“Did Jesus Bring Clarity To His Mission?”

Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – September 6, 2015

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 19; Mark 8:27-33

 

    Our lesson today opens with Jesus and his disciples walking in a territory under the control of Herod's brother, Philip.  For centuries, the town of Caesarea Philippi had been a great religious center for the worship of various gods.  Earlier groups worshiped Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility.  Caesarea Philippi was also the birthplace of Pan, the god of nature.  There is also a cavern there from which a robust stream flows.  This stream is the source of the Jordan River. 

    Above this cavern, Philip had built a large white marble temple to Caesar, the ruler of the world who was looked upon as a son of God.   It was this territory, rich with ancient religious history, symbolism and traditions, that provided the environment for Jesus to ask his disciples what the people were saying about him. 

    The answers the disciples gave were all over the landscape of possibilities.  "Some say that you are John the Baptist who has come back to life.  Others say you are Elijah.  We have heard people say that you may be one of our earlier prophets."  Jesus said, "What do you guys think?"  Peter spoke up, as if to summarize what the rest of the disciples were thinking, "You are the Messiah."

    By recalling some history from an earlier day, we can better understand why Peter had such a ready answer. The past history of the Jews had made it very clear to them that their days of supremacy in the world were over.  Ten of their tribes had been carried off and were made slaves by the Assyrians.  The tribes were assimilated into other cultures through interracial marriages and their distinction was lost to history. 

    The Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and again carried the Jews into captivity. Then the Persians became their masters; next came the Greeks and finally the Romans.  For centuries the Jews never knew freedom and independence.  It became clear to the Jews that only God could accomplish what human power was helpless to do.   Peter believed that Jesus was sent by God   to be that Messiah.

    There are a lot of Christians today that firmly believe that we are living in the end times. These believers are more than ready for the Second Coming of Christ.  However, believing that God will send a Savior for a second time is no different from Peter's expectation that salvation will come from some event in the material world.  The realities of history tell a much different story from what believers expect God to do.

    If we think our world is filled with chaos today, we should read some of the material that was being written between the period of the Old and New Testaments.  This material was everywhere in the minds of the Jews which influenced their expectation that God would send a Messiah that would bring judgment.  

    Here are some examples of the kind of thoughts that deeply affected the disciples and inspired Peter's response, "You are the Messiah." From 2nd Baruch we read:

People who were once honorable have turned to shameful deeds.  Strength of spirit has given way to behavior and attitudes that are contemptible.  Envy and strife are rising up within people who never gave self-interest a second thought.  Angry passion has seized those who were once peaceful.  Many have their emotions boiling over with the desire to injure as many people as possible.  Armies will come forth with the mission to destroy those who are not like them.  In the end, everyone will perish together.  (2 Baruch 27)

    From the Mishnah, we read:

Arrogance and blind ambition are rising everywhere.  The government officials have turned to making egotistic-power their new god.  There is no meaningful guidance or instruction coming from anyone.  The synagogue is devoted to lewdness. Galilee will be destroyed.  Compassion is non-existent. Wisdom is hated.  Those who claim to have a relationship with God are lying to themselves and everyone else.

    All the scrolls that survived described what was happening in their world and their beliefs about the nature of God, suggesting that the Messiah would be the most destructive conqueror in history, smashing his enemies into utter extinction. 

    Jesus knew well that there was no room in such a picture like this for a suffering servant who loved his enemies until his last breath.  Jesus had to train his disciples to think differently about the nature of God and the nature of God's Messiah.  Jesus would teach and demonstrate a message that was exactly opposite from what the Jews wanted, needed and expected.

    The disciples did not want to hear about a suffering servant that would show love toward their enemies.  What would God's justice look like by responding to evil-doers with love?

    This is why Jesus began teaching them that the Son of Man must suffer, die and be raised to life after three days.  These statements from Jesus caused Peter to show his bitter contempt toward such an idea.  Jesus told Peter that his egotistic, self-centered attitudes were speaking words that had no part in what he came to teach.  Peter and the disciples never spoke publicly about this matter again.

    The question we have to answer for ourselves this morning is did Jesus make a strong enough case for his followers to live by the same loving, forgiving, generous spirit as God?   If people were incapable of living in this spirit, Jesus would never have taught that it was possible.

    How many cyclical themes of ancient and current history do we have to experience before we realize that the ways of our world are not the ways of God?  Answering this question is when the rubber hits the road for people.  Jesus was giving his disciples the Holy Grail of life by educating them about the nature of God and the kind of people he was inviting them to become.  

    Today, most of us still become unhappy by something happening in our world.  It is as though there are an endless number of roads that lead nowhere.  So many people will not find rest until they have tried all of them.

    We keep hoping that if we had the right government in place, everything in society would operate smoothly.   If only we could find the most wonderful, loving, intimate and emotionally-balanced spouse, our lives would be complete.  If only we could find a job where everyone became like a loving family, we would enjoy our career.   If only we had enough wealth to enter our golden years with total economic freedom, joy would fill those years.  The checklist of everything that would make us happier than we are is nearly endless.   

    All that these if only desires tell us is that we have totally missed where our treasure is located.  If we have a healthy body, there is a 100 percent guarantee that what is making us unhappy at this moment, what is producing disappointment, what is causing us emotional pain and what is holding us back from blossoming is something in the external world.  Somebody or some thing is standing in our way.  This should tell us something.

    Jesus was teaching his disciples to let go of such expectations coming from the world.  Furthermore, Jesus would teach them that the nature of God has nothing to do with God breaking into history and correcting the messes caused by human mistakes.      

    God's nature is not about solving our problems for us.  Even Jesus could not do that for his listeners.  What he could do was to show individuals the kind of Messiah that God sent.  The message Jesus came to teach is still the greatest challenge for us to understand.  The question Jesus could ask each one of us is this:  What good are all the material skills you have learned in this life, when, at your death, your spirit will enter a realm where none of them will have any application?  The skills Jesus taught have only limited priority in many of our lives.

    Jesus surrendered to a group of armed men in the Garden where he had gone to pray.  He experienced being condemned by a group of religious authorities.  He was sentenced to death for a capital crime against Rome and crucified between two thieves.  Jesus' greatest teaching came after he had nails driven into his wrists and ankles.  In essence, Jesus said: 

You people are doing the very best you can in dealing with what you have been taught. I am not your enemy.  Your lack of understanding is the enemy. In the day of your own death, each of you will know what was blocking what I am teaching you now.  I love all of you and I forgive you.

    At that moment, Jesus was literally revealing the forgiving nature of God toward all of us.  He wanted people to understand that each of us has this same ability when we let go of the craziness that is taking place in our world in order to more fully embrace the skills we can use as spirit-beings, e.g., love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, forgiveness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22)   Again, these skills are not given much priority in many people's lives.

    Jesus made a strong case for what life is like in the Kingdom of God.  He demonstrated this reality through his own death.  All things that matter so much to us in this world have no value in the one we will eventually enter.  The material world is perfectly designed to help us perfect the skills that will work anywhere.  Jesus' physical life did not matter.  What mattered was who he was. 

    What matters to us right now is who we are becoming, people that are capable of replacing all our attachments to specific outcomes in this life with loving energy that we freely extend to all those around us.