Pentecost 15 Mark 8

Most mainline pastors consider having to preach on any one of three topics to be a fate worse than death. They feel that way because they know that for their congregations, hearing about them is a fate worse than death. The topics are: money, discipleship and witnessing Today, I’m going to tempt the fates and bring all three into my sermon.

Actually, neither pastor nor members should feel uncomfortable with those words since they appear frequently in Scripture. In fact, Jesus often told His followers (the future members of His Church) that they needed to give away their property, take up the cross and follow Him. And witnessing was a big part of what taking up the cross meant.

Jesus accepted a fate worse than death for us. From the moment of His birth when He took on human weaknesses, to the personal disappointments He suffer with His disciples, to the rejection and cruel attacks from those who should have rejoiced at His coming, to the torture He suffered at the hands of the Roman soldiers and His crucifiction, Jesus suffered more than any of us can imagine. This suffering was multiplied immeasurably while He hung on the cross because He carried with Him the sins of all humanity, including your sins and my sins.

Surely, death was more than welcome when it came.

Please don’t start thinking that I’ve confused the seasons. I’m fully aware that we left Lent behind several months ago and that we are now well into the season of Pentecost.

But, I think we need to be reminded periodically of what serves as the basis of this life-style we call “Christianity”. A lifestyle it is too. The first Christians we called “Followers of the Way” because they lived the life Jesus had modeled for them.

It so easy to lock awareness of the extent of what Jesus did for us away in a little forty day block of worship time. In fact, if we don’t attend midweek Lenten services and Holy Week services, we can almost keep Jesus suffering at arms length – a sad little piece of history, a bit of theological unpleasantness, a creedal belief to which we give intellectual assent, but not an event that pierces our hearts and souls.

While I had serious reservations about Mel Gibson’s, The Passion of Christ, I will grant that all the blood and gore of the crucifiction shook a lot of Christians out of their righteous complacency and gave them an experience of what Jesus actually suffered for our sakes.

And, this is what Jesus calls every Christian too. Every Christian is expected to deny the self, take up the cross and follow Jesus.

In a way, there is a solid rationale behind believer baptism as practiced by some other denominations. One could say that it’s not exactly fair to let parents decide that their children will become cross bearers. At least if a person waits till the teen years there can be some capacity to understand the weight of Jesus call and the vows being made by the one being baptized. But, we work within the theology we have and I certainly would not deny any infant or child the grace that comes through baptism.

None of that negates though the very real call that Jesus gives us each day. Just because we’ve always been a Christian and know we are saved by grace alone doesn’t mean that we are free to accept the grace, but reject the cross. We were created for a purpose and we were saved for a purpose – to be disciples, serving God. God expects us to put His will before anything we might prefer to do for our “self’s”.

“Self is actually a better translation of the Greek word, “psyche” that is translated “life” in the version printed on our bulletins. The “self” is a mysterious part of creation. We need it because it is who we are. According to my favorite Biblical interpreter, the word, “psyche”/self was created by the Greeks, “to describe the difference between a dead body and a living body. It is whatever it is that gives life to a body: “breath”, “spirit”, “personality”, “soul”, ‘life force’, etc.

Thus, when Jesus calls us to deny ourselves it is not just a matter of giving up candy for Lent. It is putting all of who we are at the Lord’s disposal. It is acknowledging the reality that we do not own our personhood or our lives, but rather, God who created, redeemed and reclaimed us in baptism has first claim on us.

At the same time, denying the “self” does not mean trying to destroy our individuality. It doesn’t mean becoming some kind of zombie-like slave to some God out there. It doesn’t mean hating ourselves, much less abusing ourselves (or anyone else). God created each of us to be the unique person we are and gifted us in particularly ways. He then calls us to develop and use our gifts in His service, first and foremost. This takes sacrifice. This sacrifice (of our time and other pleasures) is a part of the cross we are to bear.

Jesus gave His all for us. He used every gift He had to bring healing, relationship and salvation to humankind. He subjected Himself to God’s will even when that meant bearing the cross of exhaustion, sorrow, physical pain and death. Can we imagine for even a brief moment what it must have felt like to carry that cross through the streets of Jerusalem.

Jesus’ body was weak and hurting from the beatings inflicted by the Roman guards. He could hardly have helped feeling anxiety at what was before Him at Golgatha. And on top of this, He suffered the humiliation of being paraded, half naked, through the streets of the “City of God” while, as was the custom, people along the way, hurled taunts (and worse) at Him.

This was cross-bearing for Jesus. Thanks be to God, it is not what cross-bearing is likely to be for any of us. It should though give us the perspective and courage we need to stand up before the congregation to read the lessons, let outsiders know that we give first priority to worship when others want us to join in some social or recreational pursuit and witness to our faith.

Many people fear that witnessing to their faith is or will result in a fate worse than death. We have been brainwashed into feeling that somehow it is wrong to witness. We have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs by our culture to automatically go into a state of anxiety, even panic, at the sound of the word, “witness.” Yet, even the person who would most quickly flee the cross of witnessing, probably doesn’t hesitate for a moment to tell one and all about his favorite sports team, her favorite club, their favorite vacation spot, or any of hundreds of other secular experiences we enjoy.

Try bearing your cross this week by telling even one person what Jesus means to you, what blessings God has given you or how faith in Jesus Christ has sustained you through some life struggle.

This will help you see what being a follower of Jesus is all about. Yes, it can be scary and even a little painful when we struggle through our anxieties, but because Jesus has born His cross before us, we can trust that He will help us carry our crosses and will bless us in ways we can’t even begin to imagine. Then we will know, not a fate worse than death, but instead, a gift better than life. Amen.