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The Second Sunday In Lent
O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from thy ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of thy Word, Jesus Christ thy Son; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Scripture citation(s): Mark 8:31-38
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
Mark 8:31-38
✛
Self Discovery
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Turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.” St. Mark 8:31-38
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Last Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, the Gospel contained Saint Mark’s one-verse description of our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness; namely that Jesus was driven by the Spirit out into the wilderness for forty days, where he was tempted by Satan, vulnerable to the wild beasts, and alone except for ministering angels.¹ There was no mention of any specific temptations. Today, however, Mark describes a most critical temptation, in which Satan, speaking through Peter, rebukes Jesus for declaring the necessity of his death at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem.
This is the first of three times in Saint Mark that Jesus predicts his passion. At no point does his prediction appear to have registered with the disciples. Today, after Jesus openly and plainly speaks of his impending rejection and death in Jerusalem, Peter takes him aside to rebuke him. But Jesus, turning and seeing the disciples, rebuked Peter openly in return, and then went on to speak to the multitudes about what it would mean for anyone to follow him.
Jesus was being tempted by Satan through Peter to betray himself by violating his relationship with God and thereby losing his life and its mission. Jesus was conceived and born, and grew to maturity, in Personal and Substantial Union with and within God. His life and its mission were announced by angels at the time of his conception and birth. He was “of the Holy Spirit.” He was the Son of God. He was God-with-us. His name was to be Jesus, “for he will save his people from their sins.”² This relationship was manifested at his Baptism, when the heavens were split open and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove and the Father’s voice said, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.” He lived within this relationship every minute of his life, which is why he knew no sin and had none to confess. He lived and walked by the same Spirit who conceived him in his mother’s womb, descended on him at his Baptism, and drove him into the wilderness to face Satan.
Peter no doubt thought he meant well for Jesus. But the high priests and the others who crucified him, who did not wish Jesus well, said the same thing Peter says today, when they mocked him in his crucifixion, saying, “Save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mk 15:30) And Peter revealed how far away from our Lord he was when, at the same time, he invoked a curse on himself as he denied knowing Jesus three times. (Mk 14:71)
Jesus lived in a relationship of truth and love within God. He was the well-beloved Son. His food was to do the will of the One who sent him and to accomplish his work. The Father’s will was to send him to us, to our world of sin, our wilderness of barrenness and wild beasts, of mistrust and hostility, of insecurity and greed, of fear, violence and death. He came to give us life, abundantly. The reason the Son knows he must die at our hands is he knows what is in us, what ails us, and he will not defend himself against it. He will overcome it another way. He will not put himself in the center of his concern. He will not lose his soul in an exchange for physical survival. He will not betray God’s kingdom for earthly power. He will not avoid his death. When Peter suggests it, he says, “Get behind me, Satan; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.”
When Jesus turns to invite us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him, he is inviting us to put aside ourselves as the center of concern and to join him in his life’s work of love. He is inviting us into his own relationship with God. What to us looks from the outside to be as terrible as the crucifixion, is, from the inside, made possible by love. Love makes the work possible, doable, when seen from the inside, where Jesus is with God. The lover will do anything, will move heaven and earth, for the beloved. Love shoulders the cross, and the cross is Love’s definitive expression. You can take any risk, face any encounter, declare any hard truth, bear any burden, suffer any pain, if you are doing it for love. Love is not thrown off course by lesser or false loves. Greater love has no one than that he lay down his life for his friends, said Jesus. “I have called you friends,” he said, and “you are my friends, if you do what I command you. This I command you, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” To love like the well-beloved Son of man (Jesus’ favorite self-designation) is to rise to the level of fully human life – life created in the image of God to give and to receive such love as it is given and received within the Trinity himself.
If any one would come after me, says Jesus, let him deny himself. Love denies that which is illusory or transient, in order to cherish and embrace what is substantial and lasting. Paradoxically, we lose our lives when we put ourselves first and at the center. When I am the center of my concern, then others are of interest only insofar as they provide in various ways for me. Again paradoxically, we find our lives when we learn and imitate the love of the well-beloved Son. In thus forgetting ourselves and loving, serving others for the children of God they are, we find ourselves and discover that far from becoming diminished and poor, we have become rich.
Recently a wise, experienced priest recounted a time when a gifted and able young woman came to him with interest in the Church. “Tell me about Christianity,” she said, “but would you please just skip over the part about the cross.” But the part about the cross is the whole thing!
Jesus tells us not to be ashamed of his cross and therefore not to be afraid of taking up our own cross in following him. What do we gain by being ashamed of Jesus and afraid of his cross? We may buy a little time and ease for the short term, as Peter tried to do. But why did Satan not want Jesus to go to his cross? Because Satan knows that Love can bear rejection, crucifixion and death. Because Love will rise from the tomb on the third day. Because Love is stronger than death. Because Love almighty overcomes ills unlimited. Because Love, who moves the sun and other stars, conquers all.³ What do we gain by venturing to follow Jesus? We learn to love and to live, both now and forever.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
__________
¹See Andrew Mead, Jesus: Tried and True (Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent), March 1, 2009, Saint Thomas Church, New York City.
²Matthew 1:20-22 for Joseph; Luke 1:26-38 for Mary
³These two sentences are indebted to Austin Farrer, Love Almighty and Ills Unlimited; and to Vergil, Eclogues, and Dante, The Divine Comedy, two authors who collaborate across the millenia.
