Take Up Your Cross

Sermon Text for September 24:
Mark 8:27-9:1

The sun was blistering hot and few people were out on the road. In fact they had seen no one else since the sun reached its zenith. Jesus and the disciples had seen much of Israel in the three years they had been together. But none of the disciples could figure out what they were doing here. They were in the extreme northern part of Israel. Lebanon was just over there to the left and ahead and a little bit to the right was Syrian territory. Why had Jesus brought them here?

The disciples saw it together. It was a little strip of green winding its way through the brown dried grass. The green meant shade and maybe even water. The disciples ran toward it, hoping for a few moments respite from the awful heat. And they found what they wanted: a stream and beautiful green trees towering above the walls of the narrow canyon. It was like heaven on earth, as if life itself emanated from this Eden.

And then the disciples knew where they were. There was no mistaking it: they saw a gleaming temple for Emperor worship. Statues of pagan gods. The cave where his followers said the nymph-like god Pan was born. The smell of rotting sacrifices the faithful had made to some god or another. Jesus had taken them right into the heart of enemy territory. Surely demons lurked behind the boulders or at the bend of the stream. The disciples were in mortal danger and they knew it. Perhaps the arch-demon Satan himself was there. They were panicked when they looked at Jesus for help. He was the only one with the power to protect them from the pervasive evil of this place. Why had Jesus brought them here? Of all the places they could have gone, why had Jesus chosen Caesarea Philippi?

When they gathered around Jesus he did not seem concerned, in fact, he wasn’t worried at all. He looked at the disciples and said, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples were stunned. This clearly was not the time to play twenty questions. “Who do people say that I am?” The disciple knew that they were not going to get out of there unless they answered, so they played along. “John the Baptist,” they said, “and others, Elijah and still others one of the prophets.” Can we leave now please!? But Jesus needed more. It is one thing to talk about Jesus in the safety of one's own country, surrounded by one’s friends. It is quite another to confess him when danger lurks all around. “Who do you say that I am?” “Peter answered you are the Messiah. And Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about him.”

Even today Caesarea Philippi is an Eden-like oasis in the middle of a vast sea of brown grass, sand, and desert plants. It is a place of life, where everything around seems to be dead. A strip of different shades of green follows the river that runs through Caesarea Philippi. It is easy to see why ancient people believed that Caesarea Philippi was the home of the gods, and why they erected shrines and temples for the deities. But for first century people it was also a place of danger. The gods and genies were not necessarily benevolent. The disciples could be possessed by an evil spirit just as easily as anyone else.

To those who were spiritually attuned Caesarea Philippi seemed to be magical and mystical – truly a place of Harry Potteresque holiness. It was not a safe place to profess one god over another because the believer ran the risk of unleashing the wrath of the other gods or their followers. It is in this atmosphere that Jesus asked the disciples for a confession. “Who do you say that I am.” Only Peter dared to make his confession under these circumstances, unfortunately he didn’t know what he was talking about. “You are the Messiah”, he said. “Even if I make all of the other gods here angry, you are the Messiah.”

Jesus commanded that the disciples not tell anyone. It is what scholars call the “Messianic secret”. Jesus then began to teach the disciples what the Messiah would do. He was going to fall into the hands of sinners, suffer, and die. It was not at all what the disciples expected. Peter was crushed. He was stunned beyond belief. He spent his whole life looking for a triumphant Messiah, and Jesus talked about a suffering and apparently defeated Messiah. How disappointing! Who needs that kind of Messiah?

Jesus called the people around him and said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me.” This is one of the most difficult teachings in scripture. First of all some of the people in the crowd may have been in Caesarea Philippi to worship their local god. We wonder how they might receive such an invitation. And as for us, it almost forces us to make a decision about our lives. It demands that we decide if we want to be a disciple. If the answer is “no,” then there is nothing more to talk about. But if we want to follow Jesus he tells us what we have to do.

He says, “If any want to become my followers let them deny themselves.” Self-denial for Peter meant giving up lifelong dreams of what the Messiah would look like. He had to give up and set aside those precious internal images of the Messiah that he had nurtured since his youth. For the followers of other gods, it meant giving up lifelong devotion to a deity carved out of wood or stone. We may have a similar problem. I doubt if any of us believe in the same Jesus. We know about the Messiah because of the teaching of parents, Sunday school teachers, and friends. And what we believe about him is deeply personal. Jesus asks us to set aside any preconceived idea about who he is and what he is like, that is self denial. He calls us to set aside those parts of ourselves where we keep our false messiah, so that the real Messiah can be made known. That is self denial. And that is a lifelong task.

He calls us to “Take up the cross, and follow”. This is perhaps the most confusing teaching because in literal terms we cannot do it. But let’s not give up hope. It is too important. Christians believe that the cross is the instrument of reconciliation; that when Jesus died on the cross he bridged the gap between God and humanity; and that he broke down “the dividing walls of hostility” between people. So for us to take up the cross is to live the life of a reconciler; to become active in a life or ministry of reconciliation. It is to join with others to “make a miracle” by inviting people into relationships instead of pushing them away.

To follow the Messiah in this way is as dangerous as confessing Jesus in the home of the gods, demons, and genies. It automatically sets us apart from those whose values are different and who follow other gods. It even sets us apart from Christians who have not started the journey of self denial and cross carrying.

Friends let's “make a miracle together” by encouraging each other to discover the Jesus of scripture, by sharing devotion to a life of reconciliation and by joining together in a lifelong search for true discipleship.

Copyright © 2006 by Dwight R. Blackstock