The Rev. Paul J Cain, Jr.
St. Matthew 16:21-26
Take Up Your Cross and Follow
Proper [17] (A), 28 August 2011
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Sheridan, Wyoming
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It was all
going so well. St. Peter said the right things by faith, by a revelation from
the Father. “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Peter confessed.
And our Lord responded, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah…And I tell you, you
are Peter…” Watch today for Peter’s new nickname.
From that
time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
on the third day be raised.
“From that
time” refers to verses 13-20 of Matthew 16, last Sunday’s Gospel. Today’s
lesson continues from that point and builds upon it as an important context,
especially for contrast.
From that
time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and stiffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
on the third day be raised. And Peter
took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord!
This shall never happen to you."
Jesus' prophecy described a Christ, a Son of the Living God
that Peter did not expect-or want. Suffering is not a pleasant thing to behold,
or experience. This isn't the kind of Messiah many of the time were expecting.
Where is the conquering hero? Where is the man who will get Rome off of our
backs and lead us to greatness? Peter was not just speaking for himself when he
said, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you."
The God that Our Lord reveals Himself to be in the Word is
often not the kind of God you would like to have, is He? Humans are very
creative in coming up with idols, even to the point of taking what we like
about the one true God and tailoring Him to conform to our idiosyncrasies and
cravings.
Think about how far off base some individuals and religions
get: Don't like that God has revealed Himself as a He? Pray to Our Mother who
art in heaven. That's what some falsely say. Do you think that these miracles
are just too much to swallow? Find
rational explanations to replace Biblical truth, or take Thomas Jefferson's
solution-simply cut all the miracles out of the New Testament. Think that the
real presence of Christ's Body and Blood in Communion and that Baptism can
actually forgive the sins of infants are both too hard to swallow? Just deny
them like most of Protestantism.
Clip here. Cut here. Trim there. Omit this. Deny that. Maybe
even add something in from Asia or something you came up with yourself. All we
have then are new idols, not truth, custom religions that are extremely
creative ways of denying and trespassing the First Commandment. You shall have
no other Gods before me. That means, no Gods other than the God who has
revealed Himself in the Bible, and precisely how the one true God has
revealed Himself to be. No additions. No deletions. No doubt. See what Jesus
calls such a one who denies who He has revealed Himself to be.
Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him, saying,
"Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." But he [Jesus]turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting
your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
First off,
rebuking Our Lord is not a good activity to be engaged in. Our God does not
lie. Nor does He tolerate error. Error
leads to sin, condemnation, and eternal separation from God. Truth leads to
life, purity, holiness, and eternal life.
What are you setting your mind upon? That you are here today
partially answers that question. It is
possible, however, to be physically here but mentally or spiritually
absent. I've been there. Our minds do tend to wander, especially
during a sermon or a long prayer.
It honestly gives me a heartache to look out among your
faces and note so many dear ones not with us. It should grieve you, too. When
part of the Body of Christ is missing, the body is incomplete-not equipped with
all of the gifts which God gave to it.
I thank God for you. It does my heart good to see so many
responding to the Lord's Word and receiving His gifts. Your presence is an encouragement
to me as well as your fellow believers and an encouragement to continue
steadfast in the call which you sent me. Continue therefore in the good work
God has begun in you. Continue to come to the Lord’s house-not for my sake, or
merely my encouragement-but because He has good gifts for you here. Let us not
give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing.
Labor Day weekend or not, it doesn't matter. Jesus' words
still urge us to set our minds on the things of God, rather than the things of
man.
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the
whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his
life?
Author Mack Stiles tells the story of how he led a young man
from Sweden named Andreas to Christ. One part of their conversation is
especially interesting:
Andreas said, “I've been told that [when I] follow Jesus, He
will meet my needs and my life will get very good."
This seemed to Andreas to be a point in Christianity's
favor. But Mack faced a temptation-to
make it sound [different] than it is. He didn't succumb.
"No, Andreas, no!" Mack said.
Andreas blinked his surprise.
"Actually, Andreas, you may [become a Christian] and
find that life goes very badly for you."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, you may find that your friends reject you, you
could lose your job, your family might oppose [the idea]-there are a lot of bad
things [in this life] that may happen to you…Andreas, when Jesus calls you, He
calls you to go the way of the cross.”
Andreas stared at Mack and asked the obvious: "Then why
would I want to follow Jesus?
Sadly, this is the question that stumps many people, (end
quote) especially our young people and those who haven't seen Biblical,
Gospel-rich Christianity before. For some reason they feel that unless we're
meeting people's felt needs, their needs, their demands, they won't follow
Christ. Yet this is not the Gospel.
The Gospel is that Jesus must go to Jerusalem and suffer
many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and
on the third day be raised. There Jesus dealt with our real need, a far more
important need than what we feel we need, one that most people don't even
realize, much less feel or admit to feeling. Sin. Separation from God. Guilt.
Shame. And their ultimate consequence, hell.
The Church of Christ has been given to stick with the Truth,
not what merely feels right, good, or popular. Felt needs come and go. If we
merely responded to only them, we would be a social organization specializing
in sociological, social, and psychological solutions. We would be abandoning
the cross of Christ, that which sets us apart, and that which meets our true
needs.
Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Just like Andreas suddenly discovered, the
Christian life is not a bed of roses in this world. It's tough. It's
difficult. Ridicule, persecution, and
martyrdom are not pleasant possibilities.
"Why would I want to follow Jesus?" Consider these
words of Our Lord: "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains
the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for
his life?"
"Why would I want to follow Jesus?" To find your
life, your true life in Christ, the beginning of the restoration of creation.
Life in place of death. Resurrection to glory-not decay and resurrection to
punishment. Eternal Life-bliss itself and an escape from eternal torment.
Strength to accompany you through anything and everything that this
world throws at you. That's a great alternative to pain, sleepless nights,
worry, hopelessness, and innumerable unanswerable questions. Why?
Life. Life not available anywhere
else.
Then Jesus told his disciples, "if anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(Veith) One of the best books on the theology of the cross
is by Richard Eyer, who for years served as a hospital chaplain, ministering to
the sick and the dying. In Pastoral Care
Under the Cross, Pastor Eyer tells of a patient, Mr. Witti who required
kidney dialysis and was in intensive care following open-heart surgery. Wherever Pastor Eyer would pray with
him-asking that God's will would be done—Mr. Witti, following a common Lutheran
custom, would make the sign of the cross.
When his daughter visited him, however, she would be all
smiles, bubbling over with reassurances, telling her father not to worry, that
God would heal him. "But somehow her father doesn’t seem comforted by
this," Pastor Eyer recalls, "and turns to me to make the sign of the
cross." The daughter believes that having enough faith will lead to
healing. "There is no place for weakness and suffering in her
understanding of the will of God." But while she is busy trying to get God
to surrender to her will, her father has surrendered to the will of God.
"He knows that it is the cross that lies at the heart of one's confidence
in the Lord."
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the
whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his
life?
What
indeed? The whole world for a moment would not be worth forfeiting your eternal
soul to hell. Take up your cross and follow. Jesus understands what it means to
take up a cross. He will be there at your side as you bear yours. You’re not in
this alone. Your Lord is with you. The cross is central because there Christ
won reconciliation with God and salvation for you. Therefore, take up your
cross and follow. Amen.
The peace
of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
