Text used – Mark 8:31-38

• “Get behind me Satan.” Brace yourselves, friends … this is not one of those easy, heart-warming, pick-you-up sort of passages. But we’re going to dig right in because that’s what we do.
  • Challenging beginning to this passage = Jesus predicting his own trial, death, and resurrection
    • First time Jesus will do this in Mk’s gospel but not the last
    • Interesting bit that we don’t get because of where the lectionary begins the passage this morning → verses leading up to this: Jesus and his disciples went into the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They told him, “Some say John the Baptist [who had been killed at this point], others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.” He asked them, “And what about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.” Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone about him.[1] → So as we begin our passage this morning, Peter has just declared that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah, the one come to save them all – so today’s passage is Jesus explaining to the disciples exactly what “the Christ” actually means: suffering, rejection, death … and finally, resurrection.
      • Clearly not what Peter wanted to hear: But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him.[2] → Peter is literally pulling Jesus off to the side and giving him a talking-to. “Jesus, this isn’t the message your followers need to hear. You can’t talk like this. This is going to freak people out. Ease up, man.”
        • Reveals the political climate of the day – scholar: While messianic expectations different among first-century Jews, the idea that the Messiah would deliver the Jews from Roman oppression was prevalent, and Galilee was the hotbed of revolutionary activity. That Jesus’ Galilean disciples would harbor such a view would not be surprising. Certainly no one expected a suffering and dying Messiah![3] → To Peter, Jesus’ words would have sounded defeatist – like he’d given up before their revolution had even begun. In his mind, Peter was trying to lift Jesus’ spirit – to get him to rally!
          • Same scholar paints the scene for us: Peter walks over to Jesus, puts his arm around him, and takes him aside to set him straight about messiahship. “Suffering, rejection, and death are not on the agenda. Prestige, power, and dominion are on the agenda. It’s David’s throne we’re after, ruling the nations with power and might. We signed on for a crown, not a cross!”[4]
      • But THAT was clearly not what Jesus wanted to hear because we then get those famous words: Jesus turned and look at this disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You’re not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”[5] → Now, I know we like to focus on that first sentence because it’s the punchy sentence. “Get behind me, Satan!” It’s dramatic. It’s evocative. But it’s really the second sentence that carries the weight of Jesus’ intent here. Jesus is rebuking Peter because he’s focused on the wrong thing. He’s focused on worldly power. He’s focused on meeting the expectations and fulfilling the desires of those around him instead of focusing on what God wants him to do. He’s living for himself, not for God.
  • Jesus doubles down on this message with the rest of the passage – those verses that are so hard to hear if we hear them through the filter of faith instead of through the filter of the world: “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them. Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes in the Father’s glory with the holy angels.”[6] → Let’s not mince words this morning, friends. This is a call to action – faithful, gospel-informed, love-driven action … action, not for ourselves, but for others.
    • Brandan Robertson, who framed out this sermon series: Jesus’ call is to “lose their lives for the sake of the gospel,” which means lost their self-centeredness for the sake of manifesting the more beautiful world that God desires. This call is, in many ways, more difficult than the call to martyrdom. It’s one thing to physically die; it’s another to live a life in which one continually dies to one’s own self-interest for the good of one’s friends, neighbors, and even enemies.[7] → Friends, I have to say it this morning: this is where we are failing this morning – failing as the Church, failing as Christians, failing as human beings. This is a more dangerous country to live in if you are different nowadays than it was just 10 yrs. ago.
      • If you are not white, you are targeted
      • If you are not male, you are targeted
      • If you are not straight, you are targeted
      • If you do not identify with the gender on your birth certificate, you are targeted
      • In lots of places, if you don’t believe a very particular, narrow brand of Christianity, you are targeted
        • And yes, friends, this happens even here. → fire at Peace in Rochester 3 yrs. ago – targeted because of their inclusive message and ministry
    • And it both breaks my heart and boils the blood in my veins, friends, because we have the words of Jesus here: All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.[8] → Jesus is trying to get it through the disciples’ heads that it’s not about them! All that he was doing and teaching, all those whom he was healing and loving and including had nothing to do with power or prestige or wealth or “being right.” Jesus’ whole life and ministry was about being and doing for and loving the other. And if we truly follow Jesus, our life and ministry should be about setting aside whatever judgments we carry so that we can see others for who they are, not who we expect them to be.
      • Jesus’ last words in this passage: Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this unfaithful and sinful generation, the Human One will be ashamed of that person when he comes to the Father’s glory with the holy angels.[9]
        • Bit that I found on online recently: In an interview with NPR, Evangelical Christian leader Russell Moore said that multiple pastors had told him disturbing stories about their congregants being upset when they read from the “Sermon on the Mount” in which Jesus espoused the principles of forgiveness and mercy that are central to Christian doctrine. [Russell stated] “Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount – [and] to have someone come up after to say, ‘Where did you get those liberal talking points?’” Moore added: “And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, ‘I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,’ the response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.’”[10] → Forgiveness is weak? Mercy is weak? Peacemaking is weak? Reaching out to someone who needs you is weak? Loving someone, not with an agenda to change them, but just because you are called to love them is weak? Speaking up for someone who’s being bullied just because of who they are is weak? No, friends. That is the gospel. That is the work that Jesus calls us to – to work that constantly forces us to think and grow and change and be uncomfortable for the sake of someone else. Let’s make this abundantly clear: if the gospel you proclaim places you above everyone else, that’s not the gospel. Jesus is pretty clear today. It is through self-giving, through service – to others, for others, with others – that we find the life that Jesus has promised. Not through ourselves. Never through ourselves. Amen.

[1] Mk 8:27-30 (with my own insertion for clarity’s sake).

[2] Mk 8:32.

[3] W. Hulitt Gloer. “Second Sunday in Lent – Mark 8:31-38 – Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary – Year B, vol. 2. (Louisville; Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 69.

[4] Ibid., 71.

[5] Mk 8:33.

[6] Mk 8:34-38.

[7] Brandan J. Robertson. “Lenten Series: The Power of Sacrifice” in A Preacher’s Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series: Thematic Plans for Years A, B, and C, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), 101.

[8] Mk 8:35.

[9] Mk 8:38.

[10] Posted by Clergy Coaching Network on Facebook, February 11, 2024, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=775406354619006&set=a.547725677387076.