Isaiah 50:4-9

Psalm 116:1-8

James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18

MARK 8:27-38

Sermon – September 17, 2006

“Lift high the cross.”

Peter didn’t get it.

Moments after being the first of Jesus’ followers (according to Mark’s Gospel) to understand that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, he rejected Jesus’ explanation of what being the Savior meant: great suffering and death and, only then, resurrection.

Jesus then released his greatest condemnation of Peter ever: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Jesus called Peter a great tempter: the temptation to avoid the path of suffering and death was real to Jesus, and would remain a temptation right up through his anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But Peter who, characteristically, simply blurted out what most of the others were thinking, thought being God’s Chosen One was all glory and no grimness, all fame and no pain, or he wanted to believe it – especially since that might mean the same for those called to follow the Savior.

Jesus straightened out Peter – and the others – right away, saying “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 the sake of the Gospel, will save it.”

Anyone who was expecting Christianity to be all gain and no pain can leave now if they want to. (Pause.)

Jesus added, “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”

Anyone who was expecting Christianity to mean asking God to make them rich quick can leave now if they want to. (Pause.)

Are we on board then?

Discipleship involves discipline, self-denial without masochism. Willingness to take risks on behalf of others. Service to others. These are not popular concepts in many circles in America today, where so many people have as their first question, “What’s in it for me?” How can I be thinner, richer, and more popular – or at least indulge myself fully in literally idolizing people who are thinner, richer and more popular than I am?”

Discipline, self-denial and service are understood by some people – including many of those we remembered in our prayers last Sunday, the First Responders who ran up staircases in the World Trade Center that everyone who could were running down.

Discipline, self-denial and service are not a fad. They are for life. And they are not just for elite units of people who wear uniforms as part of their service. Discipline, self-denial and service in some ways and at some levels are for all Christians. Jesus is pretty clear about that right here.

We may, like Peter, be in denial. We may try to skip that part and keep our faith at a simple, sentimental level. We may want to think real dedication is only for the ordained and those in religious orders. But Jesus doesn’t say that. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves…”

This is uncomfortable for us, especially surrounded frankly, by a culture that often glorifies self-indulgence and lavishes fortunes on people who do relatively trivial things – like play games and act in movies, as Angelina Jolie has the honesty to admit.

Thank God, as Pope Paul VI said, “Christ comes to us where we are, not where we ought to be.”

Christ came to Peter where he was, in denial, not where Peter ought to have been. Christ comes to us, too, whenever we are tempted to put human things first instead of divine things – which for me can mean a lot of places! Self-indulgence looks so much more appealing than self-denial. But look where self-indulgence gets people… and countries… and our planet. People indulge in greenhouse gases… in conspicuous consumption… in hatred of those who are different… in feeling they are always right. All around the world all kinds of people.

We’re in trouble.

Maybe servanthood is worth a try. Maybe without servanthood there is no survival.

Maybe if a few more people said, “I want this, but I don’t need it, so I’m not going to get it.” Maybe if a few more people said, “What can I do today to help someone I’ve never met and who can’t do anything for me or to me.” Maybe if a few more people started a discussion of a controversial subject by saying, “This is what I think, but I could be wrong.”

Maybe if a few more people tried the way of Jesus. Suffering is part of life; it’s part of the package. We all figure that out sooner or later. What’s optional is having suffering and self-sacrifice mean something.

Jesus took upon himself the punishment for all sins committed by every person in every place and every time. Jesus suffered emotionally, physically and spiritually to a profound degree. As those prophetic words from Isaiah 50 we just heard said, “I gave my back to those who struck me… I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.”

Jesus suffered and took the punishment people deserved for misdeeds done and good deeds left undone so that we might get a second chance, unburdened by unforgiven sins which, sooner or later, would sink us permanently. And I do mean permanently.

We have a second chance, thanks to Christ. So let’s use it. We are in the world as it is, not as it ought to be. With discipline, self-denial and commitment to service motivated by joy filled love for Christ and thanksgiving for what he has done for us, we can strive to make this broken, troubled world a little closer to the world of God’s dreams: a world of justice, peace and joy, where not one goes hungry, no one is afraid, no one drowns in purposelessness, no one is victimized by bigotry.

Sure, we can’t do everything – but we can do something. As James writes in today’s Epistle, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?”

We are called to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. In this particular congregation, we have adopted as our Mission Priorities the struggles against addiction, against domestic violence, against hunger and homelessness, and against racism. All are caused by people setting their minds on human things and not divine things, for when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven every person will be filled with safety and security, with health and food, with love and respect. We can work on that dream now.

In many and varied ways we are working on these priorities together, for faith is a “team sport” as well as “an individual sport.” And the Christian faith is a “team” in which everyone gets to “start” – because we are supposed to live our faith 24/7, wherever we are. The Christian faith is a “team” in which everyone gets the personal attention of the Head Coach: for Christ is the strong, loving guide for each and every one of us: women and men, adults and children, laity and clergy alike.

And the Christian faith is a “team” which has unlimited openings for new members. And that’s where Daniel, Adam and Ryan Kirk come in: they’re joining the team today. Welcome! The calendar may say September, but for these about-to-be-baptized infants it’s spring training (and will be for a while). But once they’re baptized, they’ve made the team.

May they, and all of us, in the awesome words of the baptismal service, “grow into the full stature of Christ.” The Christian life involves discipline, self-denial and service – and it also involves joy, peace and freedom that can be achieved in no other way.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

Monmouth Junction, New Jersey