2 Lent/Year B
Feb 28, 2021
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38
Hoping against Hope: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Our gospel reading today begins with some startling words spoken by Jesus: Jesus began to teach his disciples 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. He said all this quite openly.
And from what we saw by Peter’s response, I think it is fair to assume that he was caught totally off-guard – as we saw in the way he reacts so quickly to Jesus’ shocking words…He even goes as far as taking Jesus aside to rebuke him…to criticize him for what he’s saying…to tell Jesus to stop talking like that….
And Jesus responds just as quickly as Peter reacted…He turned and looked 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.”
And just as quickly as this whole exchange just unfolded…Jesus urges them to listen again to what he was saying….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. 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.
I don’t know about you….but I’m still trying to catch up with all this back and forth between Jesus and Peter and the disciples and the crowds….and wondering what? What are you saying Jesus?
Peter and the disciples have got to be thinking out loud here, too….All this time we’ve been following you Jesus…and you’ve been doing some pretty amazing things…healing people, teaching us about trusting God, to have faith in God, teaching us to love God and our neighbors, and all of creation, and you’ve been performing some pretty amazing miracles…what’s all this talk about Satan, and telling me I’m focusing on human things and not divine things…what do you mean , if we want to become your followers that we have to deny ourselves, and have to take up our cross to follow you… what do you mean when you say to us…
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.
Here’s where I am going with all of these questions this week…
We have just started the season of Lent, which began on Ash Wednesday, with an invitation to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word…..some of us take these words to heart, and give up some things, some take on some new things…some do a combination of both….as we set out with our intentions to walk with Jesus, to follow him more closely….all the way to the cross on Good Friday of Holy week, and all the way to the glorious resurrection on Easter Day…
We don’t enter this season of Lent with already having the answers to all these questions…or any questions the scriptures bring up in our human minds, and in our human hearts…In fact, the scriptures should always lead us to more questions, more wonderings…and always asking…How can this be? The Word of God, does have a way of helping us to wrestle with our default of setting our minds on human things, and not on divine things….they help us wrestle with our faith…who and what we put our hope and our faith in? Do we have the faith of Abraham, hoping against hope…Do we really understand what it really looks like to be a follower of Jesus?
This season of Lent is meant to be a season of asking hard questions…it’s meant to make us uncomfortable….maybe to feel a little more disoriented at first….but as we let our minds and hearts be transformed by the love of God, in this holy season of Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word…we will emerge from this time of wrestling in the wilderness of Lent…knowing that all along, we have never been left to navigate this ever-changing world, these days of such uncertainty, without the one who is always there to lead us and guide us, and walk with us always…
Jesus is always ready to lead us….if we would yet trust, that he knows the way…and to turn once again to set our eyes, our hearts, and our whole selves towards following him….
And one of the best things I saw this past week to remind me of what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus….is the image of a walking route a little boy and his dad took on the streets of Sitka recently…
When we decide to follow Jesus…it’s not a clear cut line from point A to point B to point C, etc…. it’s not a clear path from start to finish…from beginning to ending…but it will usually end up looking much more like these images…with twists and turns everywhere…..starts and stops here and there…***see attachments
But hoping against hope…even when our human minds say none of this makes sense… with faith, we say yes, anyway….and say yes, Jesus…we will follow you ….wherever you lead us…
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, AK
Hymn after sermon: LEVSII – 144 – Where He Leads Me
1 I can hear my Savior calling, (x3)
“Take thy cross and follow, follow me.”
Where He leads me I will follow, (x3)
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.
2 I’ll go with Him through the garden, (x3)
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.
Refrain
3 I’ll go with Him through the judgement, (x3)
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.
Refrain
4 He will give me grace and glory, (x3)
And go with me, with me all the way.
Refrain