March 12th

The Good Thing About Dying Is

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Mark 8:31-38



My Mamaw Carrie—God rest her soul—may not have had an extensive education, but she was still quite the philosopher. Take her philosophy on death, for example. When her children asked Mamaw what she would prefer regarding her funeral arrangements, she replied, “Well, I really don’t care. I’m going to be as dead as I’ll ever be. I won’t be around for the funeral; and besides, you kids are going to do whatever you want, anyway. So why are you even asking me? You see, that’s the good thing about dying; I won’t have to worry about those kinds of things anymore.”

She makes some pretty good points, doesn’t she?

But there are some other benefits to dying, as well. In fact, to be perfectly blunt, we wouldn’t be alive without death. Specifically, I am referring to cell death. Cell death in our bodies is programmed for our own good. Look at your hand. We have fingers because the cells that used to live between those fingers died when we were embryos. Embryos depend on cell death; if it did not occur, our human development would go off course. It is even possible to say that without a certain amount of cell death, we would not even be born.

Here is another example of a good thing about dying. Cell death is necessary to prevent our bodies from being filled with cancer. In fact, did you know that our bodies have natural surveillance systems that detect almost all cancerous mutations? Those systems, when working properly, actually instruct the affected cells to commit suicide. In other words, the cancer cells die that we might live.

Dying in order that we might live. Sound familiar? For some of us, it does. For others of us, this concept might sound foreign, ridiculous even. We have examples of both attitudes in today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark. Just before today’s reading, Peter has correctly identified Jesus as the Messiah, and now it is time for Jesus to take his training of these 12 disciples to the next level—explaining what the role of Messiah really means.

Jesus understood that he would have to undergo suffering, rejection, and death as part of God’s plan for the salvation of humanity. He would have to die so that we might live. And apparently, Jesus was right up front with the disciples about this confusing part of God’s plan, as well.

The disciples were not happy with this revelation, either—especially Peter. They must have missed that last part about Jesus rising again, because Peter pulls Jesus aside to have a chat with him. Wouldn’t you have just loved to have overhead that conversation?
“Jesus, you have GOT to be kidding, here! We’re just getting warmed up here! The crowds love us! You’re the Messiah; remember? The Messiah is supposed to kick butt and take names! If you start talking about getting killed, everyone will desert us. Look, if it is a matter of those religious authorities, maybe we can just soft pedal the message a bit and sidestep them until we have become more powerful. Then, BAM! They won’t even know what hit ‘em!”

Now we all tend to make fun of poor old Peter. He just can’t seem to open his mouth without inserting both feet. But we can’t really blame Peter, though. Maybe he was just trying to protect his Messiah—his hope—from unnecessary harm. But, Peter may have had his own behind in mind, too. He was scared, and with good reason, too. For you see, if Jesus started stirring up too much trouble, not only would Jesus’ life be at stake, everyone who was seen as a follower of Jesus would be at risk, as well.

Peter may have known who Jesus was, but he didn’t really know what Jesus was about. He had a certain view of who Jesus was and what Jesus should do. When Jesus didn’t fit those expectations, Peter became scared and insecure. In a way, in his rebuke, he was offering Jesus—and the disciples—an “easy out,” just like Satan offered Jesus when he first tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

Sound familiar? Sure it does! We’ve all played the role of Peter at different times in our lives. By that comment, I mean we all have our own ideas of who Jesus is and how Jesus should behave. Think about it. We all love “Victorious Jesus,” don’t we? We sing hymns like “Victory in Jesus,” and we fall right in line behind Jesus when the miraculous healings are happening, when the crowds love us, and our lives are full of joy.

But when our expectations of who Jesus should be and what Jesus should do don’t quite match up with what Jesus is really about, like Peter, we are often frightened. When we are reminded that our lives are not always full of joy, when following Jesus means taking unpopular positions—positions that may jeopardize our standings with our families, governments, and churches—like Peter, we may look for creative ways to side step the tougher issues that Jesus calls us to address.

But Peter wasn’t alone in his fear and confusion. Peter probably most often said what the rest of the disciples were thinking. Jesus may have rebuked Peter, but notice scripture tells us that he turned from Peter, looked at the disciples and said, “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things!” Jesus probably knew they were all thinking the same thing as Peter. So Jesus just told all of his disciples—and by extension, us today, “It is time for an attitude check here. It is not about you. It is about God.”

But if that wasn’t harsh enough, Jesus then takes his teaching to yet another level. He calls not only the disciples, but also the crowd—Jesus gets everybody involved! Basically Jesus tells them, “OK. You want to be part of this? Then here is the deal. You have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.” So much for an effective marketing strategy, huh? Let’s look at each of these requirements for Christian discipleship.

First, denying ourselves. Let’s face it, we are an immediate gratification society, folks. Many people are offended at even the mention of the word “discipline.” But discipline is literally at the root of discipleship. So, what does denying ourselves look like?

Well, let me start with what denying ourselves isn’t. Some of our Christian predecessors took Jesus’ words to the extreme—even to the point of refusing adequate nutrition and dying as a result. Fasting is a valid spiritual discipline; starvation serves no purpose. Dead people can’t deny anything. Dead people can’t take up anything. And most importantly, dead people can’t follow anyone. So what is the point of such extreme self-denial?

This type of denial is not what Jesus is talking about here. I believe when Jesus refers to “denying ourselves,” he is referring to denying ourselves of the things that come between us and serving God. What is it that prevents us from serving God with all being? Is it the love of money, career, gratification of physical desires, pride, a special relationship—or lack of such a relationship? If there is something in our lives that prevents us from serving God with all our being, then it is something that has far too much control over our lives.

And what is this “take up our cross” business? Well, the cross symbolizes the submission required of those of us who call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ. Like self-denial, the idea of submitting to authority is not attractive to us, to say the least. But do you know what? Like it or not, we all submit to something, whether we realize it or not. For Christians, submission means we recognize that we do not always know what is best for us; and in a spirit of faith, prayer, and discernment, we submit to the will of God for our lives as best as we are able to do that.

And on top of it all, there is this whole “follow Jesus” thing. Follow Jesus? Follow Jesus where? He doesn’t say exactly where, now does he? So, we have self-denial, submission to an unseen power, and then following this unseen power to who knows where. Oh, yeah! Sign me up!

But let’s think about it for a minute. Once we let go of those things that hold sway over our lives—those things that come between us and serving God—and when we are able—really able—to “let go and let God’ in submission to God’s will for our lives, we’re actually free! We’re free to follow Jesus! We’re free to follow Jesus wherever we are called to go, whether it is to a mission field outside of our home country, or the mission field of our immediate neighborhood.

We’re free to follow Jesus to the offices of political officials and work for more funding for social services and less money for senseless wars! We’re free to follow Jesus to the streets to march for equality for all people. We’re free to follow Jesus to our friends and families and let them know through both our words and our actions how good God truly is!

So, what is the good thing about dying? By dying to ourselves, we can tap into the most powerful life force in human history through Jesus Christ. For it is through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that the power of evil, sin, and death are forever defeated. By dying to ourselves through Christian discipleship, we can learn what it means to truly live.

God bless you and amen.