SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B February 28, 2021
Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16; Mark 8:31-38
Follow Me
In today's Gospel, Jesus clearly issues a challenge and call to discipleship. When he called His disciples, He said, "Come, follow me" and they obeyed. No questions of how much they would get paid, how much time would be involved, of how they would live and where. Today, those are the questions that we have been conditioned to ask. We want to know about salary, vacation time, and a complete job description. We don’t know if Jesus asked others and was turned down. All we know is that He issued an invitation to those whose names are recorded and by His compelling presence, there was no hesitancy to obey. They left their nets; left behind jobs, families, and homes, and traveled the land with Jesus.
The dictionary defines denial in this way: "to abstain from indulging oneself." It feels like today's world doesn't take kindly to this idea. Every day we are bombarded with temptations to indulge ourselves from all directions. Our wants become our needs, then we lose interest once they are ours. We make a plan to acquire the newest and the best, and a month later, when something "new and improved" comes along, we want that, too.
And even if we are willing to deny ourselves something, taking up a cross of any kind – well that’s a step that’s really hard to imagine. Inconvenience is something to be avoided, not taken on. The season of Lent offers us a chance to make a small stab at the idea of sacrifice if we decided to give up something as a spiritual discipline. But how often are we willing to think about what our lives would look like if we took on Christ’s challenge as the pattern for life every day – for a lifetime?
We often lift up the lives of people who have done extraordinary things and think that they are the template which we will never live up to. But the best role models for faithful living didn’t set out to be the faith gold standard. They lived authentic love, one day at a time.
The call to discipleship is a gift to each and every Christian. What does being a disciple mean in today's world? Again, the dictionary defines disciple in this way..."One of the companions of Christ." The roots of the word in Latin are discipulus, meaning “pupil” and discere, meaning "to learn." The persons invited by Jesus were those he taught daily, both by word and action. He gave them tasks to do in His name. He invited them to be His most intimate friends. He warned them so they might be prepared for his death. Suffering from frustration and dismay when the disciples just "didn't get it," Jesus never gave up on them. In spite of all their weaknesses, and because of their strength after Jesus' death and resurrection, you and I sit here today, hearing again Christ’s story, participating in His birth, life, death, and resurrection. Like the disciples, we are charged with the responsibility to spread the good news.
In our Hebrew Bible lesson, we see the third occasion of Abraham receiving God’s covenant. In the first encounter, Abram lost his home. In the second, he lost his security. And here in the third, he lost his name. Of course, that is not how we usually interpret this encounter. We usually focus on what he gained.
But in truly appreciating the promise, we have to also acknowledge the sacrifice in order to interpret the call of God in its fullness. Abram was called to leave the familiar and to venture out, with a promise for the near and distant future, but no concrete directions on how to make it happen. In order to accept his part of the covenant, Abraham had to put his trust – and the trust of his whole family – in God He was called to believe he had a home, a place of safety despite being surrounded by enemies.
And now he is called to take on a new identity and to live that identity with his whole life. That kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight. We can sit down and read the whole Genesis story in one afternoon. But those events took place over a long period of time. We first encounter Abram when he is 75 years old and in today’s part of the story, he is pushing 100. Abram is living proof that, while the promises of God take time to unfold, when we follow, God is faithful.[i]
As Paul writes to the Christian churches outside the influence of Jerusalem, he is also growing his own understanding of how Jesus calls us to serve. In Romans 4, he ponders on the notion that Abraham believed in God’s promises, even though he had no evidence that God would or could follow through. Time and again they were tested, but kept going forward. Eventually, God’s promises were fulfilled, and for their faithfulness, not only were Abraham and Sarah blessed, but that blessing passed on to their descendants – that would be us.
For Paul, faith is what leads to life, even amid death, as shown in verse 17. This kind of trust is not easy or straightforward. For Abraham, the paragon of faithfulness, faith was a struggle—it required a “hope against hope.” While doubt might be the enemy of hope in our everyday lives, faith remains the anchor which holds us fast to the promises of God. Faith and hope together give us the strength to get through the things we think we cannot survive. Our trust in God and the unfailing love of Christ are sometimes all we have.
In addition, the act of taking up our crosses and following Jesus cannot be done by our own merit or strength. We are called to live out our faith with trust, obedience, sacrifice and belief in the living God – we cannot never do it alone.
Like Peter, we can get caught up in the radical nature of God’s call to service and sacrifice and want to put on the brakes, or at least ask questions. Peter’s rebuke of Jesus earns one right back. “Stop focusing on the ordinary and start paying attention to the divine,” Jesus says. Stop expecting comfort. Expect challenges that will feel like loss. Jesus sees a bigger picture and calls us to follow him into that future, unafraid.
Even in his doubt, Peter understands that Jesus is asking him – and us – to do something radical. If we take up that cross and follow him, our futures, our identities, will be forever linked to Jesus. The question is always whether or not we will embrace Jesus’ definition of his own mission – which is the only definition that matters – and how that affects the choices we make.[ii]
The way forward is not without its doubts, roadblocks, and failures. Like the disciples, we will often abandon our mission at the most important times. Fortunately for all of us, Jesus’ story doesn’t end at the cross, but continues to the resurrection – that is Jesus’ defining moment, and our moment, too. And as we witness in the days after his death and his rising, he continues to gather a community of faith to believe, love, and serve in his name.
Where do we get the courage and the sustenance to go forward? In the sustaining experience of prayer, the power of the worship and table fellowship, in the love and acceptance of community, and our willingness to follow Him, sometimes kicking and screaming along the way. Those are the places where we can leave the darkness behind and enter into the pure light day. Yes, we pick up our crosses and follow Jesus to a dark place, but we do so, knowing that that is path to true and eternal life in him.
I close with this short poem.
Abandon the illusion you're a self-contained individual.
Be a part of this wounded world,
and find yourself with Christ.
Set aside your own desires,
give yourself fully for others;
be the hands and heart of Jesus.
Renounce self-protection,
accept your brokenness,
and reach out for love.
Let go of your own plans.
Join in the healing of the world.
You will not be alone.
Follow your soul, not your ego.
Follow it right into people's suffering.
Follow it right into the heart of God.
Pour yourself out;
let the world pour in;
then you are one with the Beloved.
~ written by Steve
Garnaas-Holmes and posted on Unfolding Light. https://www.unfoldinglight.net/
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray.
Jesus,
as we journey with you toward your cross, your way becomes narrower and more
difficult for us to follow. Most of us, when we began this journey with you,
did not know that it would be so demanding. We fear that we are falling behind.
We wonder if we can make it. It’s one thing for you, Son of God, to go to the
cross. It’s altogether another thing for people like us to go with you.
If
we are going to make it to the end of this journey, you will need to help us.
Teach us, we pray. Correct us when we are wrong. Strengthen us when we are
weak. Keep encouraging and re-assuring us that we, even in our many weaknesses
and limitations, are up to the journey with you.
Keep
walking with us, Lord, so that we can keep walking with you. Amen.[iii]
[i] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/rend-your-hearts-claiming-the-promise/second-sunday-in-lent-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes/second-sunday-in-lent-year-b-preaching-notes
[ii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-in-lent-2/commentary-on-mark-831-38-5
[iii] https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/10604/february-28-2021-walking-a-way-nobody-wants-to-go
No comments:
Post a Comment