17th Sunday after Pentecost (B)
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (B)
October 1, 2006
Text: Mark 8:27-35
Confession of the Christ inevitably leads to bearing the cross. The disciple is not above his Master. Peter would have to learn, and that right quick, that there is no Christianity outside of the cross. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by His own. And so must His disciples. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34-35; ESV). Sorry, Peter. There is no room for your theology of glory here. There is only the theology of the cross. Get behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
The things of God are suffering and the cross. God hides Himself for us in suffering and the cross. It is on the cross that God accomplishes His greatest work on our behalf: the death of His Son for our forgiveness and salvation. God’s cruciform method does not measure up to the standard of our logic. It is a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). God makes Christ and Him crucified “our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (v. 30). His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in weakness and the cross (2 Cor. 12:9). Jesus Christ conquers sin, Satan, and death, not by some glorious battle and great display of His might, but by dying as a criminal on the cross. There, naked and bleeding on the cross, as the breath of life ceases to pass through His holy lungs… there, He wins the victory. There, in the death of God, we find death’s defeat. There, where the sinless One is punished for the sins of all mankind, we find sin’s demise. There, where the old serpent has sunk his venomous fangs into the Son of Man’s heel, we find the serpent’s head crushed. These are the things of God that bring about our reconciliation with Him and bestow on us His gifts of forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation.
But like Peter, we naturally do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Man would not accomplish his own salvation in the way Jesus did. He would not use the cross and suffering. These things are foolishness to him. Man would use power and glory. He would send the entire world’s nuclear arsenal at Hell in order to win the victory. God is so infinitely more powerful that all the world’s nuclear weapons combined. Why didn’t He wipe out the devil and sin and death by His shear might? Then we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today.
We must admit that we are daily scandalized by the Christ of the cross who reveals His power in weakness and suffering. Perhaps the idea of Christ hanging on the cross so very many centuries ago does not scandalize us so much, because we are so familiar with the story, we’ve heard it so many times, and it is so far removed from us that it hardly seems like a reality. But when the cross touches our own lives, and we have to bear up under it, then we are scandalized. The idea that God can accomplish His will through evil things like cancer and heart disease and car wrecks and natural disasters and even terrorist attacks is absurd to us. It is foolishness. That God would hide himself in our own suffering and crosses is illogical and unreasonable. It is an offensive prospect. We prefer a Christianity where we don’t have to pass through Good Friday in order to get to Easter. We prefer not to have to wait for the resurrection. We prefer a Christianity where faith heals disease and suffering, where the Church grows exponentially because the preacher is so dynamic, where following these ten steps or these fifteen Christian principles leads us to health and wealth now in this life and gives us an “in” with God for eternity. But, dear friends, this is not Christianity. This is not the Gospel. Christianity and the Gospel are defined by the cross and suffering. In this fallen world, Christ is hidden under the cross and suffering. It must be this way. The way of Christ is the way of the cross. So those who follow Him must also go the way of the cross.
Of course we do not want to suffer. We do not seek suffering. We don’t seek the cross. And certainly God does not will us to suffer evil. But evil entered the world through sin, and in this fallen world every one of us must suffer evil. Now, for a little while, we must suffer. Now, for a little while, we have to go through various kinds of trials and temptations. “These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7; NIV). The trials, temptations, and sufferings; the crosses, that we have to bear in this life, are the refining fire that purifies our faith so that it may be proved genuine to the glory of Christ.
The things of man are honor and glory, but the things of God are suffering and the cross. And in suffering and the cross God’s true glory is hidden. Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil is hidden under His death on the cross for our forgiveness and salvation. “For the divine power of the Son of God, as Cyprian says, was a kind of fishhook which was covered with the appearance of human flesh, and when it was swallowed by the serpent Leviathan, through the infirmity of the suffering and death, it caught and overwhelmed this strong-armed creature.”[1] The devil must have rejoiced when he saw our Lord Jesus suffering and dying on the cross. But oh, the horror, he must have endured when our Lord said, “It is finished,” and the devil came to the realization that God had accepted the divine sacrifice as atonement for sin, that the kingdom of the devil was defeated by the Kingdom of God, that death was swallowed up by death, that the people of God had been ransomed and set free.
But that is not all. Our Lord is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Easter triumph is, indeed, ours, but we must have Good Friday first. The cross must precede resurrection. One cannot be raised from the dead unless he first dies. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35; ESV). Our Lord Jesus gave His life for our salvation. But in losing His life for us, He found it. He has been raised from the dead. As the body of Christ, we go the way of the cross. We lose our lives, drowning our old selves in daily repentance. But in so doing, we find our lives in Christ. And as Christ is raised from the dead, so we too shall rise on the glorious Day of Resurrection.
The lives of Christ’s faithful people reflect His own life in that His people daily take up their crosses and follow Him. Author J. K. Rowling, in the popular children’s book series, Harry Potter, has eloquently depicted the Christian life, the life of the Baptized, in the main character, Harry. Harry’s adventures teach him that true love sacrifices itself for its object. True love willingly suffers, even to the point of death. When Harry is but an infant, his parents stop the curse of the evil wizard, Voldemort (who represents Satan in the books), from killing Harry, by selflessly sacrificing their own lives for their beloved son. The final chapter has not been written in this series, but the speculation is that in the end, Harry will sacrifice his own life in love for his friends so that Voldemort will be defeated once and for all. This is the Christian life, dear friends. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). In laying down his life for his friends, Harry will find his greater reward. In laying down His life for His friends, our Lord Jesus won our release from sin, death, and the devil. And so we take up our cross and follow him. Laying down our own lives, we know that the greater reward awaits us in a new heaven and a new earth without sin, without death, without suffering, without pain, and most assuredly, without the accursed devil.
There is a happy ending for St. Peter, though the world may not recognize it. He finally comes to understand the theology of the cross, that God’s glory is hidden in the cross and suffering. His faith is redirected from his own notion of glory to the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus. Confession of the Crucified inevitably leads to bearing the cross. So Peter takes up his own cross and follows Jesus, and has the privilege of losing his life in order to find it, as tradition records, being crucified upside down. So also for us there is a happy ending, though the world may not recognize it. Our Lord Jesus has won eternal salvation for us by His innocent suffering and death. Our faith is redirected from our own notions of glory to the crucified and resurrected Lord. We take up our crosses and follow Him. But His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He carries us through Good Friday into the joy of Easter. We sacrifice ourselves for our friends. We lose our lives for our neighbors and for Christ, knowing that the greater reward awaits us. As Christ’s Easter people, we eagerly anticipate the Day of our own resurrection when the victory hidden under the cross will be made manifest. Lord, keep us until that Day. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Martin Chemnitz, The Two Natures in Christ, J. A. O. Preus, trans. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1971) p. 222.
October 1, 2006
Text: Mark 8:27-35
Confession of the Christ inevitably leads to bearing the cross. The disciple is not above his Master. Peter would have to learn, and that right quick, that there is no Christianity outside of the cross. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by His own. And so must His disciples. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:34-35; ESV). Sorry, Peter. There is no room for your theology of glory here. There is only the theology of the cross. Get behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.
The things of God are suffering and the cross. God hides Himself for us in suffering and the cross. It is on the cross that God accomplishes His greatest work on our behalf: the death of His Son for our forgiveness and salvation. God’s cruciform method does not measure up to the standard of our logic. It is a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). God makes Christ and Him crucified “our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (v. 30). His grace is sufficient for us, for His power is made perfect in weakness and the cross (2 Cor. 12:9). Jesus Christ conquers sin, Satan, and death, not by some glorious battle and great display of His might, but by dying as a criminal on the cross. There, naked and bleeding on the cross, as the breath of life ceases to pass through His holy lungs… there, He wins the victory. There, in the death of God, we find death’s defeat. There, where the sinless One is punished for the sins of all mankind, we find sin’s demise. There, where the old serpent has sunk his venomous fangs into the Son of Man’s heel, we find the serpent’s head crushed. These are the things of God that bring about our reconciliation with Him and bestow on us His gifts of forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation.
But like Peter, we naturally do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Man would not accomplish his own salvation in the way Jesus did. He would not use the cross and suffering. These things are foolishness to him. Man would use power and glory. He would send the entire world’s nuclear arsenal at Hell in order to win the victory. God is so infinitely more powerful that all the world’s nuclear weapons combined. Why didn’t He wipe out the devil and sin and death by His shear might? Then we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today.
We must admit that we are daily scandalized by the Christ of the cross who reveals His power in weakness and suffering. Perhaps the idea of Christ hanging on the cross so very many centuries ago does not scandalize us so much, because we are so familiar with the story, we’ve heard it so many times, and it is so far removed from us that it hardly seems like a reality. But when the cross touches our own lives, and we have to bear up under it, then we are scandalized. The idea that God can accomplish His will through evil things like cancer and heart disease and car wrecks and natural disasters and even terrorist attacks is absurd to us. It is foolishness. That God would hide himself in our own suffering and crosses is illogical and unreasonable. It is an offensive prospect. We prefer a Christianity where we don’t have to pass through Good Friday in order to get to Easter. We prefer not to have to wait for the resurrection. We prefer a Christianity where faith heals disease and suffering, where the Church grows exponentially because the preacher is so dynamic, where following these ten steps or these fifteen Christian principles leads us to health and wealth now in this life and gives us an “in” with God for eternity. But, dear friends, this is not Christianity. This is not the Gospel. Christianity and the Gospel are defined by the cross and suffering. In this fallen world, Christ is hidden under the cross and suffering. It must be this way. The way of Christ is the way of the cross. So those who follow Him must also go the way of the cross.
Of course we do not want to suffer. We do not seek suffering. We don’t seek the cross. And certainly God does not will us to suffer evil. But evil entered the world through sin, and in this fallen world every one of us must suffer evil. Now, for a little while, we must suffer. Now, for a little while, we have to go through various kinds of trials and temptations. “These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7; NIV). The trials, temptations, and sufferings; the crosses, that we have to bear in this life, are the refining fire that purifies our faith so that it may be proved genuine to the glory of Christ.
The things of man are honor and glory, but the things of God are suffering and the cross. And in suffering and the cross God’s true glory is hidden. Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil is hidden under His death on the cross for our forgiveness and salvation. “For the divine power of the Son of God, as Cyprian says, was a kind of fishhook which was covered with the appearance of human flesh, and when it was swallowed by the serpent Leviathan, through the infirmity of the suffering and death, it caught and overwhelmed this strong-armed creature.”[1] The devil must have rejoiced when he saw our Lord Jesus suffering and dying on the cross. But oh, the horror, he must have endured when our Lord said, “It is finished,” and the devil came to the realization that God had accepted the divine sacrifice as atonement for sin, that the kingdom of the devil was defeated by the Kingdom of God, that death was swallowed up by death, that the people of God had been ransomed and set free.
But that is not all. Our Lord is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Easter triumph is, indeed, ours, but we must have Good Friday first. The cross must precede resurrection. One cannot be raised from the dead unless he first dies. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35; ESV). Our Lord Jesus gave His life for our salvation. But in losing His life for us, He found it. He has been raised from the dead. As the body of Christ, we go the way of the cross. We lose our lives, drowning our old selves in daily repentance. But in so doing, we find our lives in Christ. And as Christ is raised from the dead, so we too shall rise on the glorious Day of Resurrection.
The lives of Christ’s faithful people reflect His own life in that His people daily take up their crosses and follow Him. Author J. K. Rowling, in the popular children’s book series, Harry Potter, has eloquently depicted the Christian life, the life of the Baptized, in the main character, Harry. Harry’s adventures teach him that true love sacrifices itself for its object. True love willingly suffers, even to the point of death. When Harry is but an infant, his parents stop the curse of the evil wizard, Voldemort (who represents Satan in the books), from killing Harry, by selflessly sacrificing their own lives for their beloved son. The final chapter has not been written in this series, but the speculation is that in the end, Harry will sacrifice his own life in love for his friends so that Voldemort will be defeated once and for all. This is the Christian life, dear friends. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). In laying down his life for his friends, Harry will find his greater reward. In laying down His life for His friends, our Lord Jesus won our release from sin, death, and the devil. And so we take up our cross and follow him. Laying down our own lives, we know that the greater reward awaits us in a new heaven and a new earth without sin, without death, without suffering, without pain, and most assuredly, without the accursed devil.
There is a happy ending for St. Peter, though the world may not recognize it. He finally comes to understand the theology of the cross, that God’s glory is hidden in the cross and suffering. His faith is redirected from his own notion of glory to the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus. Confession of the Crucified inevitably leads to bearing the cross. So Peter takes up his own cross and follows Jesus, and has the privilege of losing his life in order to find it, as tradition records, being crucified upside down. So also for us there is a happy ending, though the world may not recognize it. Our Lord Jesus has won eternal salvation for us by His innocent suffering and death. Our faith is redirected from our own notions of glory to the crucified and resurrected Lord. We take up our crosses and follow Him. But His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He carries us through Good Friday into the joy of Easter. We sacrifice ourselves for our friends. We lose our lives for our neighbors and for Christ, knowing that the greater reward awaits us. As Christ’s Easter people, we eagerly anticipate the Day of our own resurrection when the victory hidden under the cross will be made manifest. Lord, keep us until that Day. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Martin Chemnitz, The Two Natures in Christ, J. A. O. Preus, trans. (St. Louis: Concordia, 1971) p. 222.
posted by Pastor Krenz | 9:02 AM
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