Thank you to John for this message

Prayer: Gracious Lord, please open your word to our hearts, and may we open our hearts to your word. For Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.

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Reading: Mark 8:27-38

Introduction
To be human is to ask questions.
George Eliot wrote, “Animals are such agreeable friends; they ask no questions.”
But to be human is to have questions: “Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? How can we find out?”

People of faith ask questions. In the face of world news, whether of Ukraine or of anywhere else, we may well ask “Where is God in all this?”
The Bible encourages us to ask questions like this. We read of Job, that man of great faith, asking “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain?” (Job 24:1)

I wonder what is the most famous question in the world? Perhaps “To be or not to be: that is the question.” (Hamlet)

But what is the most important question in the world?
Surely it must be the question that decides our eternal destiny. The question we heard in the reading: the question Jesus asks: the question centred on Him.
“Who do you say I am?”

1. WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM? (vv27-30)
Jesus and his followers are “up north”, near the new town of Caesarea Philippi, about 25 miles north of Lake Galilee. The town was originally called Paneas, in honour of the Greek god Pan, whose shrine was there. That area was especially pagan.

Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say that I am?” (v27) Their reply sounds strange (v28):
a) “John the Baptist” – he had been beheaded by King Herod recently (Mark 6:14, 16)
b) “Elijah” – the great prophet who had lived about 900 BC. (In the last verses of the Old Testament, we read God’s promise through the prophet Malachi (4:5) in about 450 BC: “I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes”)
c) “One of the prophets”.

Clearly there was a great variety of opinions about Jesus; many people were puzzled by him – who is he?
Is that still true today? Some people think that Jesus was an “alien” from another planet. Some say Jesus was just a wonderful teacher. Others (including Muslims) revere him as a great prophet but no more. Vague ideas about Christ are still very common.

“Who do people say that I am?” is an interesting question. But Jesus does not leave it there. He asks his disciples “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter jumps in, with the words “You are the Christ“, meaning the Messiah, the Anointed One, chosen by God, empowered by God, consecrated by God.
Those 4 words of Peter are momentous and wonderful, especially when you think about the circumstances. Jesus did not have earthly wealth or honour or majesty or power. The Jewish authorities refused to receive him as Messiah. He was opposed by most of the “holy people”, and he was despised by the rulers and priests.
Peter’s statement “You are the Christ” is a high-point in the gospel. Matthew tells us that Jesus responded  by saying “Blessed are you, Simon…, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17)

So why does Jesus then warn his disciples not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah? (Matthew 16:20)
That brings us to this question:

2. WHAT SORT OF MESSIAH IS JESUS? (vv31-33)
What was Peter thinking when he said to Jesus “You are the Christ”? The popular Jewish idea at the time was that the Messiah would be a strong political leader, who would, under God, lead the Jews to freedom from the Roman occupying power.

But Jesus had a very different and far more wonderful agenda. He knew that his Messiahship was not to be just political, but far deeper; not to be merely for the Jewish people, but for the whole world – nothing less than to fulfil God’s purpose for rescuing the whole of his creation.
So Jesus now speaks of that purpose (v31).

“Son of Man” was Jesus’ favourite name for himself. In the Old Testament, we read that Daniel was given a vision of “one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14) In other words this “Son of Man” is the real Messiah, with God’s authority.

But now Jesus speaks of suffering, being rejected, being killed, and resurrection. Jesus is identifying himself with the “Suffering Servant” described in Isaiah 53: “He was despised and rejected by people, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering…”
And Jesus says this MUST happen: this is not just a terrible accident, but is God’s specific intention and purpose.

But Jesus’ words are devastating for the disciples. So Peter takes him aside – “Jesus, I’ve got to tell you, that’s not a good thing to say; people won’t follow you if you speak about suffering and being killed. They want hope, they want good news.”

Responding to Peter’s rebuke, Jesus uses shockingly strong language: “Get out of my sight, adversary! Get behind me, Satan! Your mindset is not on God’s things but on human things.” (v33)
Jesus knows that God’s rescue plan comes not through armies and military might, but through death and resurrection.

What sort of Messiah is Jesus? We humans are good at making God in our own image, at making Jesus what we’d like him to be – which of course means making him on our side against the others. And giving us victory the way we want it.

Does the Lord Jesus Christ say to me what he said to Peter? “Get behind me, adversary!”?
That brings us to this (final) question:

3. WHAT SORT OF DISCIPLE AM I? (vv34-38)
v34. “If anyone wants to follow me, let her deny herself, let him deny himself…”
I wonder if you are giving up anything for Lent? Biscuits? Chocolate? TV? (Dieting?!)
Jesus does not call his disciples to deny themselves biscuits: he calls them to deny themselves. He calls me to say “No” to my selfish attitudes and behaviour.

And what about “taking up my cross”? Jesus is not using cross-bearing to describe the human experience of carrying some burden through life. It is far more radical than that. In Jesus’ time, if you saw someone carrying a cross, it meant one thing – they are going to their death. So cross-bearing as a disciple of Jesus means nothing less than giving my whole life over to following him.

Is that reckless? Listen to Jesus’ words (v35). That is a shock and a glorious promise! Donald English comments, “If you clutch your life wholly to yourself, protecting it against all others, asserting all your rights, needs, and privileges, you lose it because it isn’t life any longer. If, however, you acknowledge that life is not yours by right…and that it is to be lived in the love that the gospel story reveals, self-giving love, then you possess it wholly. There is now nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

The way of the cross is the way of true freedom.

And Jesus gives a sombre warning in v38.


So what sort of disciple am I? Am I standing on my rights, putting my own interests first, trying to avoid the clear challenge of Jesus? Or am I gladly seeking to follow in the way of Jesus, the way of the cross?

Remember the children’s game “Follow My Leader”? There is only one rule – that no follower avoids going to any place where the Leader has first gone.

In the Scripture Union Bible-reading notes I was reading last Friday, Eric Gaudion wrote, “Our calling is to walk in his footsteps, carefully placing our own puny feet in the marks left by his, nail-prints and all.”

CONCLUSION
Two questions:
                   What sort of Messiah is Jesus?
                   What sort of disciple am I to be?
The answer to both of those questions is exactly the same one word – cross-shaped.

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Prayer
Lord, let me see your footmarks
and in them place my own:
my hope to follow truly
is in your strength alone.
O guide me, call me, draw me,
uphold me to the end;
and then in heaven receive me,
my Saviour and my Friend.


Category: Sermons , The Bridge

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