Christ Episcopal Church
March 1, 2015
2 Lent B
I had my first mountain top experience when I was sixteen. I was invited to serve on a team of high school students who brought a renewal weekend retreat for high school students to the Diocese of Arkansas. The event was a year in the planning, which seemed like forever to my 16 year old self. There were countless details to attend to, not the least of which was convincing people to come. When the weekend finally arrived we were ready. The weekend was filled with deep and meaningful conversation, moving worship, spirit-filled singing, new friendships, and precious little sleep. The presence of God was palpable and we all experienced something much greater than the sum of the parts. We left the mountain, literally, as the retreat was on Petit Jean Mountain in Morrilton, Arkansas, and went back to our normal, day to day lives, where, in my experience, school work was still difficult, kids were still less than friendly, and parents were still unreasonable. I might have been changed by my weekend, but the rest of the world was unchanged, and my landing was hard. But I will also say that my greater growth came more from the hard landing than the mountain top experience.
Peter is also experiencing a rough landing this morning. Peter and the disciples have watched Jesus heal many people. Jesus has fed the 5000 and walked on water. He has raised a little girl to life and cast a legion of demons out of a man. He has stilled a storm. Peter and the other disciples are following a man who can do anything! Immediately prior to our gospel reading this morning, Jesus asks the disciples "Who do people say that I am?" The disciples answer "John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets." Jesus asks "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answers "You are the Messiah." In Mark's gospel, Jesus' answer is a bit understated, as he sternly orders the disciples to tell no one about him. But in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." And Jesus goes on to give Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
When we catch up with Peter this morning, he must be on cloud nine. But then, he hears words he does not understand, and his landing is hard. Jesus tells the disciples that he, Jesus, who Peter has just recognized as the long awaited Messiah, will undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. How can that even be possible? How can the person who can heal every infirmity, including death, say that he will be killed? How can the Messiah possibly suffer and die? Peter is apparently quite vocal in his reaction to Jesus' words, as Jesus replies "Get behind me, Satan!" A harder landing is hard to imagine.
Then Jesus tells the disciples and the crowds "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and pick 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."
The gospel of Mark was written in about 70 C.E., around the time of the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. Christians were being persecuted for their faith, forced from their homes, families were being torn apart, and people were being tortured and killed because they believed in Jesus. These were second or perhaps third generation Christians-people whose parents or grandparents might have been the original followers of Jesus or followers of followers. Easter was a very real experience for them and the stories of Jesus and the disciples were very much alive. Christians waited anxiously for the return of Jesus, hoping that Jesus would return to deliver them from the evil being inflicted upon them. Their landing from the mountain top was as difficult as landings get, as Jesus did not return and their faith resulted in tragic loss. I imagine their faith was sorely tested and they must have wondered what they had gotten wrong if their Easter faith had such Good Friday results.
The situation of the Christians to whom Mark was originally written is not that different from the situation of Christians and others in the Middle East that we read about in the news day in and day out. Beheadings, people being burned alive, and other atrocities make me, at least, want to shut the news out and look the other way. And I often do. But that is not the faithful response. Jesus tells the disciples, and us, and all Christians to pick up our cross and follow him. Jesus does not live on the mountain top and neither can we. The cross we are all called to pick up is the cross of Christ with which we were sealed at our baptism, and follow Jesus. And Jesus leads us through the suffering and death to new life, not around the suffering and death.
For us, as Christians living in safety, following Jesus means naming evil, speaking up for our brothers and sisters living in terror, responding when we can with material aid, calling on our government to take action against the perpetrators, and engaging in deep prayer on behalf of those who are being persecuted. When I turn my head and look the other way, I am like Peter, who wanted a Messiah on his own terms, which involved quick resolution of pain and suffering. Jesus had harsh words to say about that. Jesus calls us to pick up our cross, look evil in the eye and say "enough." We can dare to do that because we believe in the God of outrageous promises-the God who promised the aging Abraham and Sarah descendants that numbered the stars of the sky, and the God who will soon turn Good Friday into Easter. God may be revealed on the mountain top, but God calls us to follow Jesus, who always goes first, but never goes around.
Amen.
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