Lent 2B Sermon Notes 01/03/15 It’s not that the disciples were ignorant, selfish, or bad people. But keep in mind who they really were. We know that at least four of them were former professional fishermen. Another of them was a tax collector who had to have the same business savvy as those who ran a fishing business on Lake Galilee. Another member of the group was a political hothead, a Zealot. These were all men who were used to making decisions, were used to leading things, and had all been at least relatively successful in what they did. Becoming a disciple did not remove any of that and did not somehow magically make them wiser or holier. Becoming a disciple simply challenged them to learn how to use their strengths in very different ways — and it was clearly a very slow process. In fact, it wasn’t until after Jesus was gone that Peter was finally able to put his strengths to good use, when he stood up in the middle of the crowded streets and began to preach about what Jesus had actually done. The old saying is “better late than never,” but at least he finally got it! For almost three years, these disciples traveled around with Jesus, watching, listening, and trying to work out what it meant to be people of faith. Essentially, they had to learn how to reverse most of what they had come to believe about success and about winning. For they believed in winning and in overcoming any obstacle that got in the way of being successful and growing their business. That’s the kind of person Jesus needed in his group of disciples, people with that kind of passion for winning. But they needed to redefine just what winning actually meant, and this is where all the problems arose. To the disciples, winning meant becoming more powerful and rich, more secure and forcing your way to the top of the heap. Jesus talked about winning and success as becoming poor, taking risks, and being willing to give up all normal securities. The poor and meek would be the real winners. Those who were first would actually end up being last, and the last would be in first place. For a long time, the disciples tried very hard to educate this well-meaning, but clearly inexperienced preacher, honestly trying to help him understand the flaws in his approach. In my imagination, I can see many evenings sitting around the fire while the disciples lectured Jesus on good business and marketing principles, trying to help him understand. You build on strengths, not weaknesses. You confront competition with force, not with meekness. They were trying to be helpful. After three years, Jesus’ popularity and visibility had grown to a point at which he was recognised wherever he went. He was becoming more of a high-profile target and it was clear that the final confrontation with the religious leaders and others was drawing near. Unfortunately, it was also clear to Jesus that his disciples just weren’t ready for it; they were still not at all clear about what was going to happen and why. As he did at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus went into the wilderness for a time of
prayer, reflection and preparation for what was about to come. This time he took the disciples with him and traveled to Caesarea Philippi, a place far to the north where he would not be well known and could make one more attempt to help the disciples prepare. Caesarea Philippi was actually a pretty fancy holiday spot, a resort for the Romans and others. A Gold Coast, BrisVegas of the 1st Century AD! It was most certainly not a place a faithful Jewish person would even pass through, let alone where they would spend time. The disciples, all good boys from good Jewish families, were probably horrified that he brought them there, and it was during one of the heated conversations one evening that Jesus took over the conversation by saying, “Back in Bethsaida, where all of the crowds are coming to see me, who do the people say that I am?” They all spoke up with a variety of responses, but he quickly continued, “And, who do you say that I am?” (v. 29). Seeing it as a perfect opportunity to highlight the potential for the ministry if Jesus would just listen to common sense, the story tells us they used words like “Lord.” Mark tells us that Peter said Jesus was the messiah, the new leader of the true faith. Even for Peter, that’s a huge claim. When people used the term messiah at that time, they envisioned the person sent from God who would come and reclaim the leadership of the faith and of the nation. The enemies would be thrown out, the temple would be cleansed, and an entirely new way of life would be put in place. The messiah Peter was referring to was the ultimate winner, the top of the heap, the one to make everything eternally secure. Jesus responded, once again, by trying to help redefine things for Peter. He said that what was actually coming was a time of tremendous suffering that would lead to Jesus being killed. We’re told that it was all finally just too much for Peter, and he pulled Jesus aside from the group to rebuke him, to get him to understand once and for all that this kind of negative talk was not the way to become successful. I would love to have seen the look on Peter’s face as Jesus turned away from him, saying “Get behind me Satan!” (v. 33) saying that he was focusing on the wrong things, focusing on human rather than divine things. He was focusing on the wrong definition of success. As Jesus turned back to the rest of the group, was Peter angry, was he confused, or did he finally begin to understand? Based on the fact that in just a few days he would end up denying that he even knew Jesus, it doesn’t seem that he did understand. Calling one of his own disciples “Satan” probably shook up the entire group for a few minutes, so Jesus used that opportunity to try and help them understand. He explained once again that those who would be his followers would deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him. Those three things would have meant something a bit different to them than it does for us listening now. Denying themselves simply meant to stop trusting in some human level of success and to trust that if you focus on being faithful, doing the things that real faith in God challenges you to do, you will end up winning. Becoming a major power and smashing all opposition is not the goal. Instead, seeing that the hungry are fed, the
naked clothed, and the hopeless hope-filled; all make it possible for the last to become first. In other words, we need to redefine success. Taking up their crosses was not some kind of a theological or philosophical concept for these men. As they have traveled around the countryside over the past three years, the image of carrying a cross had been burned into their psyche. Crucifixion was a popular tool the Romans used at that time because it served two purposes. It got rid of individuals who caused trouble for the empire, and it made a really big impression on everyone else. That’s because crucifixions were typically done along the roadside by nailing a crossbar to a tree and then nailing the victim to the crossbar. Writings from this period describe traveling a hundred miles along a road, seeing so many crucifixions that each crossbar actually touched the next, mile after mile. It was clear to the disciples what Jesus meant, and it was not at all in line with how they would think of a successful end to this venture. It had to have grown very quiet at this point. Clearly they were beginning to understand just how different an experience this was going to end up being. If this visit to Caesarea Philippi was intended to get them thinking seriously about the future, that goal was met. The story continued as Jesus led the group south to Jerusalem, and while the boys still occasionally struggled with the roles they were to play, especially poor Peter, they had begun to understand what it meant to actually follow this Jesus of Galilee. As we come to the end of this part of the story, think just how hard it must have been for the disciples to work Jesus out and get it right. Think about all of the times they totally stuffed it up, and yet in the end, had the impact that they had. It makes me feel more and more comfortable that, somehow, God will find a way to use us too. That’s good news.