Christ Lutheran Church

1701 Arroyo Chamiso

Santa Fe, NM 87505-4775

(505) 983-9461

church@clcsantafe.com

  

 

March 8, 2009: Second Sunday in Lent

 

Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

 

31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

              34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?  38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

+ In nomine Domini.  Amen.

 

How We Answer the Question
(Another ¾ Sermon)[1]

 

+ In nomine Domini.  Amen.

 

We began the Sundays in Lent last week with the reading (actually re-reading) a small portion of the 1^st chapter of Mark’s Gospel – a 7-verse summary of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the world:

• 3 verses to tell us that he was ritually washed in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer,
• 2 verses about his time in the wilderness (the Temptation),
• ½ verse where we find out that John the Baptizer had been arrested, and
• 1 ½  verses letting us know the whole reason for Jesus in the first place, which reads (to refresh our memories):
  “... Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.”

 

So if you were living in the eastern Mediterranean around the year 70 as the Roman-Jewish Wars were coming to an end with the burning of the Temple in Jerusalem, some 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth … and if you were to ask of his followers, “Just what was that Jesus all about?”  they might have invited you to listen to the story that was coming together in what we now call The Gospel (literally “the Good News”) According to Mark, and you would hear in the beginning of the story the answer to your question … Jesus was about proclaiming the good news of God, that God’s kingdom (not the kingdom of Rome, or any other kingdom of force and domination) has come near.

And, if you remember our Gospel Readings back in the last two months, in the Season of Epiphany … they were nearly all from the beginning chapter of Mark’s Gospel and the one thing they had in common was healing.  Stories of healing of individuals permeate the beginning of Mark, and become the theme, the purpose, the understanding of the good news … it is healing, healing of individuals and with that the healing of the brokenness of the world.

And remember too that in the Church, this is the “Year of Mark” the second year in our common 3-year lectionary rotation of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  So for this whole liturgical year we will be reading from this earliest Gospel of the four.

But, for these weeks of Lent that is only partly true. Last Sunday and this Sunday our Gospel Portions are from Mark, but for the following three weeks we will find ourselves in the Gospel of John, the very latest Gospel of the 1^st Century.  And so, next Sunday we will hear John’s telling of Jesus’ attack of the commercialism of religion by driving merchants out of the Temple in Jerusalem; the following Sunday we will hear Jesus explaining the good news to one of the religious leaders, Nicodemus; and on March 29^th we will listen in on a conversation Jesus has with his disciples just before his last Passover Meal with them.  And then on the 5^th of April, Palm Sunday, we will begin our Holy Week with the traditional congregational reading of the story of the arrest, trial and death of Jesus (the Passion) this year from the Gospel According to Mark).

So, that is where we have been and what lies ahead in our Sunday Storytelling of the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, what about this morning’s story?  We find Jesus and Peter in a serious conversation.  Just before this portion of the Gospel, Peter … the rising leader of the Disciples … has answered Jesus’ question which was “Who do you say that I am?”  That is, “What do you think about me, who am I in your opinion?”

And Peter says, “You are the Christos.”  … the Christ, the Promised One, the Anointed One.

And then begins our gospel reading for this morning where Jesus begins to explain to his followers what will happen …

Now remember, this Story is being written four decades after the fact, and so there is a bit of redaction going on here.  We have to remind ourselves always that the Gospels are not literal historical writings, they are narratives/stories … and so Mark interprets Jesus’ words to include his prediction of his own arrest, trial, death and rising to life.

Realizing that then, what takes place?  What takes place is that in this story Peter, the rising leader of the Disciples, the one who will lead the early community that we call the Church … Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him, he tells Jesus that he will not tolerate such a thing, the death of his teacher.

And then Jesus does a weird thing, he in turn rebukes Peter!  He challenges Peter to think not of himself, but of God’s whole intention.  Not what you, Peter, have in mind, not even what I, Jesus, have in mind, it’s what God has in mind. 

And what is that?  Remember the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel and the theme set therein … what God has in mind is a life of healing.  Following Jesus means adopting a different model of living.  Instead of thinking only of ourselves and believing that it is to our good to gain wealth and avoid any path which leads to suffering, we are being challenged to be generous, giving of ourselves, even when it may mean suffering.[2]

When we embrace the way of Jesus, the way of self-giving love, then we find our true selves.

This past Friday afternoon, I was interviewed by two students preparing to finish a school project for a class studying World Religions.  The interviewers were Kaitlyn Horpedahl and her co-writer and friend, Sonia.

It was the second time last week that I was called upon to represent all of Christianity, the first being the Interfaith Conversation that took place the evening before at Temple Beth Shalom.

Representing All of Christianity is not something I would choose to do on any given day, because the topic is simply too complex … which branch of the tree of Christians shall we talk about?  I’m on the Western branch of the tree, not the Eastern Orthodox branch, is that what you want to hear?  And on the Lutheran twig of the branch there are different leaves, just in this country, do you want to know about mine, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America?  And yes, I now have to explain the word Evangelical … that it is not synonymous with fundamentalist biblical literalism, but that the word has for us its original meaning (from the Greek, of course) “a church open and welcoming and full of good news.”  And so on and so forth.

But then my patient youthful interviewers got to the point, “What does it mean for you to be a Christian?”

Aha!  There’s the rub … it’s the whole Megillah[3] (speaking of the Festival of Purim, which is going on this weekend) … it’s where the rubber meets the road! What a question!  It’s right up there with the Jesus/Peter face-off … “Ok, but who do you say that I am?”

What was my answer?  I am a follower of Jesus.  I try to be like Jesus.  Love God, love neighbor.  Model my life after the one I call Lord.  Find the true meaning of my life by giving it away.

Not bad for a start.  Actually, in Lent, it’s the one question each of us has to answer.  Lent is not denying stuff so as to be holy or righteous or pious … Lent is a time of getting rid of the extraneous so as to come to the center, the core of living.

_____

[Note: it is at this point that this 3/4 Sermon was finished in the pulpit … and differently at both services.  I have tried to provide from memory the ending I think took place or might have been preached (this of course giving me on Monday morning the opportunity to edit and write some additional/different thoughts).  The reader’s forgiveness is appreciated.]

_____

What Lent means, what Lent offers is a chance for us to go deeply into our faith, seeking to answer the question “Who do we say Jesus is?” and then to live out the response.

For example, when our congregation takes another week of providing food for our Interfaith Community Shelter starting a week from this evening, when we go there and help the 50-60 brothers and sisters who have no home find a room and a safe haven for the night, when we welcome them with open arms and a loving spirit … then we have begun to live out the response to the question “Who do we say Jesus is?”

When not only our hearts but our consciences are troubled at the news of the death by pneumonia of one of the frequent guests last week (Jeff Kirkpatrick who died this past Wednesday), troubled to the point of wanting to turn ourselves and our lives beyond ourselves in self-giving love to others for the healing of the world, and especially, most especially our own community … then we have begun to live out the response to the question “Who do we say Jesus is?”

It is our response to the question that makes Lent a season of prayer, fasting, and sharing.  May we do so faithfully, and may we be so transformed.

+ Deo Gratia.  Amen.

The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III, Pastor