This makes me nervous....

I am going to post my sermon today...and it makes me nervous. But for the sake of time, the lenten discipline and not being sure of what to say about today's service I just think sharing this will work best. Be gentle, in fact if you have concerns...I have an e-mail address that is checked. a lot.


Mark 8: 27-38---March 8th, 2009---Second Sunday of Lent
Today, in our scripture reading we are faced with the same question that Simon Peter is asked by Jesus. Who do YOU say that I am?
Everything is going along really well in Simon Peter’s world. In fact things are going so well that he is starting to use the M word…he believes that he is following the Messiah. He has decided to drop his net and give up the only way he knew how to live. He leaves his family and the security of his home to follow this man and really it has served him well so far. As he follows Jesus with the others (he even got to make some friends a long the way), he began to see the signs of the in-breaking of the kingdom--the sick being healed, the lepers being cleansed, the crippled walking, a tax collector becoming a disciple, the wind and sea being calm, 5,000 being fed, Jesus walking on water, the blind seeing. Simon Peter was getting excited to follow this one. Things were working out for him. And so as they are walking along, Jesus calls these followers of his to answer a question. Who do people say that I am? And after some answers that did not seem to please him, he got to the point. Who do YOU say that I am?
So when pressed for who Jesus was, Simon Peter feeling pressured at this point to just answer him and get it over with exclaimed, "You are the Messiah!" And wow, was he disappointed with the response he got! I can just imagine all of them standing there and their jaws dropping lower and lower and Jesus started talking about the suffering that he would face soon and even more the resurrection that was in the works. And they were probably all standing around wondering why in the world Simon Peter was not being congratulated for using that M word to answer Jesus’ question. And so being the brave one of the group (or so he thought), Simon Peter takes him aside and begins to ask that he kindly shut up. Simon Peter tells him no to talk about those things, expecting a big hug from Jesus and a “thank you friend for reminding me of what I should talk about”, Simon Peter was called Satan! I can imagine that the disciples’ jaws are on the floor now! And poor Simon Peter, he must really feel like an idiot. But there is something here that we can learn from the quick to speak, over-excitable, sometimes dense Simon Peter.
Have you ever not read the fine print of something? The little words at the bottom of a credit card offer or a bill that comes in the mail. Or maybe you have not heard the little bit of the announcer’s voice at the end of a radio offer.
I believe maybe this is what happened to Simon Peter that day. He was ready to hear all of the big print of Jesus. He was having a blast following this one. He was standing by and beaming as people were healed. He was passing out bread and fish to all of those hungry people that day. He was boasting to his friends, maybe some old fishermen friends of his that he was on the boat when that man named Jesus they talk about calmed the storm AND he saw Jesus walk towards HIM on the water. Yep, it’s true, Zaccheus came down from that tree and had dinner with us and now is a follower of him too and I was there to see it! I have seen people healed and I have helped manage the crowds that surround us at all hours of the day. I break bread with this one all the time. Simon Peter goes on and on in the Big print of Jesus.
Until he is stopped in his tracks….cold.
He is presented with a question. Who do YOU say that I am? I don’t want to hear anymore what other people tell you about me, Peter! I want to know who YOU say that I am! And he really did not have an answer except that safe Messiah answer. The word that everyone pretty much agreed on by now, the word that was rumbling in the streets, the word that was being whispered in the crowds when Jesus would heal and teach.
And so as the disciples stood by, maybe taking their jaws off of the floor, Jesus started talking about the fine print of following him. It was so much more than this Messiah stuff, Peter. It does not mean you get to have bragging rights about all of the wonderful things you witness when you follow me. It does not mean you talk about how there is always enough when I am around. It doesn’t even mean that you call me the Messiah and are always excited to follow. It means that you have your own cross…your own burden to bear. It means that you have your own call, your own ministry to learn and work with.
Can we identify with Peter today? Can Orrick United Methodist Church say the same things that Peter did at first?
Things are going along well for us. In fact, we are here every Sunday and we are blessed as a church family. We have a Sunday school program that also meets every Sunday morning. We are very open to letting groups use our church for things when they ask. We are involved with the community when we are asked. We donate a lot to The Salvation Army and we are excited about our recent connections with Grand Avenue Temple UMC in Kansas City, Missouri. We have a good working relationship with other churches in the community of Orrick. Our Pastor is young and excited to do new things and she can sing very well too! We always pay our apportiments, both district and conference! We have been through a lot too. For many years we faced pastoral changes often and we survived. We have been through a lot as a church family and keep going year after year, we make it.
And so Orrick UMC is going along, business as usual…things are going well. And Jesus asks us “Who does Orrick UMC say that I am?” And we shoot back some answers, probably a lot of the same ones that we were just yammering on about just like that group of disciples did. And he stops and looks each one of us in the eyes, “No, who do YOU say that I am?” We try to ignore. We do enough. We are busy. Things are crazy in our lives. We don’t know the right way to do ministry anymore. We are too tired, too old, too out of touch with everything in this world anymore to help it. We don’t know the answers so leave us alone. And eventually we spout off the easy answer. You are the messiah.
This is when we read the fine print just like Simon Peter and the rest of the disciples. This is when we find out and remember that we have a job to do. This is when we are reminded that we are disciples. This is when we are reminded that we are called. This is when we are told that we have a cross to bear and that we don’t just follow Christ bearing his cross. We read the fine print.
And we might get mad. We might get sad. We might get frustrated. We might run away. We might hide. We might want to throw something or give up. We only read the big print and WE were not supposed to be the ones who had to carry a cross. We were supposed to just follow along, happily whistling while we worked, but mostly watched. We were not supposed to be the ones who were healing, who were helping, who were answering questions from people. But today we are presented with the truth that WE are called to answer this question. Who do WE say that Jesus is? Have we read the fine print? Are we doing something about living the fine print?
I hope that you understand something as well. The big print has to be there for the fine print to make sense and really vice versa. It would have meant nothing for Simon Peter to be asked by Jesus who he said this man was if he did not have the experiences of following and what it meant to watch people’s lives be changed. It would not mean anything for me and you today to answer that question either if we did not have our church family, this building, and the legacy of those saints who have sat in these pews. If we could talk about the trials that Orrick UMC has faced in the many years that it has been around, it would not mean anything to us to answer that question for ourselves.
But it would not have made any difference in Peter’s life if that question would not have asked either. If Jesus would have just went on with business as usual that day after a few simple answers were spouted off to him. How devastating would it have been when only weeks later they saw the one who they were following have to carry his own cross to be hanged on and die hours later?
How terrible would it shake your faith if questions were not asked or if you were not allowed to ask questions? If we went on with business as usual in this church community and in our own lives, how hard would it be if you had something happen to you that was not business as usual? If you could not ask questions about your faith, to each other and to me, how much would all of the other ministry stuff that we do mean?
These two things, the calling and ministry work of a Christian and the questions of a personal ministry and connection with the Divine have to intersect, and when they do amazing things happen.
John Wesley called it something like “works of piety” and “works of mercy”. I like to say in my own Christian journey that I have to have a balance of the personal and communal in order to always grow, change, and reflect upon who I am in God. In other words, both the large print and fine print have to be read and understood.
Because when we read the fine print, when we balance the personal and communal, when we follow and lead both, when we go about business as usual and take risks, there is life. The cross reminds us today that it is a symbol of balance. It is a place where the most horrific thing happened and yet it brings life on Easter morning. The cross reminds us that the crucifixion is not the end of the story and today we can be reminded that the cross helps us realize that our story continues. It does not end with the fine print or the large print for that matter. Thank God. Amen.