wouldn't arrest me for not using the lectionary.  Well, we don't have church police, but if we did, it would probably only be a misdemeanor anyway.

But, the more I thought about it, I realized I HAD to preach from this text.  Not just for my congregation, but also for me.  I needed this.  I needed to be reminded how to follow Jesus.  I needed to be taken out of my comfort zone.

So, I sat down to write my sermon.  Actually, that's not entirely accurate.  Rarely do I "write" a sermon.  I'm too random for that.  I only "write" sermons for very formal occasions such as funerals, weddings, or high holidays, and even then, I'll deviate from what I have written.  For the normal Sunday service, I write out notes or prepare "notes" in my head depending on how familiar I am with the Scripture and where I feel I am led to preach.  Well, as I tried to write my notes out, I just couldn't do it.  It was too intrusive, too "hardcore."  This sermon would step on too many toes.  Heck, it was crushing mine, and I hadn't even put a word on paper yet.

This went on for several days, and finally by Saturday Night, I realized that something had to be done.  I am expected to deliver a sermon on Sunday, and I only had a few hours until Sunday was to come.  So, I reread the Scripture for the millionth time and then put down a few notes.  I wasn't sure where this was going to go, but I figured I had God in a trap.  "I'll stand up there," I said, "but You have to give me the words."

Sunday came.  Time for the sermon.  I was nervous.  That's a lie....I was terrified.  I rarely get that nervous before anything anymore.

I started off by making my confession that I did not want to preach this sermon.  This was the hardest sermon I've ever preached.  I didn't even know where it would end up.  I apologized that I knew I'd be stepping on toes, but told them that if their toes got stepped on, they should know that in the process, I'd been run over by a steam roller!  Then I jumped in.

First I addressed Jesus saying "Get behind me, Satan." Jesus isn't saying Peter was indwelled by the devil, but rather that Peter was focussing on fleshly answers and not Godly answers.  That's explained in the Scripture.  Ok, so far, so good.

Then, I had to explain what it mean to follow Jesus.  And in this Scripture there was a 3-part formula:
1. Deny yourself
2. Take up your cross
3. Follow Jesus

Deny Yourself
This may be one of the hardest things for anyone to do.  It is for me.  I don't like to deny myself.   When I'm tired, I like to rest.  When I'm hungry, I like to eat.  That's why I preach facing the congregation and don't give them a profile view (insert chuckle).  But, this denial is not something we do to look more pious or holy.  We don't deny ourselves lunch so that we look pale so others can see we are suffering for Christ.  This denial is saying that we are not the most important creation ever.  We are not the center of the universe.  Our plan is not central, but God's is.  So, I told my congregation, it's ok to buy new clothes from time to time - heck, I don't want to see them in loin-cloths, and they CERTAINLY don't want to see me in a loin-cloth!

Take Up Your Cross
We use Crosses as jewelry and decorations.  In modern times, that's fine because it reminds us of Christ, but to a citizen of the first century Roman Empire, they would think we are sadistic!  It would be like wearing jewelry shaped like the electric chair...but worse.  We don't really have public executions, at least in this part of the world.  Most of us have never seen an execution on the electric chair, though we know what it's used for if we see one.  We may know some of the horror, but having not seen the actual execution, we don't know the entire horror of the electric chair.

The Cross was an instrument of death.  And Jesus is telling us to pick one up?  He's not talking about jewelry. He's talking about taking something that may kill us.  What he's saying is that if we're going to be disciples, our lives are secondary to the service of God.  We may die serving God.  To humans that sounds awful.  But to God, that's a smooth transition.  We see death as a finality.  God sees death as a mere transition because Christ defeated death.  Jesus is saying that if we're serving God, we don't have to be afraid, even if we have to face the possibility of our own death.

Follow Me
Only then can we follow Jesus.  Only after we put ourselves in our proper place can we follow Jesus.  Following Jesus is difficult and dangerous, but we are not alone.  We may suffer, but we are not without a comforter.  We may experience difficulties, but never without help.  We may be hated, but never without ultimate love.


What If We Took This Seriously - This is where toes will get stepped on
We can change the world with God if we just follow Jesus.  What would happen to poverty if just the Christians took their call seriously?  We'd eliminate it, that's what would happen.  We wouldn't worry about who "deserves" help and who "doesn't deserve" help because God never tells us which poor deserve our ministry, but it's clear that we are to minister to the poor.  Yes, some are poor because of sinful and bad and stupid choices...But, it's not our place to judge.  That's God's job.

The sick wouldn't have to worry about being insured or not if the Christians would do what we are called to do.  There simply wouldn't be a national debate about insurance.  Medical bills would simply be covered for all who need it if we took our call as Christians seriously to love God and neighbor.  There would be no "us" and "them."  There would be no "mine" and "yours."  And this is just if the Christians lived our faith...I haven't even taken into consideration if we evangelized and converted others.

Criminals would be rehabilitated.  Prisons would not be places to make criminals more hardened, they would be places to reconcile those who have done wrong back to society.  Of course all could not be saved, but many would.  Of course, crimes need to be punished, but it does no good to punish someone without teaching them how to do something right.  If just the Christians did this, our crime rate could exponentially decrease.

These are just a few of the issues that we could fix if Christians took Jesus seriously.  Are we willing to do it?  Most Christians would say "Yes, go get them!"  Few would say "Yes, let me at them."  But, we need to answer both ways.  One person cannot do it alone.  We must do it as Christ's Body led by the Holy Spirit.