Mark 8:27-38.                    What Jesus do you want??                          13/9/15

(27)  Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?" {28} They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." {29} "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ." {30} Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. {31} He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. {32} He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. {33} But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." {34} Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. {35} For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. {36} What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? {37} Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? {38} If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Today we are confronted with this crucial question of Jesus': Who do you say I am?  In our day and age this as critical as it was for Peter and those first disciple; for today we have so many who also want a Jesus and Christianity that fits into their own thinking rather than the other way around. Then we wonder why our lives are not fulfilling and giving us the happiness and hope that we believe should be there for us.

However when we understand and accept who Jesus really is then we find that which turns life upside down for us. In Jesus we receive life and hope that is way beyond what we could ever dream of here in a world that continually promises much but always come up far short. In him we find everything that we really need and especially forgiveness for all of our failures to be what we were meant to be, both of our own making and that which has been inflicted on us by others.

Now we are living at a time when we think that if we can get what we want from life then we will be fulfilled and happy. But as we readily see it never works out. There is always something cropping up the messes the whole thing up for us. The harder that we try, the bigger the fall seems to be. No matter how good the idea, always something goes wrong; either of our own making, or the results of others selfishness and greed.

Across the globe and across history humanity has never been able to achieve what deep down we know should be there for us.  Yet rightly we keep looking and longing for the answers, but it always keeps alluding us.

The trouble is that we keep looking in the wrong places, and we keep wanting the answer to be what we think it should be. We have placed our own human reason up on a pedestal even though deep down we know that we always come unstuck. Sadly we don’t want to admit that there is something wrong

with our thinking and reasoning.

This comes all the way down to our acceptance of the only true answer that there is for us. God himself comes to us in Jesus and we still place our reasoning above him and what he has to say to us. We want him to be what we think he should be and to say what we think he should say. We all too often want to twist him into being and doing what we want him to be. Again is it any wonder then why Christ and Christianity has failed to have the impact it should. Satan is having a field day: Did God really say? Rings out again and again; and we swallow it; and we reap the reward of it.

Here think of Peter and the people of his day. To the question "Who do people say I am?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." Here is a great man of similar ilk to the great prophets of old. Jesus has done miracle after miracle and taught as one who had authority, but he is still seen as another man: one who they could listen to and take on board what fitted their thinking.

Then Peter when was asked "But what about you?" "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ."  Here Peter is getting close to the mark. In fact he is right: here is the promised one that God would send to save his people. But as soon as Jesus starts talking about suffering and dying Peter quickly rejects this view of Jesus. He wants the miracle working, great leader and teacher – the worldly view of what a saviour would be and do.

To this, Jesus rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Note the very strong language that Jesus uses here. These thoughts are not just opinions that we can take or leave as of no great consequence. Any view that wants to see Jesus apart from the centrality of his death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins is the work of Satan himself. Satan and his lies are deadly!

Jesus then also draws the connection between our false views of him and our wrong views of how life should be for us. Here in this reading we see how God turns everything upside down. Our views of what are good, are bad; and what we think is right and good is harmful for us. Much of what we do then in life is the leading of Satan rather than God. Is it any wonder then why it doesn’t work out as we believe it should? We are following the wrong leader.

So with all of this in mind we need to ponder carefully Jesus question to us also; "Who do you say I am?"  What sort of Jesus do we want?  For many today Jesus means very little: God means very little. However Scripture is quite clear about the fact that we all have an inbuilt knowledge that there is a God. We know it, but we seek to deny it because we don’t want to have to take him seriously: we want to be free to do as we please.

So for many, this Jesus is a relic from the past that they don’t want to take seriously. Many others again today, they simply want a Jesus who is a good example for us in how to live out our lives: so he is a good teacher. Others again see him as a miracle worker from God, whom they can turn to when they are sick or in trouble; or who will make us healthy, wealthy and happy as long as we do the right thing. For many others he is God who should be there to approve of and bless their whims for what the christian life should be and bless them and their endeavours, irrespective of whether they are in agreement with what the Bible says or not.

The results of all this is that the rebuke of Jesus to Peter stands: "Get behind me, Satan!" "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

The true Jesus that we are called to follow is the one who said of himself: that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. The true Messiah, saviour promised by God, is the one who dies on the cross as punishment for our sin, so that we might be forgiven and assured of eternal life in heaven for all who believe.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So to take Jesus seriously is to acknowledge that we are sinful through and through and who have no hope of salvation except through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. To gain life for us he gives his own life.

This is surely amazing! This is the Jesus who makes all the difference to us. Here surely is someone and something to follow that is reliable and trustworthy. This Jesus and what he brings to us is absolutely remarkable.  He and what he has done for us is for real and it gives us life far beyond what this world has to offer and deliver.

In this Jesus we have love and acceptance that is real and sure. In him there is a hope that is guaranteed for all eternity and is not dependant us and our goodness or failures; or the world around us delivering an abundance of good things; or others not hurting, defiling or even killing us. Because of Jesus, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

This Jesus also has truth for us to live by. Not false promises or ideas that are here today and gone tomorrow, letting us down when we need them most. In the Bible is his Word that we can rely on as being good and right for our welfare. What was said 2000 years ago is just as relevant and important for us today. As we place ourselves under and obedient to this Word, we have that which is truly good and right for us now and always.

Then he concluded by saying: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. {35} For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. {36} What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? {37} Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? {38} If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Yes this is all challenging for us and our world today, but it is that which is good and right and life-giving for us in a world that has lost its way and fast falling apart at the seams as we are seeing around us. Here in Jesus the Christ who dies on the cross so that we can have forgiveness and life in abundance, we have him who is the only real hope for humanity. So we can deny ourselves and follow him. He alone is Lord and Saviour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish