Come, Let Me Show You - Sermon on Mark 8:27-38 - 09.16.2018

Listen to the gospel and the sermon here.  Mark 8:27-38

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28 And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."29 He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." 30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. 31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." 34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 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. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Who do you say that I am?  This is one of the most notable conversations of Jesus, and certainly one of his most memorable interactions with Peter.   Who do you say that I am? It is a question within scripture that I suspect most of us are familiar with. Some say you are John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some say a prophet, or other.  But, you, Jesus asks, who do you say that I am?

Today we find Jesus and his disciples on the road again.  They are making their way from Bethsaida to Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus will begin to transition to Jerusalem.  This moment of walking and talking serves as an interlude between Jesus’ public ministry and Jesus preparing the disciples for his impending death.   And it’s on the road, on the way, that Jesus asks the disciples “who do people say that I am?”

So the disciples offer some answers based on their experiences with the crowds.  They’ve witnessed first hand all that Jesus has done and they no doubt have an ear to the ground and the rumblings of the crowds.  They have a handle on the crowds expectations and interpretations of who Jesus is. Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some a prophet, or other…

But you, inner circle, whom I have called to be my disciples, my followers, first hand witnesses...who do you say that I am?  Peter steps up and quickly replies, you are the Messiah! Without hesitation, out of Peter’s mouth comes this declaration of faith, You are the Messiah!

I suspect most of us think nothing of it because, of course Jesus is the Messiah...we know that.  Why wouldn’t Peter know that?

“You are the Messiah.”  I often wonder what makes Peter respond in such a way?  I wonder what it is that allows…empowers him to respond to Jesus with such a profound and decisive   proclamation of faith?   His response is more than a recitation, or simple answer. Rather it is a response of faith and confession. And I always wonder, why now?  What changed for Peter that helped him to see and understand? I mean, he and the disciples don’t have the best track record for knowing who Jesus is...So what changed?

Somewhere along the journey, Peter has come to know and profess Jesus as the Messiah.  That’s who Christ is….or, for Peter at least, the Messiah is who wants Jesus to be.

We often praise Peter for proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, but I think that’s only because we A) know the ending of the story, and B) have a different understanding and expectation of a Messiah because we know the ending of the story.

And as confident as Peter may be in declaring Jesus as the Messiah, it all blows up in his face when Jesus tells them that the time has come for the son of Man to undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, the scribes, and be killed.   This doesn’t sit well with Peter, so he gets in Jesus’ face and rebukes him. You’re wrong, Jesus! No Messiah of mine will be defeated! My messiah absolutely will NOT undergo suffering. He surely wouldn’t be rejected by those in power. And my Messiah absolutely will not, cannot be killed.

For Peter, there is a drastic disconnect between his naming of Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus’ actual reign as a Messiah.  Peter can not reconcile who he thinks and says Jesus is with the actions and impending future of Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus responds, “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things!”  This exchange isn’t about Peter’s deep love for Christ and the prospect of a broken heart if he has to watch his friend, mentor, and rabbi die.  No, Peter’s reaction is because the future Jesus paints is NOT the future Peter wants or expects of Jesus as Messiah. Peter is selfishly professing who he wants, needs, implores Jesus to be rather than understanding who Jesus says he really is.

For Peter and the Jewish tradition of his day, Messiah was an anointed king, a ruler in the line of David that would come to reign over Israel.  He would restore Israel from the Gentiles. He would reclaim their independence and glory as God’s chosen people. He would overcome adversaries and oppressors.  He would rule like no king before. For the Jewish people, this is what the longed for. This is how they interpreted the prophets. And for Peter, Jesus was the hoped-for Messiah. Challenging authority, leading with confidence and power, teaching and healing in the name of God. Nothing was going to stop Peter’s expectation of Jesus as Messiah.

But the problem is, that’s not who Jesus is.  That’s no what Jesus will do. In fact, nothing to this point in the gospel of Mark has given any indication to Peter that Jesus will reign in this way.  Rather, Peter has set his mind on human things, selfish desire. Calling Jesus the Messiah carried such connotations and expectations, and every one of Peter’s expectations were crushed when Jesus told him what is to become of the son of man.

Peter confidently declares Christ as Messiah, yet his naming is selfish.  It’s rooted in his own understanding, his own hope and expectation. Jesus, you’re our Messiah, long awaited, and our expected Messiah is you are and will be for us.

Peter certainly is the first, nor the last person to define Jesus from his own perspective, hope, and expectation.  For as long as Christ has been proclaimed, the world has found a way to pigeonhole, define, limit, manipulate, or interpret that proclamation to best suit their personal need, agenda, or hope.  For centuries, the name of Christ, the Messiah, the son of God, has been confidently, yet falsely proclaimed to attack, defend, or justify human ambition and action. Human things. And when Christ is interpreted and proclaimed out of personal pride, preference, or perspective, then we abuse both the power and humility of the gospel message.  

And I’m not saying we should fault Peter.  After all, Peter’s hopes for a Messiah aren’t drastically different than our own.  How often do we pray for Jesus to come and rescue us from our troubles. Or pray for Jesus to guide political leaders and elected officials.  How often do we call upon Christ to bring justice to our enemies and righteousness to our actions. How we often do we call upon Christ to end war, calm creation, give meaning and understanding, demolish hatred, and restore us as God’s chosen people.

But the word of warning in today’s Gospel is that Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God and son of man will reign, rule, and resurrect well beyond any of our preconceived notions, preferences, expectations or understandings. We don’t get to define Christ, even in our best of intentions.

Rather we are defined by Christ.  We live, move, and have our very being by grace in Jesus, the son of man, the son of God, the Messiah.  And our Messiah is one who exceeds all expectations, leading with humility and grace. Jesus will restore, redeem, and set free, but he’ll do so in the most contrary way to the world’s expectations.   Rather than lead with force, and power, conquering adversaries and punishing the oppressors. Jesus will willingly and knowingly undergo suffering. He’ll be rejected with humility and grace. He’ll give up his life for the sake of the world.  So all people might have life and life abundant.

This is our Messiah.  And if ever we hope to faithfully proclaim Jesus as our true Messiah, and have confidence in our understanding of the son of God in doing so, then our call is to set aside our selves, and follow.  To lay down our life, and inward, selfish ambition, expectation, or hope, and follow. For naming the messiah is empty if only abstract. It is in the concrete action of serving and following our Messiah that will give faithful understanding to our proclamation.  

This is what Jesus instructs when he tells the crowd to “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.”  Jesus would have Peter, the disciples, and the crowds turn from their selfishness. Dissolve and preconditions, expectations, or understandings they may have for their Messiah..and follow.  

Who do we say Jesus is?  Make no mistake brothers and sisters, this is a question that the world is asking, and the world is groaning for an answer that is faithful.  Who do you say that Jesus is? What is our response? Is it simply enough to say, “He is the Messiah”?

Well Brothers and Sisters, first it starts much like it did for Peter when Jesus bid him to come and follow.  We too, in the waters of baptism have been named and claimed, marked with the cross of Christ, sealed by the holy spirit, and called to be visible witnesses of the kingdom of God.  

Raised in faith, we too are taught and formed.  We read and discuss the stories of Jesus. We hear Jesus’s sermons and teachings.  We learn from his miracles, parables, and healings. We too, like Peter, come to know, understand, believe in, depend on, follow, and proclaim Jesus as the messiah, the risen son of the living God. Our Faith in Jesus Christ and our ability to proclaim as witnesses to God’s blessing of grace and love is empowered by our daily, tangible experiences of the living God in Jesus Christ.

In worship we are invited to Christ’s table to be consumed by the body and blood of Christ. We are filled again and again by the Spirit, We are fed and nourished, and we are sent out by God to follow Christ with a greater hunger. We follow Christ with a hunger for justice. We follow Christ as he serves a ravished world with love and grace. Follow to feed the hungry, care for the poor, clothe the naked. Follow the Messiah as he advocates for the outcast, gives voice to the oppressed and stands firm in the face of injustice.  

We are called and sent as a church, a body of individuals, empowered by our experience of the living God through the Spirit, to be visible and verbal witnesses to the world that Jesus IS the Messiah, the son of the living God.

It is through this calling that we respond answer who Christ is.  In faithful following and witness to Christ, our naming becomes a confession.  

So, “who do you say Jesus is…”  Some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, some prophet.

Who do you say Jesus is? Some the Messiah, a king of kings, a mighty ruler. Some say the son of man and son of God.  Some say Lord, healer, and teacher.  Some say redeemer.

But perhaps the most powerful answer of all might be, “come, let me show you…”

Amen.

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached Sept. 16, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran Jacksonville, FL

To whom can we go? - Sermon on John 6:56-69 - 08.26.2018

Listen to the gospel and the sermon here. 

John 6:56-69

56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you?⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.⁶⁵ And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

Today is our fifth and final week with a gospel lesson from the sixth chapter of John.  For more than a month we’ve been reading, hearing, and discussing the 6^thchapter of John.  The entire chapter is dedicated to a discussion about Jesus being the bread of life, a new manna from heaven for all people.  A heavenly bread that offers eternal life to all who eat of it.

In today’s final installment, the sixth chapter of John culminates in a moment of decision for the dedicated crowd that has been following Jesus.  As Jesus wraps up his discourse on heavenly bread, he connects the dots between God providing bread from heaven and him being the bread from heaven. He then goes so far as to teach that eternal life is synonymous with the eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. 

This whole thing started 60 verses ago as Jesus crossed to the far shore of the sea of Galilee to find a moment of rest.  He climbed the hillside and barely sat down before he saw a great crowd of people following him. Jesus tested Philip.  Philip, how are we going to feed these people?   Recall Philip saying, Jesus even if there were a place to buy enough food, we don’t have the money.  There aren’t enough resources. You’ll remember that Jesus then takes a small amount of food, 5 loves and two fish, from a boy in the crowd.  He lifts it up, blesses it, breaks it, and feeds the crowd. All eat enough that they are fed to satisfaction, and the disciples collect 12 baskets left over.   It was a moment of pure abundance. 

In that moment of feeding on the mountainside, the crowd received not only food to eat, but affirmation of their decision to follow Jesus.  They had let everything behind, family, work, and home to trail Jesus. To see what sign he might offer next. This feeding event served as a catalyst for the crowd.  

So over the last 5 weeks Jesus taught about the bread from heaven and the bread of life.  He’s taught us about the benefits of the bread from heaven, living bread and everlasting life.   He’s named himself as the new manna, the bread from heaven that will feed and give eternal life. 

And in today’s final segment of this entire discourse, this decision making moment, Jesus makes one final connection that some consider to be one step too far.  “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”  “I am the bread from heaven and those who eat of my flesh and drink of my blood will have eternal life.”   …Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will have eternal life.

There’s a popular anecdote that circles around with this text.  I don’t know if it’s true, but the story goes that as a pastor was presiding over the Eucharist one Sunday morning, he referenced this passage of scripture.  And once he lifted the bread and the wine and said whoever eats of this flesh and drinks of this blood will have eternal life. And almost immediately a young girl in the front of the church exclaims, eww yuck! 

Flesh and blood…ew! Yuck!  Can’t fault her. When we really think about it her response seems rather appropriate.  I would imagine that within the gathered crowd, at least one person audibly gagged or scoffed at the idea of gnawing on Jesus flesh and blood.

And it’s not just that Jesus’ proclamation sounds distasteful, but the crowds gathered would have easily made the connection to the Old Testament in which such an act was considered cannibalism.  It was unlawful and unclean. And in this culminating moment, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"

Some Left

So it is this moment in the sixth chapter of John, when Jesus proclaims that eternal life comes through the eating and drinking of Jesus’ flesh and blood that some of the disciples say, “nope, I’m out.”  

This teaching is too hard.  It’s too far. It’s too much.  Feeding us on the hillside with such little food is one thing…healing people is one thing…preaching bread from heaven is one thing... but chewing our your flesh for the promise of eternal life is where we should draw the line.  So Jesus, thank you for this adventure, I appreciate the fish and the bread, but we’re going to head back now.

Hard teaching

"This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"  Jesus offers his whole self, body and blood as nourishment for the journey. Like manna pouring from heaven for the Israelites wandering in the desert, Jesus offers himself as food for the journey.  His own body and blood to sustain and nourish them. I don’t blame them for leaving.  That is a hard teaching to hear. 

Honestly, I find comfort in their honesty and conviction.  These disciples who had dropped everything to follow Jesus were buying in whole-heartedly.  They were growing in faith, listening and learning...seeing and believing...but this moment was too far, the teaching was beyond their comfort or belief.  It complicated their understanding thus far.  So they walked away. 

Who among us, despite our life in faith hasn’t walked away? Or at least been tempted to walk away? Thanks Jesus, it’s been interesting and enlightening, but I’m just not with you anymore?  That teaching is too hard. I can’t accept it.

Being baptized, confirmed, or even a regular worship-attendee doesn’t make us immune to the difficult moments in life in which we can’t accept Jesus’ teaching. The deep, vulnerable moments of life that challenge our comfort or conviction. Moments when faith seems distant, arbitrary, or trite.  

When the teaching of Jesus is hard to hear. To know. To believe. I suspect we’ve all been there...ready to walk away...when the teachings of Jesus are hard to believe and we refuse to accept them. 

Jesus teaches eternal life even through death, but when you’re standing bedside by a loved one at or in the waiting room during an emergency.  

God created all things good and for good, right?  Yet we life in fear of that creation... violent hurricanes, like Irma, Katrina, and Lane...wildfires consuming California and forgiving no one in the way, earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons…

We know good and well that Jesus teaches that we should love god and love our neighbor, but headlines...every single day challenge our faith school shootings, mass tragedies, senseless violence, wandering refugees, desperate immigrants.  

Jesus teaches peace, yet faithful as we may be we have never known a time without war or fighting.  Teenagers today have never lived a day without us being at war. 

Jesus offers healing, but even the strongest in faith shutter at disease, illness, and addiction. 

Jesus teaches of an inclusive kingdom, but our society and culture celebrate exclusivity.  

Faithful as we are, the world thrives on diversity, disparity, inequality, injustice, and oppression. 

Jesus teaches us who we are, but even our very identity in Christ is at risk when overwhelmed with loneliness, exile, bullying, despair, and depression. 

For me, it was 2007.  4 agonizing years of wandering in and out of hospitals, clinics, trials, and treatments, and cancer ended my mother’s life.  Absolutely the most brutal, pain staking moment of my life. And I knew the Jesus taught eternal life.  I knew that Jesus was abiding in my mother.  I knew that God loved me and my mother. I knew, even though I didn’t want to admit, that God didn’t cause my mom’s cancer or even take my mother’s life.  And if I had any reason or motivation to walk away from God during those 4 years, they were affirmed on January 30, 2007. It was a decision moment. Where a vulnerable moment of life directly challenged my conviction of faith.  Death and grief were too heavy for me to keep on following. The teachings were too hard, and I couldn’t accept them. 

In these vulnerable, decisive moments of life, when the teaching of Jesus seems so hard and our faith is challenged...the easy response is to walk away.  Turn around. Thanks, Jesus, for the journey thus far, but I think we’ll bow out now. 

... 

And yet, here I am.  Here each of you are.  Here we are. Again and again.  Choosing to walk on this holy ground, to be in the presence of the Lord.  To hear, pray, sing, confess, eat, and drink. 

To follow, if even hesitantly, to follow Jesus. Listening to the teachings and promises, regardless of how much we may resent them at times.  But why? Why would we keep coming back?

⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." 

You notice that Peter didn’t answer yes or no.  Peter, without hesitation says, “Lord, where else would we be?  Where else would we go? To whom else would we turn?” 

You. You alone have the words of eternal life.  The world may challenge that at every turn, but you Lord, you are the Holy One of God.  You alone have the words of eternal life. Where else would we go?

Peter isn’t saying that they have no other options.  Well, Jesus, you’re our last and only choice so there’s no reason to leave.  No, Peter confesses that Jesus, despite the hard and challenging teaching, Jesus is the Holy One of God.

And sure being a follower may be characterized by risk.  It means confessing teachings of faith that rub up against a culture and society.  It means pushing back against a world that that is so quick and so ready to render faith in Christ obsolete. .  

Certainly we don’t always understand.  In the synagogue that day, they couldn’t understand Jesus offering himself, body and blood, as nourishment and as promise of everlasting life.  We still don’t fully understand it. 

We may not always understand Jesus’ command to love or show peace.  We may not get turning the other cheek or serving the last, lost, and least. Because sometimes the teaching seems too hard to accept.

Yet here we come again and again, following Jesus, not because we’re out of options, but because deep within, Christ has claimed us, and in Christ we have no need, no desire to walk away. 

We may never fully understand that power of God, but we come again and again, following Jesus as best we can. We listen.  We taste. We see. We tell. In this moment we experience Jesus, through flesh and blood, bread and wine. God only knows exactly what happens in that meal.

But Deep within our core we come with sure and certain hope to experience Christ.  We come again and again.

Because to whom else can we go?

Lord, you and you alone have the words of eternal life.  Amen

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached Aug. 26, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran JAX, FL

What is your response to God’s blessing and promise? - Sermon Lent 2B

Listen to the gospel and sermon here.

Genesis 17:1-16

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.” ⁹God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. ¹³Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

Mark 8:31-38

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For 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. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

What is your response to God’s blessing and promise?   As a disciple of Christ...as a member of the body of Christ...as a child of God blessed by God….what is our response?

Let me be clear, God has blessed us, in the waters God promises to rename us as a child of God, grafting us into the eternal promise of prosperity, and everlasting life through Jesus Christ.  God blesses us with unconditional love, promises grace upon grace, blesses us with forgiveness and mercy, promises life to all who believe.  So I was just curious, what is our response to God’s blessing and promise.

Perhaps it is more occasionally appropriate to ask, How is your relationship with God this Lenten season?  Have you found yourself at all challenged?  And as a result growing?  Has Lent challenged you to confront uncomfortable sins or temptations in your life?  Reevaluate the priorities of this world?  Or has Lent compelled you to confess that you’d rather not have your faith challenged during Lent?  Regardless, Lent is an appropriate season not only for introspection and self-examination, but more so for dwelling how God is or isn’t present in your life.   Lent is a good time to ask not only how is your relationship with God, but in what ways are you responding to the blessings and promises God has bestowed on us through Jesus Christ?  

I don’t mean to be so heavy this morning, but our texts are rich with responses to God’s blessing and promise.  And all of these questions and pressure points simmer down to our Spirit-empowered response to God’s blessing and promise.  Make no mistake...God has promised.  God has blessed and continues to bless. Therefore every aspect of our lives is a response to this promise and blessing.  

Enter Abram and Sarai in our story from Genesis this morning.   Abram and Sarai met God several chapters ago when God told Abram to “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”  And with his wife, nephew, and servants, Abram went.  At seventy five-years old he went.  Destination unknown, but off they went because in that convestation God promises to bless Abram.  His initial response to God’s promised blessing was a faithful and fully God-dependent response.

This morning’s story happens almost 25 years later.  Abram and Sarai have wandered and waited, not so patiently, but they’ve waited.  Throughout their waiting they’ve had their struggles.  They often question God or force matters into their own hands.    

And so in today’s text Abram is all but convinced that he will die of old age before God’s promise is fulfilled.  His only son is illegitimate through his servant Hagar and at 90 and 99 years old, he and Sarai have no descendants.  So this morning God speaks a covenant to Abram and Sarai.  The covenant is one of land and descendants...an exceedingly fruitful and numeran nations.  From which a king shall come.  An everlasting covenant to be God to him and to his descendants after him.  In this covenant, as a sign of God’s promise, God gives Abram a new name.  Abraham, meaning “father of many.”  and to Sarai, Sarah, meaning princess.  Of course they go on to laugh at God and welcome their son Isaac a year later.  Isaac becomes the father of Jacob, and Jacob is later named Israel, the father of the 12 tribes.  The covenant fulfilled.

This is the blessing and promise given to Abraham and Sarah.  Despite their old age, faithful struggles, flawed choices in their wandering, God remains faithful to God’s promise.   Their response is admirable.  

In the gospel of Mark today Jesus begins to teach that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and death so that he might rise three days later.   In this familiar passage Peter is less than happy with Jesus’ teaching and Peter rebukes Jesus.  Jesus, of course, calls Peter satan and instructs Peter to get behind him.  For Peter is setting his mind not on divine things, but on human things. 

As a disciple of Christ, it seemed completely asinine to Peter that Jesus, the supposed Messiah, would suffer and die.  

In his book, The book of God, Walter Wangerin describes the exchange from Peter’s perspective.  He writes,  “Jesus knelt down by the spring, cold from the earth.  He made a cup of his hands and scooped water.  Just before he started to drink, he said, “I will be killed in Jerusalem, and on the third day be raised--.”  … “I grabbed Jesus’ wrist and shouted, “No!” The water splashed from his hands.  “No, God won’t allow it!” I cried.”

Peter’s response is rash, abrupt, and angry.  Peter, despite all he has witnessed to this point is blinded by his own preconceptions of what God’s messiah can and can’t do.   Jesus’ teaching is not up-to-speed with Peter’s expectations.  Or rather, Peter’s expectations of God and the Messiah were selfish and uninformed.  For Peter, the death of his Messiah was about as improbable as a 90 year old and a 100 year old having a baby.

In this exchange Jesus is telling Peter, the disciples, and those around how he will fulfill God’s promise for a Messiah.  It is through the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Son of Man that the blessing and promise of God is made known to all the world.  It must and will happen.  Through the cross God will fulfill the covenant made to Abraham. 

Peter’s response is not a response of faithful discipleship but rather selfishness.  He was not prepared for, nor comfortable with having his faith challenged.  

We are a week and a half into the Lenten season.  About 10 days into a season of wandering with God.  Self-examination and assessment.  A season that challenges our response to God’s blessing and promise in uncomfortable ways.  And I think today’s texts are well-timed within our Lenten experience.  

How is your relationship with God this Lent?  What is your response to God’s blessing and promise?  

Do you experience God’s blessing and promise in a way that resembles Abraham and Sarah?  Willing to trust in God by faith that God will lead to the unknown destination.  And despite your flaws, temptations, and selfish ambitions along the way, do you recognize God’s continued presence.   Do you laugh with joy at God’s promises?  Not because they’re ridiculous but because only God can fulfill such joyous promises?  

Do you experience God’s blessing and promise in a way that resembles Peter?  Unwilling to hear and accept the call to discipleship?  Rebuke any challenge of your faith.  Prefer to focus on human desires and understandings rather than dare trust God’s ridiculous promise?    Perhaps you experience a bit of both.

In both of our stories this morning God speaks of a covenant, a promise that may sound ridiculous.  It may warrant laughter, or a rebuke.  But the truth of these stories is that their characters are forever changed by their encounter of God’s promise and blessing. These exchanges, these covenants forever shape the way they see and interact with God.  Despite their past understandings or immediate response they are changed through their experiences with God and the Son of man.  It affects how they see and hear...how they view the world...It affects, for better or worse, how they understand their faith in God.  Both characters this morning are in the midst of their own Lenten season...examining themselves and their faith in God.

Just like the characters of today’s scripture we might consider our own response in the face of God’s covenant.  Do you remember the covenant God made with you? 

“We give you thanks, O God, that through the water and the Holy Spirit you give your daughters and sons new birth, cleanse them from sin, and raise them to eternal life.  Sustain us with the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the lord, the spirit of joy in your presence, both no and forever.

Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. 

Each and every day we are good to remember that God has has entered into the divine covenant of promise and blessing with each of us.  Baptism is that covenant.  In the waters we were chosen by God.   We enter into death like Christ and are raised with new life.  We are made new.  God makes a covenant with us too.  And as a mark of the covenant we are given a new name. ...child of God.  A new name that signifies a new relationship with our creator.  For all who have faith and believe in God, God extends the promise eternal life.  God blesses with unconditional love, promises grace upon grace, blesses us with forgiveness and mercy, promises life to all who believe.  We belong to God, and our new name is a calling….a calling to live every aspect of our God-given lives as a response to what God has done in Jesus Christ.  God has bestowed us with every good gift for the purpose of building up the kingdom of God. 

And like Abraham and Peter and all the saints before us, the covenant of baptism forever shapes the way we see and interact with God.  It affects and informs how we see and hear...how we view the world...It affects, for better or worse, how we understand our faith in God.  It empowers our response within the world.   And for 6 weeks in Lent we take an intentional assessment of this response.  We are invited to spend forty days examining the nature of our own covenant with God.

So friends, what is your response to God’s abundant promise and blessing?

Jesus speaks plainly to the crowd saying, “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 to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

Jesus demands an intimidating response of faith.  Jesus instructs that we are to give up our priorities and the priorities of this world.  In the covenant we are to be aligned with the will of God in the great commandments...love God and love neighbor.  For Jesus, a response to the covenant means praying thy kingdom come, thy will be done...and meaning it.  It means dining with outcast members of society.  It means denying the prosperity of the world by finding favor with the poor and lost.  It means acting against corrupt authority, challenging oppression systems, and restoring justice.  It means risking persecution or suffering for the sake of proclaiming the gospel.  

As a disciple of Christ is your response one that is set on human things or divine things?

As a member of the body of Christ is your response to pick up your cross and follow Jesus

And scary as it may seem, there is nothing we can do to escape the blessing and promise of God in our lives.

Make no mistake, this is the blessing and promise of God.  It’s not to say we won’t have out faults or flaws.  It doesn’t mean we won’t struggle with our new name and our new way of life.  After all the generations of Abram would endure great challenges...barrenness, loss of land slavery, exile…Peter would continue to struggle with his call to discipleship. 

So as you reflect and self-assess this season of Lent and beyond, may we remember this good news: Like Abraham and Peter and all the saints before us...God’s promise is not and never will be dependent on our own faithfulness...no matter what, the covenant will not be broken.  

So what is your response to God’s covenant?  At the very least, it is a gift from God.