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Get your own, Free HomepageDr. Susan Lukwago
Next picture this: We’re between services and you and a friend are discussing what you are going to give up for Lent. You discuss chocolate, soda, fries, going to bars and are so into the conversation you don’t realize that our Senior Pastor, Rev Jesus Christ, has come up behind you. And what does He say? He doesn’t offer more suggestions of things to give up, instead He says “Satan, get away from me! You are thinking like everyone else and not like God.” Whoa! What did He say? Satan? Did He call me Satan? Get away from me? I am not thinking like God? That sounds like something that would never happen!
Well guess what? A situation like that did happen. And it happened to one of Jesus’ closest followers and a great example to us, of a disciple. In the reading today, Jesus is telling His disciples what will happen to Him. How cool would that be, being right there with Jesus? Talking to Him and listening to Him, human-to-human? Touching Him, seeing Him nod when you speak. It might also be intimidating though. After all, it is Jesus, the Son of God. He knows us and can see through us. He can see stuff about us that we don’t want others to know. He will tell it like He sees it, just like He did back then.
He said, “The nation’s leaders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law of Moses will make me suffer terribly. I will be rejected and killed, but three days later I will rise to life.” Now from our perspective today we have most of us, heard the story of Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection many times and because of our relationship with Him, we believe it. However, imagine being Peter or one of the other disciples back then. The person you have come to rely on for leadership, direction, teaching and hope tells you He is going to suffer terribly, be rejected and killed. And then on the third day He will rise. What would your reaction be? “What?” “No way, Jesus.” “We love you. We will not let that happen.” “What do you mean rejected?” “And what do you mean rise to life?”
And Jesus who knows us so well, because He made us, goes on to explain clearly what He meant. Thank God that when we don’t understand what Jesus is saying to us, He is willing to explain clearly what He means. He was human and can speak to us in a way we can understand. The thing is though, the thing is always, that we need to be willing to take the time and quiet energy to listen. And in our gospel today, Peter was not quite ready to listen.
Peter still wanted Jesus to stop talking about His coming rejection and death. Perhaps it was because Peter and the disciples planned not to let anything bad happen to Jesus. Perhaps it was because Peter thought Jesus was “not encouraging the other disciples by speaking of the bad that would happen.” We don’t know exactly, but Peter told Jesus to stop talking in the way He was. Stop and think about that for a few seconds. Peter was telling Jesus what to do. That sheds some light on why Jesus said what He did to Peter.
But I am not judging Peter because let me ask you this. Do we tell Jesus what to do? Do you tell Jesus what to do? Do I do that? I am afraid the answer is yes. We know how things should go – especially in our lives and the lives of those we care about and love. If Jesus was our beloved Senior Pastor before His death and resurrection, and told us what he told Peter and the disciples, we might have responded the same way. And in our lives today, we pray and ask for God’s help with something, an answer to a situation, help in making a decision. For example, “Lord I need your help in knowing how to have a relationship with Stephanie because she gets on my (gay) nerves and we serve on the same ministry team.” Or, “Lord I need your help in deciding how much money to give You this month, if any at all.” Or, “Lord, I am trying to decide what to give up for Lent.” And you hear an answer.
How do you know it is an answer from Jesus? Because it is a quiet answer that you hear in your heart and you know that it is the thing to do. Sometimes it is insistent … something that just does not go away. Sometimes someone says something seemingly random and it resonates in your heart. “You know we should all send Stephanie a card and let her know how much we appreciate what she does for the Communication team.” Someone says to you, “I just started giving 5% of my pay to the church and amazingly I still have enough to pay the bills and a little extra to live.” And Jesus, our Senior Pastor who came up behind when you were having the conversation with your friend, says to you “it is not so much what you give up but what you do to get closer to me. So during Lent, please talk to God every day – even for 10 seconds – before your feet hit the floor out of bed.”
Bottom-line is, you hear an answer from Jesus but it is not quite the answer you want so you quietly – or not so quietly – say “I can’t do that for Stephanie,” or “I can’t give you that much Lord. I won’t be able to pay all my bills and have a little let over to breath.” Or, “Jesus, I need all the sleep I can get. You know I’ll talk to God on the way to work.” Well guess what, in all those responses, you are telling Jesus not to talk in the way that He is. Think about it.
And what does Jesus do? He corrects us, just as He corrected Peter. In private, or in front of other people. The good thing is that Jesus is an equal opportunity corrector. If we are willing to listen, we can all hear from Him. And it seems like when He is done with that, He is done. In the gospel today after the correction He invited the disciples and the crowd to come closer to Him. So our Senior Pastor Jesus would be accessible too, and that is a good thing.
Then comes the sermon: verses 34-38. “If you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself.” This one is easy to understand. Jesus is just letting us know that in order to follow Him, we must put Him first in our lives. We cannot put ourselves first in our lives with Jesus second and claim to serve Him.
Next Jesus says, “If you want to be My followers, you must take up your cross and follow Me.” You know many years ago, or perhaps today still in some countries, there is a price to pay if you put Jesus first in your life and follow Him. In this country, as far as I know, that is not the case. A couple of weeks ago there was a case in the 9th circuit court challenging the use of the word “God” in various aspects of the American life like the Pledge of Allegiance. However this was not upheld and so we continue to have the freedom to choose the God we serve and don’t have that particular cross to bear in serving Christ.
What I think the cross we are called to bear today refers to is choosing to do what Jesus would do in any situation. To be honest, when it is not easy. To be faithful, in the face of temptation. To spend time with Christ when it would be easier to sleep in. To nurture a hurting friend when it would be more fun to spend time with happier friends. You get the idea. Ask Jesus He will show you the cross He has planned for you.
“If you want to save your life, you will destroy it.” I think this is another “stop the presses” statement! Whatever do you mean, Jesus, that if I want to save my life I will destroy it. I know You Lord. I love You Jesus. I talk to You and listen to You everyday. I try to live in Your Will at all times. And I also want to live a good life. Does that mean save it? And if I do does that mean I will destroy it? I think not. Again I think Jesus is making the point that if we live for ourselves first, we will destroy ourselves. If we live selfishly, just for ourselves, we will end up destroying our lives. There is of course a “good” selfish – which is taking care of yourself. But again, because we have a relationship with Jesus, He helps us save our lives without destroying them.
And so it says in the very next verse. “But if you give up your life for me and for the Good News, you will save it.” What Jesus adds on to the invitation to give our lives to Him, is the invitation to give our lives up for the Good News of Jesus Christ’s love. You know as I worked on this message, I kept thinking about the phrase “give up your life.” It comes up often and as I mentioned earlier, it truly has a different meaning in our country today. Yet it is still relevant today. Jesus asks us to give up our lives for the Good News.
I want to pause for 1 minute and make sure I am not making any assumptions as we share God’s word today. So I have some questions. Does the name “Jesus Christ” mean anything to you? Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you know Him personally? Do you talk with Him? Do you listen to Him? When He asks you to give up your life, do you know what that means? Do you know what the “good news” is? I hope so. All but the last question are for you to answer. I have shared the answer to the last question because we just discussed the Good News. These are important questions, my brothers and sisters. And I believe it is important to know the answers. Our relationships with God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit are what changes our lives.
“What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself?” You remember, Jesus faced this. In fact we will be reading about this temptation again in the coming weeks. He said no to that temptation. I say the answer to the question “what will you gain if you own the whole world but destroy yourself” is “nothing.” Absolutely nothing. Three weeks ago Forbes came out with the list of the world’s richest people. You know who is on the top? Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Oprah, the Wal-Mart family and others. Now they own the world. Hopefully they have not destroyed themselves in the process. No amount of happiness is worth destroying ourselves. None. No person, no property, no food, nothing, is worth jeopardizing yours or my physical, mental, spiritual or emotional health.
Because if you destroy yourself, “What could you give back to get back your soul?” Hopefully you do not cause irreparable damage in seeking your happiness. Jesus always forgives us. Always. There is no irreparable damage. That is the reason He came to earth as a human, lived and died and then rose again: so that He might know what we go through and to create a bridge between us and God. What causes the breech between us and God is sin and so even if we do something awful, Jesus made the way for us to get back in relationship with God. But loosing our souls? That is a big one. I am not sure how you would loose your soul without dying, and I am not sure how you would get it back, except to say that asking and relying on the powerful divine power of God is the only way.
“Don’t be ashamed of me and my message among these unfaithful and sinful people! If you are, the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when He comes in the glory of His Father with the Holy angels.” That sounds a little like conditional love. “If you are ashamed of me, then I will be ashamed of you.” Actually it isn’t. I interpret this as further encouragement to share the message of Jesus’ love … encouragement to not be ashamed of the Good News. And the phrase “unfaithful and sinful people,” well, that is all of us. Without God, thanks to Adam and Eve, we are all unfaithful and sinful. Thanks to Jesus, on the other hand, we are children of God, saints even … saints who will be with Jesus and His Father and the angels when this life is over. Don’t you sometimes really look forward to our next life with the Lord? I do.
So in the coming weeks as we think again about what Jesus did for us in becoming human, living dying and rising for us, let us not forget to be thankful. Put Jesus first. Listen to Him – the sooner you do the better because He will keep seeking your attention and explaining His Love to you until you get it. Because we choose to come to this church, or any other Christian church, we accept Jesus Christ as our true Senior Pastor and Shepherd. How fortunate we are, aren’t we! Please pray with me.
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