sermon for Sept 16, 2012

We have some guest speakers and if I were to give a sermon on this sunday, the service would go on too long, and yet I feel a call to wrestle with this week’s lessons. I will post this blog as a substitute. 

A Reflection for XVI Pentecost (Proper 19)              All Saints’ Church, Southern Shores, NC September 16, 2012                                                            Thomas E. Wilson, Rector

Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1             Psalm 116:1-8             James 3:1-12               Mark 8:27-38

In today’s lesson from the Gospel, Jesus tells Peter that the cost of being fully human will be great, and the writer of Mark makes a pun using a Greek word that has a double meaning - “Psyche”, out of which we get the word Psychology which means “life” (the social being consciously and unconsciously interacting with the world while breathing on this earth), as well as the deeper meaning implied by Jesus, the word “soul” (that transcendental energy that makes life worth living spiritually connected to the one in whose image we are made). Or to say it in a way we can more easily understand, we have a choice between being “fully human” and being “only human”.

All of us know the difference.  When we want to excuse ourselves for falling short we say, “Well, I’m only human, and therefore I am not responsible for my choices.” Jesus however came to reinforce what it means to be fully human, which is to be in intimate relationship with God and neighbor. The “only human” camp exists as if life is a possession of one’s own, whereas Jesus calls us to be “fully human”, living intentionally. In the same way one does not “have” a soul, but it is the act of spiritually living in the middle of relationships that causes the soul to grow or wither, depending on the habits we choose.

We are at the beginning of a new year for our Sunday school program, and we can take this new school year as an opportunity to start all over again and ask ourselves questions for evaluation. The Gospel lesson for today takes place when Jesus and his disciples take a retreat to evaluate their ministry Jesus asks them “How does the larger community see us? How do we see ourselves? What is God’s ministry for this faith community?”

This is not the first time Jesus has had to evaluate his ministry for, as you remember after his baptism, Jesus is driven by the Spirit into the wilderness alone where he struggles with the dark side which offers attractive alternatives to the same three questions:

(a) “How does the larger community see us?” This is the marketing question where the attractive temptation, “Make bread out of these stones”, is to make a hit with the people by giving them what they think they need. Jesus responds that there is more to life than bread. Jesus came to show us not what it means to be God nor to help us just exist but what it means to be fully alive - what life is all about and not selling oneself out for the approval of others.

(b) “How do we see ourselves?” This is a positioning question of alignment in the market place, and the attractive temptation, “I will give you the nations of the world”, is to be in with the in-crowd and ally with the political forces of the world, basking in their glory.  Jesus responds that there is a higher ruler than Kings and Presidents. True meaning in life is not found in worldly success but in intimate relationships with God and neighbor.  

(c) “What is the ministry for this faith community?” This is the cost/ benefit question. What is the cost and who benefits, as in the attractive temptation, “Throw yourself off the Temple and the angels will catch you”. The ministry is therefore to be in control, committing little to anything beyond one’s own interests, a no-risk proposition. Jesus calls us to move from the safety of control to the uncertainty of vulnerability. 

In this story for today Jesus answers the third question of cost/ benefit. All three of the temptations - the approval of others, winning, and control and self-centeredness masquerading as security - speak to the “only human” in each of us, but Jesus invites us to be fully human.

Now, when Jesus is with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, Peter, his closest friend, shows that the dark side lives in each of us by bringing up that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter’s understanding of the Messiah is that the Messiah will be the one who drives the Roman occupying forces into the sea and brings in a time of surplus and plenty. He thinks the Messiah will bring in a new Golden Age and rule like David on a throne of a reestablished Kingdom when there will be no suffering anymore and all our needs and wants are met. Except Jesus tells him and others that the Messiah will have the people turn against him, and the Messiah will suffer and die.

Peter tries to straighten Jesus out, and for Jesus, it feels like déjà vu all over again, struggling with the dark side of our nature where we long to be the center of the universe. Jesus dismisses the attacks on his mission and embraces the fully human harder choice of following a life of working for justice in an unjust world as opposed to the “only human” choice that loves holding on to privilege. He takes the fully human harder choice of emptying out oneself for neighbor and loving one’s enemy in a world that wants to choose the “only human” approach – the belief that the more you have, the better you are, and which sees love not a commitment to daily life but as a strategy of exchange of approval to get one’s own ego desires met. Jesus makes the fully human choice, where suffering is not avoided but shared with those who are suffering in a world that is phobic about suffering.

Jesus invites:

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?

What is the cost/benefit answer for us? It depends on if we are to live our life as “only human” or if we ask for God’s help to be fully human.