Dearest e-votees-
As we draw deeper into Lent our gospel text for this Sunday has Jesus telling his disciples about the trajectory he is on--suffering, rejection, death (in short, the cross). He also reveals that he will not remain dead. Peter pushes back. Jesus pushes back harder. Where are we when it comes to our plans versus God's plans when push comes to shove?
Peace,
Karl
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31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:31-38, NRSV
There are the things of God--the divine. There are the things of people--the human. There are times when those may be in synch. There are times when they seem diametrically opposed. How is that we are to discern which is which?
Peter will have none of this talk from Jesus about suffering, rejection and death. Perhaps Peter didn't sign up to be on the losing side. Perhaps Peter is afraid that what happens to Jesus might befall his followers as well (which, in fact, it did--church tradition holds that 11 of the 12 apostles died premature and violent deaths). Perhaps Peter's understanding of the Messiah was not robust enough to make room for redemption through the cross and the empty tomb. Whatever Peter's qualms with Jesus' revelation were they prompted him to pull Jesus aside and attempt a redirect.
Jesus rebuked Peter's rebuke (threebuked?). Jesus tells Peter that his mind is not on the divine realms but the human realms. Jesus pointedly says that his followers must take up their crosses and follow after him. In losing our lives life is found. In denying ourselves to follow after Christ our truest self comes to the fore--we enter into what we were created to be. I am reminded of the oft-quoted line from the journal of Jim Elliot (a modern day martyr): "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." (check out source of quote). The call on us is to forsake the things that distract us from God. In the losing is the finding. In the forgoing is the blessing. In the death is the life. These are truths that run contrary to our human ways.
How do we let the divine enter into our thoughts and ways? Perhaps through prayer. Perhaps through scripture. Perhaps through community that challenges and abrades us from time to time. Perhaps in lingering in that quote from Jim Elliot. Perhaps in the cross. Which is why we sojourn that way in this season of Lent.
God, make our ways more like your own. Give us courage to embrace what you reveal and to seek you more than any other charm or shadowy counterfeit. Amen.
As we draw deeper into Lent our gospel text for this Sunday has Jesus telling his disciples about the trajectory he is on--suffering, rejection, death (in short, the cross). He also reveals that he will not remain dead. Peter pushes back. Jesus pushes back harder. Where are we when it comes to our plans versus God's plans when push comes to shove?
Peace,
Karl
------------
31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
There are the things of God--the divine. There are the things of people--the human. There are times when those may be in synch. There are times when they seem diametrically opposed. How is that we are to discern which is which?
Peter will have none of this talk from Jesus about suffering, rejection and death. Perhaps Peter didn't sign up to be on the losing side. Perhaps Peter is afraid that what happens to Jesus might befall his followers as well (which, in fact, it did--church tradition holds that 11 of the 12 apostles died premature and violent deaths). Perhaps Peter's understanding of the Messiah was not robust enough to make room for redemption through the cross and the empty tomb. Whatever Peter's qualms with Jesus' revelation were they prompted him to pull Jesus aside and attempt a redirect.
Jesus rebuked Peter's rebuke (threebuked?). Jesus tells Peter that his mind is not on the divine realms but the human realms. Jesus pointedly says that his followers must take up their crosses and follow after him. In losing our lives life is found. In denying ourselves to follow after Christ our truest self comes to the fore--we enter into what we were created to be. I am reminded of the oft-quoted line from the journal of Jim Elliot (a modern day martyr): "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." (check out source of quote). The call on us is to forsake the things that distract us from God. In the losing is the finding. In the forgoing is the blessing. In the death is the life. These are truths that run contrary to our human ways.
How do we let the divine enter into our thoughts and ways? Perhaps through prayer. Perhaps through scripture. Perhaps through community that challenges and abrades us from time to time. Perhaps in lingering in that quote from Jim Elliot. Perhaps in the cross. Which is why we sojourn that way in this season of Lent.
God, make our ways more like your own. Give us courage to embrace what you reveal and to seek you more than any other charm or shadowy counterfeit. Amen.
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