James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
With miracles of healing and feeding, with challenges to the powers-that-be, with parables and stories and explanations, Jesus has demonstrated to anyone paying attention that he is more than human. In our gospel reading today, halfway through the book, Jesus pauses and checks in with the disciples.
Who do the people say that I am? He asks. And the disciples respond, naming some long-past prophets, the recently-deceased John the Baptist, and including him among the prophets in general.
Then Jesus says to the disciples, “You know me better than the crowds and the critics. Who do YOU say that I am?” The other disciples hem and haw, probably, but good old Peter blurts out – “You are the Messiah!” Since Jesus doesn’t want his identity known yet, he then instructs the disciples to say nothing. But inside, I imagine Peter giving an enthusiastic fist-pump – YES!
Jesus then makes the first prediction of his upcoming death. Peter is still imagining the coronation of Jesus as the new king, and Jesus is saying, “I will be tortured and killed, and in three days raised from the dead.”
We don’t know how the other disciples are responding, but we can count on Peter to speak for all of them. He takes Jesus aside – at least he does this privately. Students should never rebuke the teacher in public. Peter’s excitement bubble has just burst and now he’s waving his arms, crossed back and forth in front of him, saying, “No, no, no. That’s not going to happen. Don’t talk like that.”
Peter and many others had visions of Jesus as the new King David. Peter had it all worked out in his mind how it was going to be. But it wasn’t like that at all.
… Things like this happen in our every day lives as well. Mike and I recently saw the movie Julie and Julia. Julie is a young woman who decides to cook one or two recipes from Julia Child’s cookbook every day for a year. As she cooked, she also blogged about it – a blog is a journal, written on the internet so other people can read it. In the blog and in her daily conversations with her husband and her friends, Julie talks about Julia. But it’s an unreal, perfect Julia that she has in her mind, not the real Julia who has faults and imperfections. It was a real shock for Julie when she encountered the real Julia, and discovered she was not quite as she had imagined.
… It amazes me that – at least in the written stories of Jesus – none of the disciples followed up on the last part of Jesus’ prediction of his death and resurrection. No one seems to have asked him what it meant, that he would be raised from the dead. They always focus on the first part, that Jesus will suffer and die. They are thinking about how their own hopes and dreams will be crushed; they won’t get what they think they need the most. But Jesus knows what they – and we – really need, and was obedient to God’s plan.
After explaining to the disciples about the future, Jesus speaks to the crowd. “You came here to be amazed at the miracles, to see me challenge the leaders, and to hear funny stories. So you follow me around to see what I will do next. If you really want to follow me, it will be hard. You must deny yourselves, and live sacrificially. You must put following me ahead of everything else in your life. If you give your whole life, your whole self, to me, you will be richly blessed. If you deny me, if you hesitate to give me your whole self, you will miss out on those blessings.
So, how do we, in this time and this place, give our whole lives to Jesus? It may help to think of giving our whole selves to Jesus. We can give everything we are and have to Jesus, giving thanks for every breath, every movement, every morsel of food, every penny we earn and receive, every family member and friend, everything we get to do, everywhere we get to go.
For most of us, giving our selves to Jesus means we must reshape our prejudices, our expectations, and our natural impulse to put ourselves first. We may need an attitude adjustment.
A pastor friend put it this way about our finances. We receive the offering, not take the collection. If we take the collection, it can seem like someone reaching into our pockets or purses and taking what they want. The opposite is an image of us digging into our own pockets and freely giving whatever we wish to give. The more we give, the better it feels, so we should give until we feel really good about what we have given. That’s how we give to Jesus, freely and lovingly, because it feels good.
I spoke recently with one of our homebound members. She has suffered with arthritis and other disabling conditions for many years. She could focus on her disability, but she doesn’t. She is always cheerful when I visit, and her mind is lively – making it a delight to visit her, because we have such interesting conversations. She accepts people for who they are, without judgment. She talks about her gratitude that God has left her with one good hand and arm, so she can still brush her hair, and one good leg, so she can still move around her house and get to the doctor, and one good eye, so she can drive, watch TV, read the newspaper, and see the squirrels and birds at her window. She has given her self to Jesus, both in her faith life, and in her relationships with other people.
The lesson we learn from James this week is practical – we give our selves to Jesus with what we say to others. If we always speak to each other as if we are speaking to Jesus, our family relationships, our congregation, our communities, and world politics would all be very different.
I remember a couple of years ago, when the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts were in the Super Bowl. I heard stories about both coaches. Often our image of a coach is the flaming, swearing, chair-throwing anger of Bobby Knight, but Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are soft-spoken, kind, and encouraging. Good friends, in spite of being on rival teams, and proof that coaches don’t have to be mean to lead their teams to victory. I trust the coaches we have at Hope are like Smith and Dungy.
When we speak kindly and encouragingly to each other, we give ourselves to each other, and at the same time to Jesus, since Jesus’ Holy Spirit abides within each of us. We are not perfect, so sometimes, our expectations and prejudices get in the way, as did Peter’s and Julie’s. So we can offer ourselves forgiveness, and forgive those who have hurt us, and ask for forgiveness when our words or actions have been hurtful – when they have not been what we would wish to give to Jesus.
There are many more ways I could suggest, but I’ll offer that as your challenge for the week. I’ve suggested we give ourselves with our gratitude to Jesus, with our finances, in how we speak to one another, and in the blessing of forgiveness. How do you give yourself to Jesus, and how are you blessed because of that giving? What expectations do you need to let go of, as Peter did, in order to more fully give yourself to Jesus? Where does forgiveness come in? So, this week, your challenge is to see how many ways you give yourself to Jesus, and how often you hold back from giving your whole self away.
Please pray with me. Jesus, you gave your whole self to us, even though we still don’t always understand what that means any better than Peter did. And, we find it so hard to put you first, to give our whole selves to you. Help us to give away a little more this week, so we can see what a blessing it is to give to you and to trust you with our lives. Amen
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