Dearest e-votees-
Our imaginations and our motivations are fundamentally different than those of God.
When we try to force God into boxes of our own making things go very badly. God will not be constrained by us. In our better moments we would never think to try to do so.
Peace,
Karl
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21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Matthew 16:21-28, NRSV
We dwell in a world that flies in the face of Jesus' call to deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow after him.
Rather than the loosing and binding that Jesus empowered the church to do in last week's text we flip it all around.
We seek to bind Jesus. Or if not to bind him and least to constrain him and shape him to our way of thinking. Rather than let Jesus lead and have us follow faithfully we seek to get him to follow our lead. Peter was earnest and caring but couldn't have been more mistaken in trying to sway Jesus from his path towards the cross. Do you suppose in our own ways we, too, try to tame Jesus and his radical call to discipleship? And if so do you think his response to us would be any less stinging than "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
We seek to loose ourselves. Or if not completely loose ourselves to at least to take great liberty with the freedoms we have in Christ. We buy into the lies that somehow our worth is determined by the quantity and quality of our possessions. We trust Madison Avenue when they say that "If you just buy this next thing you will find satisfaction and fulfillment." And then when we bite they say it again. And again. And again. The disastrous housing market collapse was in part driven by our insatiable drive to upgrade and upsize even when we our covetousness is unsustainable. We seek to gain the whole world (or at least a remarkably disproportionate share of it). And in the process our life dribbles away and we end up with an armful of death.
The bottom line is that when we see Jesus we see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. It is not fully realized yet but it is coming. It is better than any shiny bauble the world will ever dangle before us. It takes us to the cross and to the empty tomb. It is how Jesus chose to show God's love to the world and it is an honor and privilege to be counted worthy to follow in his footsteps. The glory of the kingdom of God looks nothing like the "glory" of the world. Isn't that glorious?!?
God, bind us to you and loose us from Satan's unholy grip. Amen.
Our imaginations and our motivations are fundamentally different than those of God.
When we try to force God into boxes of our own making things go very badly. God will not be constrained by us. In our better moments we would never think to try to do so.
Peace,
Karl
------------
21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
We dwell in a world that flies in the face of Jesus' call to deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow after him.
Rather than the loosing and binding that Jesus empowered the church to do in last week's text we flip it all around.
We seek to bind Jesus. Or if not to bind him and least to constrain him and shape him to our way of thinking. Rather than let Jesus lead and have us follow faithfully we seek to get him to follow our lead. Peter was earnest and caring but couldn't have been more mistaken in trying to sway Jesus from his path towards the cross. Do you suppose in our own ways we, too, try to tame Jesus and his radical call to discipleship? And if so do you think his response to us would be any less stinging than "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
We seek to loose ourselves. Or if not completely loose ourselves to at least to take great liberty with the freedoms we have in Christ. We buy into the lies that somehow our worth is determined by the quantity and quality of our possessions. We trust Madison Avenue when they say that "If you just buy this next thing you will find satisfaction and fulfillment." And then when we bite they say it again. And again. And again. The disastrous housing market collapse was in part driven by our insatiable drive to upgrade and upsize even when we our covetousness is unsustainable. We seek to gain the whole world (or at least a remarkably disproportionate share of it). And in the process our life dribbles away and we end up with an armful of death.
The bottom line is that when we see Jesus we see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. It is not fully realized yet but it is coming. It is better than any shiny bauble the world will ever dangle before us. It takes us to the cross and to the empty tomb. It is how Jesus chose to show God's love to the world and it is an honor and privilege to be counted worthy to follow in his footsteps. The glory of the kingdom of God looks nothing like the "glory" of the world. Isn't that glorious?!?
God, bind us to you and loose us from Satan's unholy grip. Amen.
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