“Surrender”
This passage from Matthew gives us the first of the passion predictions. Jesus’ death is not only imminent but is necessary and places him in the role of a prophet, not a ruler or a king. Peter’s response to Jesus’ death prediction is totally human. He loves Jesus and wants nothing bad to happen to him. His faith, which he proclaimed only a few verses earlier, is bound to Jesus as a person – to being with him day in and day out. I’m sure all Peter can this is: How will Jesus be able to fulfill his role and king and redeemer of the people of Israel if he is dead?
We want to think Peter gets it – he actually has flashes of understanding. But just as quickly, he loses focus on the truth of why Jesus has come. Jesus’ purpose is “other.” God did not send Jesus to fulfill our expectations. Instead, Jesus came to usher in an alternative kingdom, a radically different way of exercising rulership and authority. Just a few verses earlier Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter’s response was definitive, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”
But despite Peter’s revelation from God, he continues to think in purely human terms – reasonable, logically, and in hopes for the anticipated outcome. Israel’s expectation had always been for a king like David, who would come to rescue them from their oppressors. But Jesus wasn’t that kind of king. Jesus’ reaction is to call Peter to a renewed and deeper form of discipleship. “Fall in line, Peter,” Jesus says. “I am going to the cross – now pick up yours and follow me.”
This scene makes an important theological claim about Jesus: Jesus’ death was not a meaningless event. Jesus was not a hopeless and helpless victim. He was a knowing and willing participant in the divine strategy to bring humanity into a fuller relationship with God. And in this part of Jesus’ story, there are lessons for us to learn.
First, Christ calls us to a
way of life that is opposite of the prevailing culture. Self-denial is not a part of our culture’s
image of “the good life.” It’s currently in our American nature to acquire, to
get, to have more and more. But Jesus tells us to lose or hate our lives in
order to gain something more than things. What does Jesus mean by that? Does he
really want us to hate ourselves? No, I don’t think that’s what he’s saying. But
he does want us to stopping looking to ourselves or others for our purpose or happiness
or fulfillment. He wants us to look to him for our joy. He asks us to let him
drive. With no GPS or map. To follow him on an unknown journey.
When my niece turned five, she came with her family to visit us in Germany. When we woke up that day, we told her that we had planned a big surprise for her birthday, but she would have to wait until we got there to know what it was. She pondered that for a little while, and then came to me and said, “Aunt Deb, I don’t like surprises, but I can keep a secret, so if you tell me what we’re going to do, I promise not to tell anyone.” I know exactly how she feels.
Moving from place to place has been such a challenge for me – 11 moves in 25 years… thinking ahead to retirement is giving me the same kind of disquiet. When should it happen? Where will we live? … and what about church… and making new friends… and finding purpose outside of the work that defines us? Lord, I don’t like surprises, and yet I’m always amazed when, looking back, I see how God has woven good through the things I never wanted or expected to happen.
Second, the call to discipleship is based on faith in Christ and confidence in the future victory of God. That means that sometimes, OK most of the time, things don’t go according to my plans. Taking up our crosses means reorienting our lives toward the good news that God has acted decisively and ultimately in Jesus. Following Jesus isn’t about believing that Jesus gives us good advice. The Christian life doesn’t consist of boxes that can be checked off – OK did that mission project, memorized that scripture, have the right friends, check, check, check. No, Jesus’ life turns us in a different direction.
I think about the story of the Good Neighbor, which we also know as the Good Samaritan. The lawyer and the priest were so boxed in by the religious rules they observed that they missed the point of it all. They had all the correct answers, but they didn’t do what was really required of them… they did not help someone in need. Jesus’ instructions only make sense to us if we really believe he is the One who came to save us from our sins and from ourselves. Being a good person is not enough. We each have to come to the conclusion that it’s all about him, and not about each of us.
Third, the call to discipleship is a matter of confession and community. In the original Greek the word we translate as “confession” comes from the word martyrion, which is also the root word for martyr. We hear that word and think of ultimate martyrdom – giving one’s life for the faith. But being a martyr is not just about dying for the faith. It’s about living the whole of our lives as an act of testimony to something bigger than ourselves. This is something we are called to do every day, every hour.
Each act of worship, each act of service, each act of study is a giving of ourselves to Christ. And in this we are not alone. Being a follower of Jesus Christ is not an individualistic ethic of the solitary “I” but is an ethic for the community of disciples that confesses Jesus Christ to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This is not to say that we do not need to experience Christ alone and for ourselves, but we do need each other. Even Tom Hanks needed a Wilson to make it long enough to get rescued from that deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.
Jesus gathered a group of people around him to learn and serve and to be accountable to one another. From the very beginnings of the Christian church, people gathered to worship and serve and care for one another. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul reminds us that not everyone has all the gifts necessary to do the work of the church, but that each of us provides a necessary piece of the puzzle. In baptism, at the communion table, at marriages and funerals, in bible studies and committee meetings, we are called to realize that all voices and hands are necessary to accomplish God’s work on earth. [i]
And lastly, the call to discipleship cannot be learned in a day. These lessons are the lessons of a lifetime. We are often hard on ourselves, saying, “Well, I keep messing up, so I’m just going to throw in the towel.” God doesn’t want that from us. We are just like everyone else who has attempted to be in relationship with God … like Adam and Eve, Moses and Jonah, Peter and Paul. We make mistakes. We get it wrong, but then we start over. And as we learn from our mistakes, and see the witnesses of those who serve the Kingdom of God, we refocus our eyes on him, pick up that cross and begin the journey again.
Max Lucado has written a book entitled, “It’s Not About Me: Rescue from the Life We Thought Would Make Us Happy.” In the forward, NBA star David Robinson, writes about how successful sports teams function best when everyone has one goal in mind. All efforts and gifts are concentrated on the greater goal – winning, and that those who seek their own glory drive the team away from success.[ii]
We fight an uphill battle as disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything around us tells us to look out for our own good. It is only by letting go of our own agenda’s and timetables that we can discover God’s mind-blowing plan for our lives. The only thing we have to do is believe that it’s all about Him - our worship and work, our bodies and families, our success and our struggles. Easy – no, but fulfilling in ways that we have never even imagined.[iii]
Jackie Robinson would have been 101 years old this year. He is probably best known for his contribution to baseball. In 1947, he became the first black player to play for a major league baseball franchise. But before that, he was a standout student at UCLA, playing baseball, basketball, and running track and field. Baseball wasn’t even his best sport.
73 years later, we remember his contribution to the integration of professional sports. But we don’t often think about how difficult is was for him to stand up to the racist hatred reigned on him by fans and rival players alike. Some days, it took every ounce of courage he had to walk out onto the field. Some nights, he cried and shook with anger at the hate that seemed to confront him at every turn. Jackie Robinson’s faith served as inspiration and motivation, comfort and strength, wisdom and direction. Some say it was the secret to his success, grounding him to face whatever would come his way.
Later in life, he would become active in the civil rights movement in the US, but before that he was #42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, shattering racial and athletics barriers on and off the baseball field.[iv] His teammates reminded him often that his courage gave them courage to change long held beliefs and move into an new era of baseball and life. Even in the end of his life he left us a good word, with this quote chiseled into his tombstone in Brooklyn, NY: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”[v]
Our pain, our difficulties, our disappointments, they are not outside the scope of God’s love. Focusing on that all-consuming love, we realize that all things can give glory to God. Even in cancer and recovery and even death, if it comes to that, God’s power will reign. Max Lucado writes, “Your pain has a purpose. Your problems, struggles, heartaches and hassles cooperate toward one end – the glory of God… Faith in the face of suffering cranks up the volume of God’s song.”[vi]
I don’t want to minimize the pain of our struggles. The losses we experience are real. They wound us to our core. But if Jesus’ death and resurrection teach of nothing else, it is that God is present in the middle of the storm, and will see us to the other side. We are never alone.
So ultimately what do we do? I think that Jesus is asking us for something that we really don’t want to give. He is asking us to surrender to him. To give him our whole lives, “lock, stock and barrel.” He wants it all - our jobs, our families, our money, our time.
We’re hearing a lot of
God-talk in today’s society. But are we seeing the walk to match? Do our lives
reflect the way we talk about who God is to us? In all of this study and
prayer, I realize that I need to take another look in the mirror – I’ve got a
lot more work to do. But God is good and waiting for us to come and follow him.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Lord, hear the words of an unknown confederate soldier and know that they are our words, too.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy;
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for, but everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all [men] most richly blessed.[vii]
This stuff didn’t fit into the sermon but I felt the need to share:
Did you know that every MLB team retired the jersey #42 in 1997 in honor of Jackie Robinson's contribution to baseball?
Jackie Robinson Day is usually remembered on April 15th each year, but with the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, that celebration was delayed until August 28, coinciding with the 57th anniversary of the first March on Washington and MLK’s I Have a Dream speech. At the same time, protests were occurring in Kenosha, WI and throughout the US in protest of the shooting of black persons by police, most recently Jacob Blake. On August 27th, one stark remembrance saw the NY Mets and Miami Marlins line on the opposing baseline, observe 42 seconds of silence, and then leave the stadium without throwing a single ball, leaving only a Black Lives Matter t-shirt blanketing home plate. Other teams made similar tributes. Teams from the NBA, MLS, MLB, WNBA, NFL, and professional tennis, refused to play until the teams could have conversations about the inequity of racial justice in the US and how they could contribute to bringing these issues to the forefront of national conversation and action.
To hear more of Jackie’s words, check this MLB video showed at all the games on August 28th. “4 Us 2 Remember – MLB’s tribute to Jackie Robinson in his own words” https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1299361104259317760
Here’s a great article with MLB
tributes to Jackie Robinson 2020 https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/29/mlb-jackie-robinson-day/
[ii] It’s Not About Me, forward by David Robinson, 2004, pages xiii-xiv.
[iii] It’s Not About Me, Max Lucado, index of chapters.
[iv] Chris Lamb, “Jackie Robinson’s 100th Birthday – His faith in God was the secret ingredient to his success,” Fox News, January 28, 2019.
[v] Clemente Lisi, “Jackie Robinson’s Forgotten Christianity” Religion Unplugged, February 20, 2019.
[vi] It’s Not About Me, Max Lucado, ppage 124-126.
[vii] The Oxford Book of Prayer, George Appleton, editor, 1985, page 119.
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