Crosses and Losses

Readings

Matthew 16:21-28
Isaiah 53:1-6

Introduction

Have you ever come to a settled conclusion about something and then discovered that things were not as you expected them to be?  I had young friends who rightly believed that life would be wonderful when they were married but then found out that there was a whole lot of change and readjustment to experience.  For instance, she grew up in a home where dirty washing was placed in a linen basket, he grew up in a home where dirty washing was put in the washing machine – big problem!  And then there's the toilet seat issue – should you leave it up or down?  I try to be even handed about this by leaving the seat and the lid down!

For another example, my wife and I had a rescue dog for a number of years.  He'd been quite well trained but had issues that presented us with problems at times, but we loved him and enjoyed him to the end of his life.  A few years later, we decided we would really enjoy having another dog, but this time we would get a puppy so we could avoid issues, having done the training ourselves.  Boy, did we get that wrong!  Dogs have minds of their own!  Eventually, we're seeing the benefits of our efforts, so our decision may yet be a good one for us, but it's a long way short of our pre-conceived expectations—and there a different issues this time around!

Our New Testament reading today is about setting expectations right.  Matthew was a Jew writing for a Jewish Christian community, showing that Jesus is Messiah in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, and correcting Jewish expectations, helping them to understand.  I want to use this passage to help us understand something of

• Messiah's Unexpected Sacrifice
• Messiah's Expectation of his Disciples
• Messiah's Expected Kingdom to Come

Messiah's Unexpected Sacrifice

In the passage just before our reading, Peter has had a spark of revelation.  He's had a growing understanding of who Jesus is, and suddenly the light has come on.  He's said right out loud, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus cheered him on: Well done Peter! God can really do something with people like you (I'm paraphrasing loosely, here).

Then Jesus begins to unpack something of what being Messiah actually means for him.  He's going to Jerusalem and he's going to die at the hands of the authorities then rise again on the third day.

Well, that didn't sit too comfortably with Peter's understanding of who Messiah was.  He takes Jesus aside and starts remonstrating with him:  “Never, Lord!  This shall never happen to you!”  What's going on here?  Why would Peter do that?

The Jews of the day, including Peter it seems, had certain expectations of who Messiah was and what Messiah would do.  In Daniel 7:13-14 we read, “'In my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.'”  (NIV, 2011)

This was the Jewish, and probably Peter's, understanding of Messiah, and he would use his power to boot out the Romans and establish his never-ending kingdom.  No wonder Peter takes Jesus aside.  'You've got this wrong,' he says.  'You're the Messiah—you've just agreed so yourself.  Messiah doesn't die, he establishes a powerful kingdom!'

Then Peter finds himself on the end of a swingeing rebuke: "Get behind me Satan!"  What a put-down!  Peter's words must have hit a raw nerve for Jesus. 

Jesus lived his life on earth as a man.  He knew that what awaited him in Jerusalem was pain beyond anything we can understand, a horrendous death, separation from his Father for the first time in all eternity.  It wasn't something he relished.  Later, in the garden of Gethsemane we see Jesus wrestling with the prospect of his ordeal, dare I say hoping for an alternative solution to the problem he came to solve.

The name Satan means adversary and Jesus saw Peter's challenge as an obstacle to his mission—it appealed to his human instinct for self-preservation.  Was Jesus addressing Peter or Satan?  If Peter, then he was saying, 'You haven't grasped what God is doing, you're just looking at things from human point of view.'  If Satan, 'You've tried to get me to avoid the cross before but what God is doing cannot be achieved in any human way.'

In the next part of our reading, Jesus poses a rhetorical question: "What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?"  The implication is that there's nothing we have that we can give.  We cannot save ourselves – but we all need to be saved.

Jesus knew that he had to go to Jerusalem and die; only he could be given in exchange for our souls.  As we read in Isaiah 53, "… he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

This is why Messiah had to go to Jerusalem, be killed and rise again.  If he had not, there would be no salvation for us.  We all need to be saved, and, because of what Jesus did, all of us can be saved.

Messiah's Expectation of his Disciples

We all have expectations of what to experience as a Christian.  Some people think of God as the Great Fixer in the Sky—someone who will solve all our problems for us.  But I've found that God hasn't removed all the obstacles from my life.  Now there may have been obstacles removed before I became aware of them, but the ones I've encountered have been real and challenging.  What God has done is use my difficulties to shape me, and to teach me trust and reliance. 

Last Sunday on the news there was a report about the floods in Texas; it included people who had been caught up in the floods and who said they prayed to God a lot and were rescued and were thankful to God.  Nothing wrong with that, and who of us wouldn't pray and be thankful in those circumstances?  But we have to remember there are Christians in Syria who are as much victims of the conflict there as anyone else; Coptic Christians in Cairo were killed when their church was bombed; in China, Russia and other Communist lands, and in Muslim lands, Christians have been persecuted and have died for their faith.

In our land, we're fortunate not to have faced these extremes.  So far, at least; although the way public opinion is moving further and further away from godly standards, there's no guarantee of our avoiding persecution in coming days.  But, even now for us, there's a cost to everyday discipleship.
Jesus told his followers then, and Matthew's readers, and us today, that to be his disciple we must

• deny ourselves,
• take up our cross, and
• follow him.

Jesus was somewhat radical in his teaching, and these are really challenging words!  We can't ignore them, so how can we understand them?

Denying ourselves is not about becoming ascetics, it's not about going without, or giving up chocolate for Lent.  It's about putting God's kingdom first; it's about loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength; it's about loving our neighbour as ourselves; it's about loving each other in the same way that Christ has loved us.  Denying and loving God and others are two sides of the same coin.

The imagery of taking up your cross would have been understood by the disciples and Matthew's readers; many would have seen prisoners carrying out their crosses to a place of execution—the Romans didn't do crucifixions in private.  In effect, Jesus was saying, be prepared to go out and die.  For many in the early church that was literally true: think of Nero's persecution of Christians in Rome.  Down the ages, even in modern times, as I've already mentioned, some of God's children have been called on literally to lay down their lives for their faith.

This is the ultimate act of self-denial.  That thought gives us a way to understand what it means for us here, in our society.  To go out and die means to deny ourselves in the way I've already explained, while earnestly praying, 'don't put us to the test but deliver us from evil.' 

To follow Jesus kind of means the same thing again: to deny our own way of living and to really live out Christ's teaching and example.  In John 8:31, Jesus is recorded as saying, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free"  (NIV, 2011). His ways lead us to freedom and the knowledge of salvation.  Denying ourselves seems negative but it actually leads us to a better life.

All these are set against our instinct for self-preservation.  Looking at Christ's words in verses 25 and 26 of our passage, our instinct is a very dangerous thing.  And as the well-known prayer of St Francis reminds us: 'It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.'

These concepts are not foreign to us as Methodists.  Here are some of the words from our Covenant service, MWB p288  "I am no longer my own but yours.  Your will, not mine, be done in all things, wherever you may place me, in all that I do and in all that I endure; when there is work for me and when there is none; when I am in trouble and when I am at peace.  Your will be done when I am valued and when I am disregarded; when I find fulfilment and when it is lacking; when I have all things and when I have nothing.  I willingly offer all I have and am to serve you, as and where you choose…"

Let's not pretend that any of this is easy.  Everyone gets it wrong somewhere along the way; I certainly have, and I guess there are one or two here who would confess that they have too.

For those of us who have known failure, Peter's story is so encouraging.  Here he is, having recognised Jesus for who he is.  Soon, we hear him saying he'll die rather than disown Jesus, perhaps having remembered the words of Jesus we're thinking about today. Then his instinct for self-preservation kicks in and he disowns Jesus, not once but three times! 

But Peter isn't thrown on the scrapheap – God hasn't finished with him!  He's restored, he takes up the ministry Christ assigned to him, and he fulfils the potential Christ saw in him.  Tradition has it that Peter did eventually die on a cross for his faith.  But

• God turned Peter around.
• God can turn each and every one of us around. 
• He hasn't finished with us yet!

Now let's turn briefly to the third point.

Messiah's Expected Kingdom to Come

In the last part of our passage, Jesus explains why it's important we live by his teaching.  Because Peter was right for the long run: there will be an eventual fulfilment of the Jewish Messianic hope and the Son of Man will come and establish his never-ending kingdom.  That's both good news and bad news.  Bad news because there will be those who think they've gained the whole world only to discover they've forfeited their souls.  Good news because it'll bring the promised reward for Christ's followers, their full and final and absolute salvation!

Summary

Jesus was radical in the way he lived and the things he said.  The words we've thought about today are deeply challenging.

We're called to be disciples, and to be a disciple is to deny oneself.  We're not all called to do great exploits but we are all called to be faithful. 

If we've failed up to now, we can find forgiveness and get started again, like Peter did, because Messiah died for us and rose again.

When I was preparing this the other day, as I typed out the words from Isaiah 53 my heart thrilled at what Jesus had done for me.  Death by crucifixion was an awful, gruesome thing and it cost him more than we'll ever know; but it means we can look forward, full of hope, for the coming of his kingdom. 

When we think of all that Jesus achieved, his cross takes on a wonder that both challenges and inspires us to live lives worthy of our Saviour.