September 19th

It's All About Who?

Mark 8:27-38



How many folks here today are “middle children?” In other words, you aren’t the first born or the baby of the family, but somewhere in the middle. I am the youngest child in my family, and my older sister still teases me about being the “Golden Child,” or the “Male Heir.” Or course, we haven’t quite figured out the male heir to WHAT, but at least we know the pecking order, right?

Probably the ultimate middle child was Jan Brady of the Brady Bunch. Remember Jan? She was the middle child of the three girls in the blended Brady family. Cindy was the curly-haired blonde, blue-eyed youngest girl, and the glamorous, popular, cheerleader Marcia was the oldest girl. Stuck in the middle, Jan was sort of plain in her younger years, complete with braces and glasses. Finally, in one episode, Jan finally let out all her pent up frustrations with a line that was plastered all over t-shirts and shouted in gay bars way back in the day. The line? “All I hear ever is Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!”

Poor Jan. She just wanted to feel special. Of course, we are all a lot like Jan, too, aren’t we? We really don’t like that feeling of being lost in the middle—faceless, nameless, and unimportant. Everyone wants to feel special; and do you know what? There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! But there are times when it really is not all about us, and that is a big part of our lesson from Mark this morning.

Our passage opens with Jesus and the 12 on a road trip to Caesarea Philippi. Along the way, Jesus asks the disciples a question, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples give Jesus a variety of answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, or maybe one of the prophets. But then Jesus asks the 64 Million-Dollar Question: “But who do you say that I am?”

People have been trying to figure out who Jesus was—and is—for at least a couple of thousand years. There are those like Thomas Jefferson who saw Jesus as a great teacher of common sense. Others see Jesus as a revolutionary proclaiming liberation to all who are oppressed. And in all fairness, there is enough evidence in the Bible to support these views, too. But, if we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, we must answer the question, “Who do we say that Jesus is?”

Enter our friend, Simon Peter. Peter is often the disciple who spoke up first in these conversations with Jesus. He is a little bit like that child in school who raises her hand saying, “Ooooo, pick me! Pick me!” Then blurts out the answer before the teacher calls on her.


But this time, Peter gets it right. “You are the Messiah,” he says. But then, Jesus does something weird. Rather than say something like, “Great job!” he orders the disciples not to tell anyone about this wonderful news. What’s up with all the secrecy?

Honestly, we don’t really know. One very good theory, however, is that the disciples were not ready for what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah. So, before they went running out and telling everyone that Jesus was the promised Messiah, Jesus wanted to make sure they had a clear idea of the possible consequences for proclaiming this message. It is as if Jesus was bringing the disciples along in stages. “OK. Your systematic theology is on track. Now, let’s talk about how that theology translates into every day life.”

And apparently that translation isn’t too pretty, as Jesus promptly turns the disciples’ world completely upside down. Rather than all the glory, power, and honor they were expecting, being the Messiah meant rejection, persecution, suffering, and death! And since they were so closely associated with Jesus, they could expect this same kind of treatment!

This news was more than the disciples could handle. So, in true form, Peter is the one who speaks up. It appears he is trying to be at least somewhat respectful of his teacher by pulling Jesus aside, but then Peter lets loose with a rebuke. And the Greek for “rebuke” here is more than a warning or admonition. This wasn’t Peter pulling Jesus aside saying, “Uh, are you sure about all this, Jesus?” You can think of “rebuke” here almost as if Peter is getting up in Jesus’ face.

“What?!? Suffering? Persecution? Death? What is that all about? You mean after all the miracles, all the lessons, all the public admiration, I left my fishing business to walk into an ambush in Jerusalem? Is that what you are saying? Oh, no! I did not sign up for this!”

Then notice what Jesus does. Jesus turns from Peter, looks at all the disciples and basically says, “You best get out of my face, Satan! You’ve got it all wrong. It’s not about human ego and human plans, It’s about God, and God’s plan for humanity!” In other words, it’s not all about us, folks. It’s all about God.

Jesus then expands his teaching by calling together the disciples with the surrounding crowd, and says, “OK, folks. Listen up. Here is the deal. If anyone wants to become my follower, they must deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow me.”

If we think about it, we can’t really blame the disciples for being upset, can we? See, today we often talk about the cross in symbolic terms; but the cross meant one thing—and one thing only--in 1st century biblical times: humiliation, suffering, and death. Now I don’t think Jesus meant that everyone who followed him would have to literally suffer and die on the cross. But I do think Jesus was saying that following him meant that life would be tough sometimes. Confessing that Jesus is the Messiah could result in social and economic hardships, which sometimes made death look good by comparison.

Now, here’s a question for all of us: “How different are we from Peter and the rest of the disciples—really?” We give our lives to Jesus Christ, and we are filled with the healing power of the Holy Spirit. Maybe we are starting to feel hopeful about our lives for the first time in a very long time. But then some crazy guy in a bright green outfit stands up one Sunday morning and tells us something like, “Oh, by the way, Jesus really does love us. In fact, Jesus loves us so much Jesus died for us. But guess what? In the end, it’s not all about us! Oh, and there is something else I should tell you, following Jesus means dying to ourselves and living to serve Christ by serving others.”

Part of that following Jesus means addressing some very unpopular topics at times. And when we do that, there is the possibility that not everyone is going to like what we have to say, either. You know what I mean, right? Like when we tell our families, friends, and elected officials that loving a person of the same gender is not a crime, a sin, nor a sickness. Or when we tell our friends who are caught up in various addictions that there is a better way to live. Or when we talk to church leaders and tell them that Jesus Christ said, “Whosoever will, let them come.” And that is whosoever, not just rich, white, straight folks, either. Or even when we tell our sisters and brothers that being a follower of Jesus Christ means more than sitting in a building for an hour or so on Sunday morning.

Sisters and brothers, just as Jesus Christ loves us every day of our lives, if we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we give our lives to Jesus Christ not just once in a lifetime, but each and every day of our lives. So, what does that look like?

I think renowned preacher Fred Craddock gives us a beautiful description of what it means to give our lives to Christ when he says, “We think giving our all to the Lord is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the table—‘Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all.’

But the reality for most of us is that he sends us to the bank and has us cash in the $1,000 for quarters. We go through life putting out 25 cents here and 50 cents there…Usually giving our life to Christ isn’t glorious, It’s done in all those little acts of love, 25 cents at a time.”

So, given that definition, what does giving our lives to Christ look like? Well, maybe it is a phone call to a homebound person here, and a giving a person a ride to church there. Maybe it is increasing our financial support a little here, and volunteering to help with a Fall Festival there. Maybe it is listening to a friend’s troubles here, and praying with and for them there. For you see, no two people give their lives to Christ in the exact same way.

My prayer for each of us today is that, through prayer, discussion, therapy, trial and error—whatever it takes—my prayer is that we each make the decision to give our lives to Christ. Not just for an hour or so on Sunday morning; but each and every day of our lives, in our own unique and God-gifted way. For as scripture tells us, it is in giving, that we truly begin to live. Amen?

God bless you and amen.