Gordon E. Ellis
March 12, 2006
A LIFE WORTH LIVING
I feel BAD for Peter. HE was the most PROMINENT of ALL the disciples; his name OFTEN appears in the gospels. But MOST of the time, he looks like a DUNCE. He’s ALWAYS quick to SPEAK, but USUALLY puts his FOOT in his mouth! He’s ALWAYS quick to ACT, but USUALLY trips over his own FEET! And OVER the centuries, millions (even BILLIONS) of people have known his NAME and SHAKEN their heads as they HEAR the stories of his THICK-HEADEDNESS.
We’re NOW at MID-POINT in Mark’s gospel, and JESUS has been doing what we would EXPECT of Him: preaching, teaching and healing ALL around the Sea of Galilee. But NOW, Jesus suddenly CHANGES. He begins teaching them that the He must SUFFER. And when PETER hears it, he’s not HAPPY about it. And can you BLAME him? BEFORE meeting JESUS, Peter was living COMFORTABLY in Capernaum. He had his FAMILY and was running a SMALL but successful FISHING business. But JESUS comes along and INVITES him to become a DISCIPLE. And PETER is so MOVED by Jesus that he leaves EVERYTHING and FOLLOWS Him.
As TIME goes on, Peter sees true GREATNESS in Jesus, and WONDERS if Jesus MIGHT just be the MESSIAH, the One for whom they have WAITED so LONG; the ONE who is to REDEEM Israel from the MEDIOCRITY into which that nation has fallen; the NEW King DAVID, God’s Anointed One, who is to raise an ARMY, and (with GOD at His side) drive OUT the DESPISED Roman soldiers, who OCCUPY their beloved COUNTRY. And the MORE Peter sees Jesus at WORK, the MORE it becomes CLEAR to him that Jesus IS, indeed, the MESSIAH.
And FINALLY, in our Scripture Lesson for TODAY, Jesus asks His disciples: WHO do people SAY that I AM? And after hearing their responses (John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets), Jesus asks THEM: But who do YOU say that I am? And suddenly, Peter finds WITHIN himself the COURAGE to voice his secret HOPE: YOU? YOU are the MESSIAH! And Jesus does not DENY it, but simply tells His disciples to keep QUIET about it. SO, this IS the long-awaited MESSIAH! thinks Peter. Therefore, the TURNING point must be coming SOON. IF the Messiah is HERE, He will ACT! And the whole WORLD will see what Peter already KNOWS, and his beloved ISRAEL will be GREAT once again!
But THEN, Jesus begins TEACHING them that He must undergo great SUFFERING; and be REJECTED by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes; and be KILLED, and after 3 days RISE again. Well, let me ask YOU: how would YOU feel if YOU had pinned ALL your HOPES on someone, ONLY to have them SAY such a thing as THAT? How would YOU feel if you sacrificed EVERYTHING to follow someone, who NOW starts planning for FAILURE? YOU’D feel like an INVESTOR, who had invested EVERYTHING in ENRON! YOU’D feel BETRAYED, frustrated and FURIOUS! BUT, Peter KNOWS that it’s NOT too LATE. The stock hasn’t CRASHED yet! Jesus isn’t DEAD yet! MAYBE He’s just having a bad DAY. EVERYONE has bad DAYS! SO, Peter takes Jesus ASIDE and talks with Him PRIVATELY. THAT’S a nice touch, isn’t it? No need to EMBARRASS Jesus PUBLICLY. Mark doesn’t TELL us what Peter SAYS, but maybe it’s: Come on, Jesus! You’re just having a bad DAY! Get a GRIP on yourself! Get some SLEEP! Just don’t do anything STUPID while you’re feeling like THIS!
Well, what happens NEXT must have SURPRISED Peter, because Jesus turns and REBUKES him! He says: Get behind me, Satan, for YOU are setting your mind, NOT on DIVINE things, but on HUMAN things. And THEN Jesus goes ON: If ANY want to become MY followers, let them DENY themselves and take up their CROSS and follow ME. 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. For WHAT will it PROFIT them to GAIN the whole WORLD, and forfeit their LIFE? Now, I DOUBT that ANY of this made ANY sense to Peter. But, EVEN if Jesus had been in the mood to DISCUSS things (which He obviously WASN’T), WHAT would Peter have SAID to Him? I DOUBT that he would have known WHAT to say, any more than WE would know WHAT to say. And WE have the advantage of 2000 YEARS of Christianity! But sometimes, we STILL don’t get it, DO we? Sometimes WE are JUST as resistant as PETER to talking about the CROSS and suffering and SACRIFICE. But isn’t being a Christian SUPPOSED to be difficult? Isn’t that what Jesus is TELLING Peter here? So, WHY do we have such a HARD time thinking that we might have to do some SUFFERING for our faith?
IS it because we live in a culture that tries to AVOID pain at ALL costs? Give me PAIN-KILLERS! Give me ANTI-DEPRESSANTS! Give me DRUGS! Give me ADDICTIONS! Give me more STUFF, more LUXURIES, more TOYS, so that I can be HAPPY! BUT, DOESN’T being a Christian MEAN that we sometimes have to DO things that our CULTURE thinks are just plain STUPID, (and things that CERTAINLY won’t FEEL good) in order to serve a HIGHER purpose? We have a young woman from our church, named Audra St. John, who teaches in an inner CITY school in New York, where she makes just a pittance and has to spend her OWN money to buy the kids something to WRITE with. WHY? She could have it SO much easier out here in the SUBURBS! But it’s not ABOUT Audra! It’s about the CHILDREN she teaches, the FAITH she professes and the higher PURPOSE she SERVES! My daughter, Lyndsey, is Audra’s friend. And Lyndsey will be spending the NEXT year working with the POOR somewhere in South America. She’s EVEN considering living with a native Ecuadorian TRIBE along the Amazon River to HELP them ORGANIZE and become fair trade COFFEE producers, so that they can break FREE from the grip of POVERTY and SUSTAIN themselves as a community. WHY? It doesn’t affect us HERE? WHY should she CARE? But it’s not ABOUT Lyndsey! And it’s NOT about US! It’s about the POOR, who are ALSO God’s CHILDREN! And it’s about a HIGHER purpose! OR, MANY people MARCH, and even go to JAIL, trying to CLOSE of the School of the Americas (now WHINSEC) at Fort Benning, Georgia. WHY? Because it has TRAINED most of the BUTCHERS, who tortured and killed MASSES of people in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatamala, and OTHER lands, including NOW Colombia. WHY should we CARE? WE don’t live there. BUT, being a Christian MEANS caring for ALL God’s children, so MUCH that we sometimes HAVE to stand UP for JUSTICE, even when it’s not POPULAR, and even when it’s CONTRARY to LAWS of our EMPIRE? As Donald Wildmon said: At the very heart of the Christian gospel is a CROSS -- the SYMBOL of suffering and sacrifice, hurt and pain, humiliation and rejection. I want NO part of a Christian message which does NOT call me to INVOLVEMENT, requires OF me NO sacrifice, takes FROM me NO comfort, or requires OF me LESS than the BEST I have to GIVE. The DUTY of a Christian is to be FAITHFUL, NOT popular or successful. And that’s TRUE whether we do our loving and serving in far off places or whether we do it right here at HOME. After all, there’s plenty of SERVING and CARING to do right here in this church, this TOWN and this STATE. And it’s ALL important, BOTH here and FAR OFF!
So, what IS it that SUSTAINS us, and EMPOWERS us, to ENDURE the suffering that our Christian faith may REQUIRE of us? Well, Peter had JESUS there telling him that, in 3 days, He would RISE again. And WE have the TESTIMONY of those FIRST disciples of Jesus, who TELL us that the CROSS was followed by the EMPTY tomb! And we KNOW that these 2 stories are MEANT to be COMBINED, and that the COMBINED stories of Jesus’ CRUCIFIXION and RESURRECTION form God’s eternal METAPHOR. They are GOD’S way of REVEALING to us that God is at WORK in the midst of EVERY crucifixion (and there are so MANY every single DAY in this world, and even in OUR lives). But, GOD is at work IN them, weaving FROM them NEW life, weaving OUT of them SOME kind of RESURRECTION! And WE know that THIS is God’s eternal TRUTH, that THIS is God’s EVERLASTING Good News for God’s BELOVED children. And we gather here, week after week, to HEAR it and proclaim it, again and again! And it’s this GREAT news, this LIFE-GIVING news, this HOPE-FILLED news, that EMPOWERS us to KEEP on doing and saying what we NEED to do and say as FAITHFUL followers of Jesus! And it can SUSTAIN us through WHATEVER discomfort, pain or SUFFERING our discipleship MAY cause us. Yes, it’s this GOOD News, this eternal METAPHOR that ENABLES us to BECOME the disciples that Jesus CHALLENGES us to become. And WHEN we become His disciples and TRULY follow Him, WE find out the same truth Marian Preminger found out.
Marian Preminger was the WIFE of the famous Hollywood director, Otto Preminger. She was born to a WEALTHY family in Hungary and raised in a CASTLE with servants. She became an actress, married Otto Preminger, and came to the United States, where Otto began his successful FILM career. Unfortunately, however, Marian got caught up in the TAWDRY side of Hollywood life, and Otto divorced her. SO in 1948, she moved to Paris and became a wealthy SOCIALITE. But one day, Marian saw a newspaper article about Albert Schweitzer returning to Europe for a VISIT from his MISSION in Africa. She made arrangements to MEET Schweitzer, and that meeting CHANGED her life. When Schweitzer returned to Africa, Marian ACCOMPANIED him to WORK in his hospital. And THERE, SHE, who had NEVER had to cook a meal or sweep a floor, spent her life changing BANDAGES, feeding BABIES, and treating LEPERS. It was a very HARD life, but IN that humble life of SERVING others, Marian Preminger FINALLY found what SHE called a life worth LIVING. And she LOVED it! When she died in 1979, the New York Times ran her OBITUARY and included THESE words from her autobiography: Albert Schweitzer said there are two classes of people in this world -- helpers and non-helpers. Well, I am a helper! THESE are the words of a woman who had it ALL, but who found that the ONLY life worth LIVING is a life of GIVING and SERVING!
Friends, if YOU would like a LIFE that is TRULY worth LIVING, follow JESUS, EVEN when it means GIVING, even when it means SERVING, even when it means SACRIFICE, even when it means SUFFERING, and even when it means some kind of CRUCIFIXION. And REALIZE, as John Shea said: Whenever people EXPEND themselves, they want RESULTS. IF they lay DOWN life, they want SOMEONE’S life raised up. IF they EMPTY themselves, they want SOMEONE to be FILLED. They want their suffering to bear FRUIT. IF this doesn’t HAPPEN, they’re TEMPTED to give UP. The REFUSAL of the gift quickly becomes a reason not to OFFER it. Instead of leaning INTO resistance with LOVE, they’ll back OFF and say, “Well, we TRIED.” However, the motive for offering love is NOT that it be SUCCESSFUL. Christians WANT response, but they are not BOUND to it. They SACRIFICE for others because they are the RECIPIENTS of sacrifice. They are the current generation of a long LINE of BROKEN bodies and SHED blood. This GIFT Christians have received, they freely GIVE. They join the LIVING history of people ENACTING the dream of GOD, people sustained and transformed by MUTUAL, sacrificial LOVE -- people SUSTAINED and transformed by their TRUST in a God who is at WORK in the midst of EVERY crucifixion, EVERY kind of suffering, to bring forth NEW LIFE, and to WEAVE resurrections. Friends, don’t ARGUE with Jesus, as PETER did. Just FOLLOW Jesus, as Peter ultimately WOULD. And YOU will have a LIFE worth LIVING, EVEN if it’s not an EASY one. AMEN.