Mark 8:31-38

Peter Rebuked

Poor old Peter! One minute he gets it spot on:

Jesus asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah. (Mark 8:29)

The next, he’s being told:

‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ (Mark 8:33)

How can Peter go from getting it so right, to getting it so wrong? Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. He has correctly identified Jesus as the Messiah – God’s anointed king – but his idea of what a Messiah ought to be is a very human one. He knows what he expects from God’s chosen one; and it doesn’t include suffering, rejection and death. Jesus has to work with Peter and the other disciples to help them reach the point where they understand that his mission will only be accomplished by him walking the path of suffering. Yes, there will be resurrection. But that will not come until Jesus has been humbly obedient to God, even to death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). Jesus will not get to Easter, without going through Holy Week and Good Friday.

Follow Me!

Having told them that he is on his way to death, Jesus looks at them and says, “So, who’s coming with me?”! It’s hardly a winning sales-pitch! Who in their right mind would want to follow him? Jesus seems to spend more time discouraging people from becoming his followers than inviting them to follow him!

‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 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. (Mark 8:34, 35)

It’s easy for a preacher to labour this: to lay on the guilt, to spread it thickly! ‘You know that you are not the Christian that you ought to be! You are not really following Jesus, are you?’ And Lent can easily become a guilt-fest. To deny yourself means putting yourself at the bottom of the pile, the back of the queue; being harsh with yourself. (Take it from me, those who preach like that probably aren’t doing it either!)
But what if to deny yourself really means to find yourself? What if, what Jesus really means is that we deny the false view of ourselves that the world has given us? The one in which we think we are worth what we earn? That our value is linked to our dress size or waist measurement? Or to the number of followers we have on Facebook or Twitter?
What if denying yourself meant denying the lies that the world has told you about yourself and discovering your true self? Who you are in Christ and nothing else? Denying that you are what you own, and discovering that you were made in God’s image; that you are someone for whom Christ died; that you are the temple in which God dwells by his Spirit. That you were baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus; and that your old self died with Christ so that your new, true self could live?
What if losing your life meant losing the false life of material wealth, social standing, prestige and power; and finding your true life – the life in which you simply know that you are loved for who you are and not for what you might acquire or accomplish?
There is no end to human acquisitiveness. But it is costly!

For what will it profit [you] to gain the whole world and forfeit [your] life? Indeed, what can [you] give in return for [your] life? (Mark 8:36)

Priorities

During Lent we invited to reconsider our priorities. As Christians, we are invited to consider where true wealth is found. Jesus says:

‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19, 20)

The trouble is that we know that… But, as John Wesley said:

“the last part of a man to be converted is his wallet”.

Martin Luther said,

“Every man needs two conversions: the first his heart, the second of his wallet”.

The difficulty of preaching on these passages is the fact that you know, and I know, that the church is struggling to pay its bills! That the church needs more money! You can see how it works: during Lent we make you feel guilty about your attitude to money and material things. Then we follow that up by offering a solution: you feel bad about how much money you have? Let the church help you! Give us your money! Problem solved!
How nice it would be to preach on money in a church that had no financial difficulties! We would still have to do it, because Jesus talks about money all the time. It’s impossible to avoid, if you preach on the gospel each Sunday. Jesus knows how dangerous money is: you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). You cannot pursue earthly wealth and spiritual life!
How good it would be to preach on that from a position where the church did not need your money! A friend who served in the RAF was a regular worshipper at the chapel on base. He told me that the chapel expenses and the chaplain’s stipend were met by the RAF. Those who went to chapel on Sundays didn’t need to contribute at all to the costs of running the chapel or maintaining its services. But they still took a collection, which was then given away to other charitable causes. They didn’t take the collection because the chapel needed the money. They took a collection because it was an important part of Christian discipleship to give.
We give to put money in its place. To show it who’s boss.

Conclusion

You sometimes hear it said that “money is the root of all evil”. You may have said it yourself. You may have said it, thinking that it is a quotation from the bible. It isn’t. What the bible says is:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Not ‘money’ but ‘the love of money’. You don’t have to look far to see that some use religion to get rich. It works! But it’s ‘a root of all kinds of evil’. The love of money tempts us to wander away from the faith, and that is painful! The love of money is destructive. And so the bible warns us against it. Not against money, which can be used for beautiful and loving and compassionate purposes, but against the love of money.
How nice it would be to preach on that text without following it up with an appeal for more money in the collection plate! Sadly, we are not in that position. But Lent is as good a time as any to consider where money sits in our list of priorities. The love of money tempts us to save our own lives, to live for ourselves, for self-gratification. The gospel invites us to put money in its place, and, in so doing, to find ourselves – to live.
As a church, we have a vision of what we believe God has called us to:

• Sharing the love of Jesus, with all, through friendship, prayer and service. (St Matthew’s)
• Reaching out in God’s love and friendship. (St Cross)

How can we support that vision this Lent? In particular, where does our attitude to money fit in to that vision?