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Iflt Weren’t for Jesus
Mark 8:27-38
Leigh Campbell-Taylor
Newnan Presbyterian Church, Newnan, Georgia
Mark’s Gospel is the oldest gospel, so that, as the hrst written narrative of the life of Jesus, the Gospel of Mark became major source material for the writers of the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke. Some scholars even see those two later writers as aiming to “correct” Mark’s account; at minimum, they expanded it. One passage that really shows this enlarging of a particular episode is Mark’s telling of TheTemptation of Jesus. Mark gives it to US straight—one sentence: Jesus “was in the wilderness foity days, tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on Him.” Period. Enough said. Well, apparently not for Matthew and Luke, each of whom devotes multiple paragraphs to dramatizing a spectacular showdown between the devil and Jesus: “Turn this stone into bread.” “One does not live by bread alone.” “Serve me and all eaithly power will be yours.” “Serve only God.” “Throw yourself off the pinnacle of the temple for God will surely catch you.” “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” It’s great stuff. But Mark lacks all ol that. Mark simply states that Jesus was “tempted by Satan”; we get no juicy details, no smack-down replies. Until now. In today’s text we have what can be read as Take Two ol how Mark tells “The Temptation ol Jesus.” Jesus is on a roll: He has banished demons and walked on water, stilled storms and healed countless people; He has Led 5,000 and He has Led T,()()(), and He has ticked off the religious authorities at every turn. He’s like a lock star. Jesus has Last become a legend in His own time. But being a legend is not what Jesus is about. And so He does a reality check with those closest to Him: “Who do people say that I am’?” The disciples answer, and you can almost see them watching Him out ol the corner ol their eyes, hoping to catch some secret smile that will tell them they’re getting warm: “John the Baptist… ‘? Elijah… ‘? One ol the prophets… ‘?”And then comes Jesus’ follow-up question: “And who do you say that I am’?” And Peter’s hand shoots up like he’s Hermione Granger in Potions class with Harry Potter, “Ooh Ooh! I know, I know! You’re the Messiah.” Bingo. Then, blammo: Jesus staits talking about suffering, rejection, death. And so Peter “rebukes” Him: “Hang on, Jesus. You’ re the Messiah! The conquering king we’ve been waiting for since forever. So, not now, Jesus. You’ll ruin everything.” Poor Peter; he reminds me ol a friend who once groaned, “You know, il it weren’t for Jesus, being a Christian would be a whole lot easier.” Poor Peter; Jesus really clobbers him: “Get behind me, Satan.” That, ol course, is where the temptation theme comes into play. In this presentation ol it, the temptation ol Jesus has to do with that sticky weakness ol succumbing to human priorities: be the messiah that people want, Jesus, rather than the Messiah that God intends. “Come on, Jesus”—Peter might have said—“Don’t make it hard. The world wants a legend, a lock star, a conquering-king messiah; what the world doesn’t want is a suffering, rejected, shamelully executed messiah.” But Jesus isn’t here to pander to what the world wants. That temptation is easy for Jesus to resist. And so, for poor Peter, things go from bad to worse. With Peter
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standing there dumbstruck, arms ciOssed, eyes stinging, Jesus turns tothe entire crowd. And suddenly, not only is Jesus speaking of His own locky, thorny road. He’s now insisting that anyone who would be His disciple must also walk that road. Jesus tells the crowd that disciples are to deny themselves, take up their ciOsses, and follow after Him. In the context of Lent, we tend to hear the word “deny” and think of giving up treats for six dreary weeks. In fact—and this is absolute fact—at last Thursday’s lunch to celebrate the bilthdays of our Church Secretary and Financial Secretary, when bilthday desseit was being passed aiound the table, I actually heard the Rev. Dr. Harry Barrow say to a colleague, “Get behind me, Satan.” For the record, Harry successfully resisted the temptation at hand. That’s the soit of thing we think of when weheartheword“deny.”Now, this is to take nothing awayfrom Lenten disciplines—I have my own and they are uselul practices—but for right now, rather than thinking ol those give-it-up-lor-Lent things when you hear Jesus’ instructions “deny yourself,” instead translate the word to disown. “”Disown yourself.” Now, put that together with Jesus’ words to Peter, “For you are Locusing not on divine concerns but on human concerns,” Disown human concerns. Jesus is telling US to disown our selves—our concerns, our priorities—and to Locus instead on God’s concerns. Simone Weil, a secular Jew who conveitedto Christianity, once wrote, “1 ؛there is a God, it is not an insignihcant ؛act, but something that requires a radical rethinking ol every little thing. Your knowledge ol God can’t be considered as one ؛act among many. You have to bring all the other ؛acts into line with the ؛act ol God.” So, it we, when conliOnted with Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am’?”—if we are going to answer with Peter that Jesus is the Messiah, the Messiah ol God’s divine intent, not just some human-wish-list messiah—for US to join that claim, we have to come to grips with how God contradicts our expectations, how God’s priorities differ from our impulses, and how, thanks be to God, God’s view ol sinners is more merciful than
OUI’S. Tomorrow, the State ol Georgia is set to kill Kelly Gissendaner. This execution was scheduled for last Wednesday, but the weather prompted a hve-day delay, and so we’re wrestling thiOugh this sermon on the eve ol the execution rather than after it’s already a done deal. This case has been getting extra media attention because Kelly Gissendaner is a woman. And she will be the hrst woman executed in Georgia since 19^, when the State killed Lena Baker (who has since been exonerated). But the thing about this situation that demands our attention isn’t that Kelly Gissendaner is a woman, is it’? Isn’t it that Kelly Gissendaner is scheduled to be killed? I mean, when we take someone’s lile, we are Locusing on human priorities not on God’s priorities. We are following an itch for vengeance instead ol following Jesus. We are denying God’s justice rather than denying our selves. And we are accepting something that would be a whole lot easier to accept il it weren’t for Jesus. You see, long before He Himsell was a victim ol state-sponsored execution, Jesus once had the opportunity to participate in an execution. And, ironically enough for US here in 2015 Georgia, the criminal was a woman. More to the point, she had been caught in a capital crime. The religious law was clear. It said to stone the adulteress! But, standing there in the presence ol Jesus, her accusers, her judge andjury, can’t do it. 1 ؛it weren’t for Jesus, they could have. 1 ؛it weren’t for Jesus, her lile would have been taken rather than transformed.
Lent 2016
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Saying this, I have to acknowledge that many of you may disagree with it, and I rely on you to receive this as an invitation to thoughtful, faithful conversation about an issue that truly matters. You are not called to agree with me. Instead, you—we—are called to deny ourselves, pick up our ciOsses, and follow Jesus. That’s a challenge that even St. Peter struggled with, but I pray it’s made easier by something that Peter seems to have missed in his rush to dehne his messiah rather than listen to him. When Jesus talks of suffering, being rejected, dying and rising again, Peter apparently doesn’t hear that hnal item: suffer, be rejected, be killed, rise again? Peter gets bogged down in the eaily steps of that sequence, letting them blot out the ultimate point. Andl’11 confess I’ve tended to do soit of the same thing with the sequence of instnictions that Jesus delivers to all of US: deny yourself, pick up your CIOSS, and follow me. ΙΊ1 confess I’ve gotten bogged down in the eaily steps—deny myself, pick up my CIOSS, and follow. I’ve gotten bogged down in “What if that’s too hard’?” Which isn’t a silly concern—I mean, Jesus is, after all, talking about suffering and rejection and death. But what if I focus not on myself as follower, but on Jesus, the One to be followed. That’s the gift. We’re not just following human priorities; we get to follow Jesus. We’re not wandering aiound on our own, without hope or direction. We are following Jesus. In other words, God is out there ahead of US, already creating and redeeming and sustaining. To participate in that, even at our hnite human level, we are to deny, disown ourselves and take up our crosses and follow. And, to be clear. Church, you’re already doing some of that. When you volunteer your time, when you contribute your money, even simply being here on Sunday morning is a disowning of human priorities in favor of divine priorities. And tomorrow, would you join in praying for everyone touched by the crime and by the punishment of Kelly Gissendaner’? I believe Jesus will be doing that; I hope we will follow His lead. Because when we follow Jesus, He leads US to this table where we taste God’s forgiveness, time and again. If it weren’t for Jesus, we’d never get there.
Postscript Because the congregation I serve is more conservative than the congregation that helped form me, I hgured this sermon would meet with, perhaps, hfty-hfty appiOval even though its claim seemed very mild to me. In fact, as I held my congregants in thought and prayer during the writing piOcess, the sermon became milder and milder and milder—to the point that I had to send it to my home church’s pastor to be sure I hadn’t failed to make any claim at all! Among his helpful responses was the suggestion that I specihcally invite congregants to talk with me about capital punishment. So, I added the invitation to the sermon and repeated it later in the service. Although no one actually requested that particular conversation, several people thanked me for the offer. After struggling to give all my hearers “a place to stand,” I hnd it deeply moving that simply expressing a willingness to listen and share may have been my most effective pastoral act. Only one parishioner approached to vehemently disagree with the sermon’s asseitions ; many members of this gracious congregation expressed appreciation for the “thought-piOvoking” sermon; and one woman animatedly thanked me for helping her recognize her inconsistency in opposing aboition while supporting the death penalty. Perhaps the conversation that, at a colleague’s urging, I invited my congregation to enter will occur gradually, internally, and with no further words spoken by me.
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