Pentecost 19 – 30 September 2018 – Year B

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 9 the Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 38 – 50:

³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”  But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.  For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.  And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell,to the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.  And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’  For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Hell is far worse than anything we can experience in this world.  It is so terrifying that many people refuse to believe that it exists.  Even more people believe that it so distressing that we should not talk about it. Today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel account forces us to talk about hell because Jesus talked about hell.  He said,^{(Mark 9:43, 45, 47-48)}“It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.  It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” Jesus described hell with terms such as unquenchable fire and undying worms.  He also said it was better to lose body parts than to enter hell with an intact body.

Jesus then spoke of one of the many reasons we deserve to go to hell.  He spoke about causing someone or something to sin.  Jesus said,^{(Mark 9:42–46)}“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.  If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.  If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out”.

The Greek behind the phrase causing someone to sinis from the word that gives English the wordscandalise.  Whoever scandalises one of these little ones who believe in me … If your hand scandalises you … If your foot scandalises you … If your eye scandalises you … throw it into the sea.  Cut it off. Gouge it out.  Do whatever it takes to get rid of the scandal.

A few years ago my daughter was informed by her specialist doctor that she had a growth on her thyroid glands.  The surgeon stated the obvious; ‘Your thyroid glands have to be removed.’  In other words, “It is better for her to live without thyroid glands than to keep them and die of cancer.”  Jesus said that the cause of scandal in our lives needs to come out just like cancerous glands.

Notice also that Jesus used the word if.  Although that word is only two letters long, it is very important.  Yes, the eyes see the scandal.  Yes, the feet take us to the scandal.  Yes, the hands participate in the scandal.  Never the less, are any of these body parts the root cause of the scandal? Jesus said that if they are, we should get rid of them.  But didany of these body parts participate in the actual decision process that led to the scandal?

Ultimately, none of these body parts had any choice.  It is the mind that interprets the information from the eye and distributes orders to the feet and the hands.  The eyes, the feet, and the hands have no choice.  It is the mind that is the true source of the scandal.  In the Gospel reading from a few weeks ago, we heard Jesus say, ^{(Mark 7:21–23})“From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” So it is our thoughts, feelings, desires, and so forth that are the true cause of scandal.  And, if Jesus is right about removing the cause of scandal from our lives … and He is … then it is our inner being that has to go.  That means that we must die.

It is at this point that I begin to wonder if Jesus hasn’t painted Himself into a corner.  He has said that in order to enter eternal life, we must remove everything that scandalises us, but at an earlier time in His ministry, He taught that main source of scandal is our inner being … our essence … the thing that makes me … me. Has Jesus really gotten us to the point that we must understand that God gives us eternal life by destroying the self? Has He really said that God gives us eternal life by putting us to death?

This is one of those marvellous paradoxes that God gives to us.  In order to avoid death, we must die.  It doesn’t sound right, does it?  That is the reason that God must do the work of rescuing us from sin and death. It is God who must put us to death in such a way that we live forever.

The earlier words of Jesus give us a hint at how this might work.  He said, ^{(Mark 9:42)}“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”While this is horrible, crushing law, there is also Gospel here if you know where to look.

Consider the teaching of the eminent reformer Dr Martin Luther in his Small Catechism: “What does such baptising with water indicate?  It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever”.

Do you believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins?  Then you are one of those little ones who believes in Jesus.  Do you also have a sinful nature that constantly leads you into scandal?  Interestingly, Luther often talked about that sinful nature and he called it the Old Adam. His words tell us to remember our baptism every day.  Every day our baptism ties a stone around the neck of our old sinful nature and throws it into the deep waters of baptism.

Now, although people call us Christians, we don’t believe in something just because Luther or some other great theologian said so.  Martin Luther’s however was a committed exponent of God’s Word as written in the Holy Scriptures, and so encourages us to believe in things because we can find them in God’s Word … the Bible.  

Luther’s analogy of the ‘Old Adam’ can be found in the words that the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write to the Romans.  ^{(Romans 6:3–4)}“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”.

The Apostle Paul then went on to say,^{(Romans 6:5–11)} “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

These words teach us that our old self … what Luther called the Old Adam … was crucified with Jesus. The sinful corruption that was already part of us at conception along with all the sins that we actually committed were crucified with Jesus.  As Jesus hung on the cross, He took on all the guilt and the punishment of our sin. It all died with Him.

But Jesus did not stay dead.  He rose from the dead and when He rose, He left our sin and its guilt in the grave. Since His body no longer carries our sin, it is immortal.

Our Baptism joins us to Christ so that we died with Jesus.  But it also promises that we live with Him.  We are now ^{(Romans 6:11)}“dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”Yes, we must pass through death, but, on the Last day, Jesus shall raise us just as He rose.  ^{(1 Corinthians 15:52–53)}“The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality”.

It is utterly impossible for us to cut off the true cause of scandal in our lives.  Even if we killed ourselves, we would only accompany our scandal into the eternal punishment where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies.  Only God can deal with the scandal in our lives.  He has done this by sending His Son into the world to take up our human flesh and suffer the punishment of our scandal in Himself.  Only in this way can He put us to death in order to give us eternal life.

In the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are already ^{(Romans 6:11)}“dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”We already have eternal life in Jesus, but we cannot experience it to its fullest while we live in this world. ^{(1 Corinthians 13:12)}“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”; and^{(1 Thessalonians 4:16–1 )}“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Pentecost 18 – 23 September 2018 – Year B

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for our meditation is written in the of the Book of James: Chapter 3:13 to 4:10

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. ¹⁵ Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. ¹⁶ For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace

4 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? ² You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet^[a] something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. ⁴ Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God^[b] yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

“God opposes the proud,    but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

When I was 18, life was not a problem, you see I knew everything! My dad didn’t seem to think so though. He kept telling me that you are never too old to learn. Through the journey of my life, humiliation, experience and the words of truly loving wise mentors and teachers have instilled in me a real appreciation of the guidance my dad was trying to implant in me. It seems we all need to figuratively “touch the hot stove” a few times before we appreciate the wisdom that our elders attempt to pass along to us.

A quotation I heard years ago remind me that it takes some rough lessons in life before we start to understand the world around us well enough to function effectively:“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted.”  (*Prof Randy Pausch – ‘The Last Lecture’). I repeat that one frequently to myself and sometimes to those who are struggling. It’s a good reminder that our plans and goals in life will often fail, yet even so, we may take away valuable practical lessons from having striven for them.

More importantly, though, this quotation also can remind us that what we want and what we need are often two very different things, and only our loving heavenly Father truly has the wisdom to discern between them. ^{(Matthew 6:)} “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on ….. But seek first his kingdom^(AJ) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”Realising this, we not only develop greater wisdom and understanding, but a greater humility toward God as well.

Yet true wisdom, understanding, and humility don’t come from mankind’s enlightened human words, but from grasping the truth the Lord has supplied us from His own wisdom, from the message of His inerrant Word.

Looking at that Word today, we are immediately confronted by a question asked by St. James at the start of our epistle lesson: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” It’s a challenging question, a godly question. It’s the sort of question the Lord frequently asks of us throughout Scripture; sometimes quite plainly, and other times simply by confronting us with our limitations and our ignorance. It’s a question that provokes a variety of responses.

To those of us blindly chasing after the things of this world, our minds and our energy focused on the next thing that we want to obtain or achieve or buy, that question is often set aside. We think we know what we want and how to get it. Where we currently lack the resources to obtain those goals, we seek to address those shortcomings with great gusto, seeking the wisdom, understanding, and skills necessary to get where we want to be. If we answer that question, “Who is wise and understanding among you?”, our response might be, “I’m still working on it. Just give me the opportunity, and I’ll do the rest.” In essence, we’re saying: “I know wisdom is out there; I’ll hunt it down and make use of it when and where I find it.”

Another segment of the population, no less envious of all the world has to offer and no less ambitious in seeking what they choose to obtain from it, scoff at the wisdom of God. They observe worldly knowledge and understanding as only what they can see and feel and measure. Then, they apply their credentials to manipulate the world and the people around them to conform to their wishes and to fulfil their desires. Their answer about who is wise and understanding sounds something like this: “I’m the only one who ‘gets it.’ Wisdom is what I choose it to be, and it exists for my benefit. If it doesn’t serve my wants, it can’t be important.”

In both these cases, wisdom and understanding have selfish purposes: To place the individual in a better position to satisfy his or her ambitions. To obtain a bigger and better slice of life’s finite pie at the expense of others. Of course we strongly deny that this is our purpose. We claim we live in a dog-eat-dog world and if we don’t look out for ourselves, who will? We’re only trying to get ahead.

Yet!! The Holy Spirit warns us about this as he inspires James to write, “if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.” The seeking of knowledge for the purpose of getting ourselves ahead isn’t something to be proud of. Nor is pretending that this isn’t our motive, our real objective. In doing so we consciously sin in thought, word and deed. Has there ever been a more fitting and accurate description of our contemporary world, than James 3:16?: “where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”

Indeed, this passage extends to us as individuals? How often, intentional or otherwise, we use our wisdom to serve ourselves, our understanding to seek the satisfaction of our own needs.

You see this is the very root of human decline: It is our ownwisdom we’re depending upon. It’s our ownunderstanding that we’re attempting to apply. Even when we achieve our wants and desires, and pride ourselves as wise; we are foolishly building earthly treasures, but are heavenly bankrupt. As written ^{(Matt 6: 19 - 21)}“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, …... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, ….. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

God’s message through the prophet Isaiah is that He will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent. Human knowledge that puffs us up, and human wisdom that drives us forward with arrogance and ambition, is—as James writes—“earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.” What a fearsome caution; such behaviour threatens our faith, and ultimately our immortal souls.

We are called in Matthew 6 to first seek Christ and His kingdom, and all other things needful will be given to us. That’s quite a challenge for us, because even though the Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ at the Baptismal Font, our sinful human nature actively resists Christ in our daily lives. We have no human ability to resist our sin, love God, and be saved. Even though He has reached out to us and through the Holy Spirit has purified us of our sins and drawn us to faith in Christ through Word and Sacrament, we remain in the duality of sinner and saint. In the words of St Paul ^{(Rom 7)} “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it”.We continue to constantly struggle with the envies and ambitions to which we are led by our human wisdom and understanding. These things will not let us go, for Satan refuses to accept the new reality of our lives in Christ, whose peace not only surpasses all our human understanding, but the understanding of even the angels, fallen or otherwise.

The opening verses of James, chapter four, is scathing as he lists point after point of all our failings: Fights and quarrels. Desires that battle within us. Our selfishness, and all the horrible things we do in our feeble and impossible desires to satisfy it. Our frequent neglect of asking God to address our needs, and our unfaithful intentions and improper motives when we finally do get around to asking. Then James lays it on the line: You can be a friend of the world, or a friend of God. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t accept things the world accepts when those things differ from what God deems acceptable. You can’t try to force a compromise between human wisdom and understanding and God’s given wisdom, foolish as it might appear sometimes. To do so is to become God’s enemy, for you have chosen to be a friend to the world.

If that is all there is to it, if we are indeed lost and completely void of any chance of eternal salvation, we may as well pack our things and go home and shut the door of the church for good. As the Tele advertisers say “But wait!! There’s more!!”

As a practicing Christian my first and foremost belief lies in the words of the Apostles Creed. When I confess the Apostles Creed I am stating 

1.            My true belief that God the Father created me and all things; he gives me all things and daily provides me with all I need to support this body and life.

2.            My true belief that Jesus, at one with the Father, was born of the Virgin Mary and is my Lord who redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, and won me from all sins, from death and the power of the devil by His innocent suffering and death on the cross, that I may live with Him in His Kingdom into eternity.

3.            My true belief that I cannot by my own strength or reason believe in Jesus Christ my Lord and that only through the power of the Holy Spirit gifted to me at my Baptism, I have been called by the Gospel, enlightened and sanctified along with the whole Christian Church on earth. In this Christian Church he daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.

With this in mind, I again put the question of St James, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” and I also put to you the quote from 1 John 1: 8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”.

The primary purpose of the Book of James is to help us to recognise our dilemma as sinful humans and to lead us to the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you were out on the ocean in a boat and you had the radio in your hand and you were calling the Coast Guard with a ‘mayday’ call. The Coast Guard operator would ask you the nature of your problem and you in a now panicky voice shout “I’m up to my waist in water and sinking fast”; then you would clearly know the nature of your problem and the Coast Guard would know how to respond.

Without the “law” of God the, first and foremost being the Ten Commandments; without such writings such as the Book of James, we are not able to clearly identify the extent of our human sin, and therefore do not call on God to forgive us, to save us, to guide us. So many times people tell me that they are ashamed to come before God and confess their sins. As written in ^{(Hebrews 4:15)} “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet he did not sin.” 

There is no dilemma here for the Christian; we know that through the actions of our first parents on earth, we are born sinful and unclean and are daily tempted in every way; and when we fail, we turn to our loving Saviour in the same manner as the great King David did when he committed a grave sin in the sight of God as written in Psalm 51: All his pride diminished and he fell before His God freely confessing his sins and admitting his weaknesses and his inability to be acceptable in God’s sight without His loving guidance.

“Who is wise and understanding among you?”  Those of us like King David who recognise our sins and our inability to make ourselves acceptable in God’s sight through our own worldly efforts. Those of us who lay our burdens at the foot of the Cross of Christ.

The Book of James paints an accurate picture of our sinful human nature, not to destroy us, but to lead us to the Baptismal font of new life where we receive the Holy Spirit; to genuine repentance; to heartfelt prayer; to the inerrant Word of God and to the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour. In all these we will find true wisdom, true guidance, true joy and true salvation! We will continue to fail, but take heart in the words of St Paul as written in ^{(Romans 5: 20 – 21)} “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also gracemight reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

May the love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all our human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord, now and forever. Amen.

Pentecost 17 – 16 September 2018 – Year B

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 8^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark: Verses 27 – 38:

²⁷ And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” ³⁰ And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

³¹ And he began to teach them that ^vthe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³² And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

You have just got to give it to Peter. He and his mouth often give me comfort when I’ve put my foot in my mouth. If he were your friend every time he opened his mouth you would cringe not knowing what he is going to say next.  In one biblical verse He’s the hero and a few verses later, he is doing the will of Satan..  What a joy to know Jesus’ forgiveness.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus took His disciples up north to the area around Caesarea Philippi to get away from the crowds for a bit.  Caesarea Philippi was some distance from Galilee in the Northern Province.  It was near Mount Hermon and the source of the Jordan River.  This basically meant that Jesus and the disciples would be alone and Jesus could pay attention to their instruction.  In modern day terms, this was part of their seminary training.

Many professors in Christian seminaries will tell you that the core of all theology is Christology.  That is, if you solidly understand the identity of Christ, the rest of theology is a piece of cake.  Apparently, Jesus thought the same thing because He began teaching His disciples about the nature of the Christ.  Of course, in Jesus case, this means teaching the disciples about Himself.

He began by asking them to consider what the grapevine was saying about Him: “Who do people say that I am?”  The disciples came back with all kinds of answers: “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”  

Then Jesus moved on: He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”  He wanted to hear their personal confession.  Of course, Peter was the first to put into words what the other disciples were thinking: “You are the Christ.”  In this case, Peter got the words exactly right.  If I were to use an appropriate sporting metaphor in this month of September, I would say that He converted the try to win the game.  Unfortunately, he would be the hero for only a few short verses.  We quickly learn that even though he got the words right, He didn’t really understand their true meaning.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus knew that the disciples did not properly understand the meaning of Peter’s good confession.  That is the reason He told the disciples to keep quiet about it for the time being.  That is also the reason that Jesus began telling them about the true meaning of Peter’s confession.  Today’s Gospel says: He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.  And he said this plainly.  

His disciples found this message to be deeply offensive.  Peter, especially, took offence at Jesus’ words. Peter took [Jesus] aside and began to rebuke him.  We don’t use the word rebuke often, but it means that Peter really laid it on the line to Jesus.  Peter actually used strong direct words in order to try to put Jesus right on this matter.

Of course Jesus loved Peter too much to let him get away with that.  Jesus stopped, did an about face and gave it straight back to Peter.  Jesus used some pretty strong language too: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  Jesus could be gentle, but not this time.  He blasted Peter.  To use a sporting metaphor: Peter had just dropped the ball and given the opposition the advantage.  

During the Lenten period, we talked about how the devil continued to tempt Jesus.  One of the greatest temptations went something like this: “Listen Jesus, this cross thing is going to hurt a lot.  You have the power.  You can increase your following by just doing these miracles.  There is no reason for you to follow through with your plan to suffer.  Everyone is expecting you to set up an earthly kingdom.  Why not give them what they expect?”  Well the fact is, that when Peter took Jesus aside and scolded Jesus, he was acting as an agent of Satan.  He was tempting Jesus to give up his road to the cross.

The cross is the main reason the Son of God took on human flesh in the first place.  The Old Testament declares that the Christ must suffer, die, and rise from the dead.  This was the plan from eternity.  This is exactly what Jesus was teaching His disciples when Peter interrupted Him.

The devil is still at work trying to hide the cross.  Our modern society often finds the cross to be offensive. It is gruesome.  It is ‘R’ rated for violence.  It is hard to contemplate in its shame and cruelty.  Many will try to bury the cross’s message.  Jesus loves these people too much to let them get away with it.  Today’s Gospel speaks to those who wish to hide the cross and says, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Some people say, “All right, we get it, but we’ve heard enough about the cross.  Now, let’s move on to the other teachings of the Bible.”  To these people Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”

The Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to write, [1 Corinthians 2:2] “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”  Never the less, some will ask, “Does every devotion need to talk about the cross?”  To these people Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”

[Matthew 19:14] Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  Never the less, some ask, “Do we have to remind the children of that ugly, old cross every Sunday?”  To these people Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!”

The devil, the world, and our own sinful nature would do anything and everything to get the cross out of our lives, for it is on the cross that our savior died and defeated the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature.  It is on the cross that our savior died to take away our sins.  The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write, “Christ crucified is [1 Corinthians 1:23-24] a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush.  He used stern words with Peter and He uses stern words with us.  However, these words are not designed to drive us away.  They are designed to place us back where we belong.  Jesus did not tell Peter and the other disciples, “So, you are offended by the cross.  Then you can no longer be my disciples.”  

Instead, He continued to teach them.  He continued to prepare them.  When the time was right – when the disciples had lived through the experience of knowing their master was dead on a cross, Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to them and [Luke 24:45-46] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”  He restored them to Himself.

He does the same thing with us.  In spite of our rebellion, He calls us to follow Him.  He opens our eyes to the power of God in His crucifixion.  He shows us the forgiveness of our sins in His crucifixion.  In His crucifixion He shows us salvation and life everlasting.

We will receive all these things through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Him.  Through that same faith we will follow Him through death into the resurrection of everlasting life.

Jesus has promised that life in this world will be hard for those who follow Him.  Their confession of faith may bring them shame in this world.  It may even bring them to death.  Yet He has promised, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel will save it.”  Those who have the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith in Jesus Christ may lose everything in this world, but in the end, God will give them eternal life.  Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen