LENT 2

Mark 8:31-38 (Sermon 1: “When Losing is Finding.”)

(Sermon 2: “Going Straight in a Bent World.”)

Romans 4: 13-25

Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16

Psalm 22: 23-31

PREPARING

“And Jesus began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things.”

Second Sunday in Lent. Theme: the paradox of suffering.

Jesus prepared himself, and his puzzled disciples, for suffering.

Those who suffer for righteousness sake are deemed happy by Jesus.

Those who compromise to avoid any pain are deemed miserable by Jesus.

Let us join in the words of a Psalm:

God has not forgotten or ignored the believers who suffer,

never is the face of God hidden from the abused.

Every plea has been heard, every cry tears the heart of God,

the persecuted shall eat and drink at Messiah’s table.

Those who truly put God first shall overflow with praise,

their hearts shall live and rejoice forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to God.

All the families of the nations shall bow down and worship.

God has not ignored or despised the afflicted.

God’s face is not hidden; every human cry is heard.

All you who revere God, give praise!

Let the children of God give honour and glory!

I will tell Your name to my sisters and brothers,

in the midst of the congregation I will praise You!

APPROACHING

God our most holy Friend,

we thank you for your faithfulness,

we praise you for your saving deeds,

we adore your Presence within the joys and sorrows of Jesus.

Please assist us to keep our worship true,

that we may never shut our eyes to the travail you willingly endure,

nor shirk the pain when asked to share the way of the cross.

For your glory, through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen!

REPENTING AND RENEWING

Come let us turn to our God,

who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Let us pray.

Holy Friend, our God and Saviour,

we have talked much about faith yet have been slow to take its risks,

we have lauded forgiveness yet have been miserly in giving it,

we have praised truth yet have fudged our own integrity,

we have extolled love yet have placed conditions on our loving,

we have urged hope for others yet have ourselves lived like cynics,

. we have honoured Christ’s Cross yet have avoided our own.

Most faithful God, please deal with each according to our individual betrayals of the Gospel we espouse. By your Spirit enter the secret caverns of the soul and there expose, judge, counsel, cleanse and reform us. Forgive us repeatedly, we pray, until forgiveness is such a part of us that it may become a way of life as we deal with those around us. In the name of Christ our Redeemer.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

Friends of God, in Christ your sins really are forgiven and your future is open. It is time to leave old sins behind and look ahead with confidence.

Thanks be to God.

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

Sometimes it costs us, you know, God?

Sometimes loving serving Jesus

costs us a lot.

We wish that being a Christian was easy,

but we know it isn’t.

Loving God, our Holy Friend,

whenever things get hard for us,

or when nasty kids poke fun at us

for doing the right thing,

please make us tough.

Don’t let us give in,

don’t let us ever chicken out.

Without your help

we are likely to mess up

big time.

Amen!

PSALM 22: 23-31

* For three voices: Leader, women, men.

Let all of you who adore God, break out into praise!

All you daughters of the faith give glory!

All you sons of faith stand still with wonder!

God has not ignored or spurned the suffering;

never is the face of God hidden from the abused,

all tears are seen, every plea is heard.

You, God, are the Source of my praise at church;

I stand among all these who love and adore you,

I will renew my vows and offer my worship.

The persecuted shall eat and drink at your table.

God-seekers shall overflow with praise,

their hearts shall live and rejoice forever!

The earth’s remote places shall remember,

and turn their hopes to you, the God of love.

Every family and race shall worship you.

Only God has the authority to rule the nations.

To you the proudest on earth shall bow down

among those who know that they are but dust.

None of us can keep ourselves alive,

yet our descendants shall serve you

and new generations sing of your grace.

There will always be faithful people on earth

to pass on your grace to those yet unborn

and declare your saving deeds to a new age.

Ó B D Prewer 2002

SOME DARE TO CORRECT JESUS?

Mark 8:31-38

Jesus, your teaching seems okay

when taken in small doses,

but sometimes you’re fanatical

and get right up our noses.

My life’s my own to spend at will

in ways each mood expresses,

I’m not some mad religious type

that goes to wild excesses

I aim to be most reasonable

not looking for excuses,

belief is okay in its place

and the church has its uses.

So no more of this gloomy talk

of suffering and losses,

you cannot really mean that stuff

about us carrying crosses!

Ó B D Prewer 2002

COLLECT

Most holy God, source of joy, soul of love, help us to hear Jesus out when he tells us about carrying a cross in your name.

Please give us the desire to repudiate evil no matter how profitable or popular it appears, to seek to do the right thing even though it costs us dearly.

May we trust his saving grace, copy his loving deeds, receive his enlightening words, and become knitted to his perfect will.

For he lives with you in the communion of your Spirit; One loving God to whom be our worship for ever and ever.

Amen!

SERMON 1: WHEN LOSING IS FINDING (long version)

Mark 8:34-35

Then Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said: If anyone would be my disciple, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever would save their life will lose it; and whoever loses life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

To deny oneself, to give away one’s life, is a most difficult, yet wonderful, thing to do. However, it is not very palatable for creatures that are by nature ego-centric. Not only is it is not easy, it is often acutely painful to the psyche.

JESUS DID NOT FIND IT ANY EASIER THAN WE DO

Nor did Jesus particularly like it. He was not some psycho, getting neurotic kicks out of punishing himself. Nevertheless he was ready to suffer and lose his life for the gospel’s sake. He truly believed that the only complete joy of life was found in that direction.

Finding yet losing, losing yet finding, was his way. This was a paradox at the heart of his teaching and living. Selfishly hoard your life and you will discover that it somehow escapes through your clutching fingers. Share your life and you will find a whole new dimension of happiness has been born inside you.

I’ll try putting this thought another way. Jesus saw clearly that there was a contest going on in each of us; a contest between a false self and an authentic self.

The false self is an omelette of raw ego mixed up with many distortions, false goals, pride, fear, desperation, and a greedy exploitation of all things and the people that are around us. From family, school, community and church come influences which can conspire with ego to twist and shape us in ways that will readily appeal to our ever-ready selfishness. The advertising industry continuously feeds the false self. This false self is insatiable for many rewards, it is promised many rewards, and it has an amazing capacity to go on believing in them even though they never deliver the happiness they promise.

The authentic self is the flickering light of a deep beauty within us, it is a little christ reaching upwards and outwards, wanting to share itself with others and with God who is the miracle at the heart of all experience. The authentic self hungers for intangible things like truth, mercy, beauty and love. It finds wonderful nourishment in places where the false world declares there is only emptiness. The authentic self wants more and more expansion of the spirit, even though the path to that is ever costly.

The contest between the false self and the authentic self goes on in each of us, every day, in every situation. The false self even reluctantly goes with us to church and may try to delude us when we reach out our hands for the holy bread and cup. Jesus, like us, knew this struggle between the false and the authentic.

A FALSE SELF IN JESUS?

Even Jesus would have been familiar with the rowdy voice of the false self.

First the element of raw selfishness. This comes with birth. Survival is all that matters. The tiny child thinks that all life revolves around him and for him. “I want....I don’t want....I want it now.....Get out of my way or I’ll walk all over you......Give it to me now.....I hate you.....If you don’t give me my own way I’ll punish you.....I love you when you give in.....Bend or I’ll break you...”

If Jesus were truly human, he must have started out this way. Elements of this false self voiced itself within him all through his brief life.

Secondly, the element of outside distortions. Jesus, like us, was fed distortions from the world around him, many of which would have appealed to his false self. Outside voices, the noise of the world, tried to tell him who he should be and what he should do.

At this point I will let my imagination run free with the outside voices:

¾Family: “We Benjospehs are hard workers; no time for play; and what is more we know our place within society.”

¾Peers: “Come on Josh, join in the fun. There’s no harm in teasing kids who are misfits; its fun. Everybody does it. It’s okay.”

¾Teachers like: Rabbi Psalmfellow: “Ah! The Temple and its choirs. The incense and the sacrifices. That is what matters, young Josh. Set your heart on the sacred rituals of worship.”

Or like Rabbi Masochist: “My boy, there’s much satisfaction in being piously miserable. You must punish the flesh to live right. Fasting and self mortification. That’s the way.”

Or Brother Qumran: “Why not become a monk, Josh. Get apart from this evil world. This is really the holy life, my son. Turn you back on the world and come and join us.”

¾Or maybe an old schoolmate; now a freedom fighter. “Come and join us, Josh. You must learn to hate. You are not a true Jew until felt you dagger pierce between the ribs of a filthy Roman.”

¾Adverts?

Bakery: “Get a new lease on life. Mother Ruth’s super bran cakes will soon get you moving.”

Wine Shop: “Hebron red will wake the dead”

Farm machinery: “Plough your way to happiness with our latest model”

Donkey Dealer: “Come to happy Nifty Noah and buy your way to a new level of travel.”

Army Barracks: “Be a real man. Join the Roman army now and see the world.”

Fashion: Full page ad in the Nazareth Advertiser: “Samson and Delilah’s fashion house.

Catch up with the latest styles from Rome and discover the impression you’ll make.

Maybe bumper stickers on Camels: “If you love Moses, honk now” or “If it feels good,

do it.”

All such influences would have impinged on Jesus’ experience and appealed to the false self.

THE STRUGGLE OF CHRIST’S TRUE SELF

Against the tumult of false voices without, and the deceitful voices within, the authentic self of Jesus had to find its own way.

Sometimes I envisage this authentic self of Christ as like a deep music within him. He heard this divine music in the temple or out in the fields amongst the wild lilies; he heard it while at prayer in the evening or while working at the carpenter’s bench. The music called to him from synagogue worship and from his mother’s smile. It touched him in the presence of loving people who gave self away. It swelled whenever truth, forgiveness, trust, encouragement, and compassion for the needy were in evidence. The music reached a crescendo whenever he pondered the lofty words: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” or sought to put into practice: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

It was the intangible things of the Spirit (the true music of the universe) which for Jesus held sway over the rowdy pleading or bullying of the false self. In tune with the music of the Spirit he went for baptism and rose up out of the Jordan with God’s seal of approval upon him. From that moment Jesus saw himself as truly God’s son with a particular mission to fulfil. But he knew it could involve hardship and suffering.

I wonder how often he nourished his true self on words from Isaiah 53: “he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”..... “He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities..... And with his stripes we are healed.” “He was oppressed he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.”

The struggle Jesus had within himself was not a once-off battle during the forty days in the wilderness. It went on, as it does with us. By the time of the incident in today’s Gospel reading, we find him trying to teach the disciples that by losing life he (and they) would find it. But if he tried to save his own life he (and they) would lose it. He knew this was right. However that did not mean it was easy for Jesus to take the way that led to the cross.

Then Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said: If anyone would be my disciple,

let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever would save

their life will lose it; and whoever loses life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Mark 8:34-35

His anger with Simon Peter on that particular occasion makes us see how painful the struggle had been within the mind and soul of Jesus. When Peter tried to talk him out of going to Jerusalem to die, Jesus fiercely rounded on Peter: “Get behind me, Satan!” That outburst reveals the pain that Jesus had felt about giving up his life for the Gospel’s sake; his anger is a testimony to the cost his decision entailed.

Later, on a Thursday evening in the garden of Gethsemane, we see that distress surface again when he prayed; “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

OUR OWN STRUGGLE

Like Jesus we struggle all the days of our life to honour our authentic self. That self which thrives on self loving and giving. He had to deny that false self which is obsessed with grasping and hoarding.

It was not settled in one bout. There were lulls in his battle. But it only needed someone like clumsy Peter to bring it on again.

If we have fought hard to do the right thing, to chose the way of Christ, only to have a foolish friend try to point us to a softer option, we may “fly off the handle” We don’t want the pain aroused. “Get behind me Satan!”

Blessedly, there are also periods of relative inner quiet. Times when we feel at peace with our choice, rest serenely and live joyfully. But these serene times are not unbroken. Sooner or later the issues will arise again, sometimes in a different form. Arise they will, and once more we must decide to be with God and all that is eternally authentic or for the delusion of quick and selfish fixes which are offered by the false self and reinforced by a decadent world.

Outsiders suspect that “cross-carrying” folk must therefore be perpetually miserable. We certainly are not. Those who stand with Christ in losing life for the Gospel’s sake, find life in larger measure. Christians can be numbered among the happiest people in the world.

I am bemused by secular friends who do not seem to realise how inconsistent they are in their attitude to Christianity. I am thinking of one who often would have a go at me about the self-sacrificing mentality of Christians. He claimed that we were neurotically obsessed with the business of losing life for Christ’s sake. He was big on self affirmation. “What is feels good for you must be good for those around you,” he would tell me. “All that rubbish about denying yourself is sick. Why don’t you people get a life?”

On the other hand he would praise Mother Theresa of Calcutta as “the real thing” and considered the only bishop worth taking seriously was Desmond Tutu. Both of these Christians exuded much joy. Yet it seemed to me that he would always evade the question: “What made Mother Theresa and Bishop Tutu the kind of loving, joyful people they were?”

Above all else such people “lose” their lives for Christ and the Gospel. They do deny their false self. They do follow that identical love-music of the Spirit which motivated Jesus of Nazareth.

I hope you are numbered with them.

Then Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said: If anyone would be my disciple,

let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever would save

their life will lose it; and whoever loses life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

SERMON 1: WHEN LOSING IS FINDING (Shorter Version)

Mark 8:34-35

To deny oneself, to give away one’s life, can be a difficult, yet wonderful, thing to do. However, it is not very palatable for creatures that are by nature ego-centric. Not only is it is not easy, it is often acutely painful to the psyche.

JESUS DID NOT FIND IT ANY EASIER THAN WE DO

I’ll try putting this thought another way. Jesus saw clearly that there was a contest going on in each of us; a contest between a false self and an authentic self.

The authentic self is the flickering light of a Deep Beauty within us, it is a little christ reaching upwards and outwards, wanting to share itself with others and with God who is the miracle at the heart of all experience. The authentic self hungers for intangible things like truth, mercy, beauty and love. It finds wonderful nourishment in places where the false world declares there is only emptiness. The authentic self wants more and more expansion of the spirit, even though the path to that is ever costly.

A FALSE SELF IN JESUS?

Even Jesus would have been familiar with the rowdy voice of the false self.

If Jesus were truly human, he must have started out this way. Elements of this false self voiced itself within him all through his brief life.

Secondly, the element of outside distortions. Jesus, like us, was fed distortions from the world around him, many of which would have appealed to his false self. Outside voices, the noise of the world, tried to tell him who he should be and what he should do.

THE STRUGGLE OF CHRIST’S TRUE SELF

Against the tumult of false voices without, and the deceitful voices within, the authentic self of Jesus had to find its own way.

Then Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said: If anyone would be my disciple,

let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever would save

their life will lose it; and whoever loses life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Mark 8:34-35

On a fateful Thursday evening in the garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus again choosing the way of self denial. “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”

OUR OWN STRUGGLE

Like Jesus we struggle all the days of our life to honour our authentic self. That self which thrives on loving and giving. He had to deny that false self which is obsessed with grasping and hoarding.

I am bemused by secular friends who do not seem to realise how inconsistent they are in their attitude to Christianity.

For example there was this guy who often would have a go at me about the self-sacrificing mentality of Christians. He claimed that we were neurotically obsessed with the business of losing life for Christ’s sake. He was big on self affirmation. “What is feels good for you must be good for those around you,” he would tell me. “All that rubbish about denying yourself is sick. Why don’t you people get a life?”

Above all else such people “lose” their lives for Christ and the Gospel. They do deny their false self. They do follow that identical love-music of the Spirit which motivated Jesus of Nazareth.

I hope you are numbered with them.

Then Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said: If anyone would be my disciple,

let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For whoever would save

their life will lose it; and whoever loses life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

SERMON 2: GOING STRAIGHT IN A BENT WORLD (Long Version)

Mark 9: 31-38

Jesus was not a man who clung to pretty illusions. He was more in touch with reality than any person who has ever lived. During the last months of his life, Jesus knew that rejection and suffering lay ahead of him. He understood the cost of being God’s true person; the price of doing the straight thing in a bent world.

Not so some of his latter day followers. I have known well-intentioned preachers who run a sweet and pretty theme: “Trust in the Lord Jesus and all good things will happen to you. Your worries will be over, your life will become success upon success. Your marriage will be secure and family life will become perpetual happiness. You will be well thought of in your community and be lauded as a good citizen.” Some even presume to promise economic success to those who throw in their lot with God. Faith, they suggest, begets prosperity.

One sad result of this sweet and pretty religion is that it sets people up for sudden loss of faith. I have seen the belief of such folk collapse the first time they are afflicted with personal tragedy. I have watched them become baffled when they miss out on getting an unexpected promotion, turn sour when they contract some disease, and become extremely bitter if something bad happens to one of their children. It does not take much pain to make them think they have been let down by that sweet and pretty God. They conclude that either God is a Deceiver or the whole idea of God is phoney.

The belief of Jesus was not made of sweet and pretty stuff. Jesus was sharply aware that in this crooked world doing the straight thing could mean big trouble. Increasingly he saw hostility, rejection, suffering and death awaiting him in the shadows of Jerusalem.

He did not like this prospect. It frightened him. I wonder how many times did he look back with wistful longing to his years in the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth. Or to those first halcyon days of his Galilean ministry when, apart from a few hecklers, his popularity soared.

He did not want to suffer. He did not want to die in his early thirties.

Jesus was not some sick mind, thirsty for martyrdom. He didn’t go looking for trouble. All he wanted to do was to be true to God. To maintain his spiritual integrity. To demonstrate and preach the way of love. To refuse to bow to the intimidation of those who were put in a bad light by his genuine faith and compassion.

We sometimes speak as if the only time Jesus was really tempted was when he spent those forty days fasting out in the Judean wilderness. Not so. The devil did not resign his position after that confrontation. Jesus was constantly tempted. Persistently tempted to divert from the straight but rugged road on which he was set. I doubt hardly a day went by when he did not have some tussle with the temptation to conform to a crooked world.

PETER PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT.

Today we read about Jesus trying to get across to his disciples that his way not a sweet and pretty religion.

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days to rise again.

That’s where Peter came in with his clumsy size 14 feet. He did not want to hear about a religion that might result in pain. He did not want a God who would allow a good man to suffer. So Peter presumed to rebuke Jesus for being so negative.

Jesus turned fiercely on Peter. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.”

The anger of Jesus is most revealing. It reveals what had been going on in the mind and soul of Jesus. Peter was saying aloud what Jesus had already been tempted to think.

That is also how it goes with us. When you or I have withstood a temptation to do wrong, and then a friend dares advise us to take the easy but wrong way, we too are likely to feel anger.

The scale of our anger matches the degree to which we had been sorely tempted:

Tempted just a little, may result in us merely being annoyed when someone tries to sway us.

Tempted strongly will create rising anger if some person advises us to compromise.

If we have been tempted fiercely, with the struggle having been long and painful, then we will react very angrily to a friend who, no matter how well-intentioned, tries to undercut our hard won decision to do the right thing.

The anger of Jesus towards his good friend Peter, shows us how much Jesus himself had fought the temptation to take an easier way, and how tough was his decision to set his jaw and keep heading towards his own demise. “Get behind me, you devil! You are not on God’s side but that of my enemies!”

Maybe at some stage Jesus had been tempted to bend just a little to the ways of a crooked world. Maybe the temptation increased the more he saw hostility building among the religious nit pickers. Maybe of late as he saw the terrible destiny ahead of him, that looming crisis, making the temptation to divert and save his own skin to become excruciatingly powerful.

His fixed determination to keep pressing towards whatever evil was awaiting him, had been won at considerable cost. Then Peter, a best friend, was trying to reopen the pain! Peter, one of the select three who had been with Jesus on the holy mountain when he was transfigured, was undermining his determination! Peter, the very same man who had just a short time before declared Jesus to the long awaited Messiah, touched the raw nerve. Jesus reacted vehemently!

Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.”

THE HARD TRUTH

After this outburst, Jesus gathered all his disciples around him, and included the crowd that had formed. He proceeded to emphatically teach them that being good did not mean, “Have a nice day.” Faith and love costs.

It will always be hard to go straight in this bent world. Sooner of later there will be pain for those who have thrown in their lot with Jesus and try to live straight lives in a crooked world. Those who would be true to God must be ready to loose something. The cost will, vary with changing circumstances, but cost there will be.

If any of you want to be my disciple, let them take up their cross and follow me. For whoever tries to save your own life will lose it, and whoever will risk your life for my sake and the gospels, will save it.

Nothing could be clearer than this. Nothing could be more unpalatable than this. To take the road with Jesus, will cost you. To be faithful to God will cost you. To be loving will cost you. The person of determined hope who attempts to create a little bit of heaven on earth, will pay a price.

This may not be a popular message today in this “me-first” generation. Self indulgence is the popular thing. In fact it is the dominant theme within our decadent western world.

I do not have much in common with those ruthless groups in the fold of Islam who are fundamentalist. I find nothing much to give me good cheer in the youthful Taliban of Afghanistan, or those angry and violent young men who are the disciples of the Indonesian Abu Bakar Bashir.

However, I do share one thing: their utter distaste for the self-indulgent hedonism of the western world. Ours is a bent society, a self-serving way of life, a life style that has been corrupted by pervasive materialism. Far too many amongst us have eagerly made a grab for all that that glitters in this world, and have lost our true soul.

I am far from being a puritan. (If that’s to my credit or discredit, I leave up to God to judge) But I am appalled by the degraded values of much of the community around me. I am appalled by the way these values have insinuated themselves into the church. I am appalled by any preacher who peddles a fairy floss religion, offering hedonist emotional highs each Sunday, and promising material success and prosperity in the secular society around us.

JESUS SPEAKS TO US

I hear Jesus saying:

And I recall some other of his warnings, such as: “Woe unto you, when all people speak well of you.”

I don’t go looking for trouble. Nor to I ask any of you to. That is not our game plan at all. But I do ask myself and you to remain true to the Christ of the Gospel story. Be true to that sometimes angry Lord, who for the glory of God and the good of the world surrendered his precious and remarkable life that we might gain ours in larger abundance.

God knows, the way of Christ is not easy. Nor is it always clear cut as to how we find our true way among the confusing voices of this twenty first century. I will make mistakes. You will make mistakes. But not wilful ones, I hope.

The faithful can dare to make mistakes and fall down; and by the grace of God the faithful get up again from their tumble and press forward resolutely.

NO MIDDLE GROUND

Let me give you a quotation from a novel which might help.

Some of you have maybe read some of the historical mystery novels by Anne Perry. She is a skilful writer of stories set in London of the Victorian era. But in one recent book she departs from her normal style and setting, and creates a story which is a kind of salvation myth.

The heroine is a woman name Tathea. After having had to flee from her country, and to survive through many dangers, Tathea is now trying to decide whether to return to her homeland in order to try and save it from the creeping evil that has corrupted every level of life. She is most hesitant. All the more hesitant because she is not sure she Is likely to succeed. Her good friend Alexias says to Tathea:

“Remember, there is no middle ground. We are either for God or for Asmodeus [Satan]

. Either we are for the light, the beauty, the good, or we are for darkness, pain and

bondage.

There is no place between, only the illusion of it. And that too is the creation

of the Enemy [Satan]; the eternal lie that you can win without battle, reap without cost,

triumph without courage or pain.”

I repeat those last two sentences: There is no place between, only the illusion of it. And that too is the creation of the Enemy; the eternal lie that you can win without battle, reap without cost, triumph without courage or pain.”

It is not easy to take the straight road in a bent world.

The illusion is that we can have bit both ways and get away with it. That we can be a little bent and it won’t matter. If we buy that illusion we actually put ourselves among the losers, those people who end up in the darkness of the self damned.

Jesus was under no illusion that goodness would bring earthly favours and success. He faced the harder truth: That through self giving we find our true selves; our true identity in God. That faithfulness involves cost. That out of loss for the right reasons emerges larger life.

SERMON 2: GOING STRAIGHT IN A BENT WORLD (Shorter version)

Mark 9: 31-38

Jesus was not a person who clung to pretty illusions. He was more in touch with reality than any person who has ever lived. During the last months of his life, Jesus knew that rejection and suffering lay ahead of him. He understood the cost of being God’s true person; the price of doing the straight thing in a bent world.

He did not want to suffer. He did not want to die in his early thirties.

Jesus was not some psycho, thirsty for martyrdom. He didn’t go looking for trouble. All he wanted to do was to be true to God. To maintain his spiritual integrity. To demonstrate and preach the way of love. To refuse to bow to the intimidation of those who were put in a bad light by his genuine faith and compassion.

PETER PUTS HIS FOOT IN IT.

Today we read about Jesus trying to get across to his disciples that his way not a sweet and pretty religion.

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days to rise again.

Jesus turned fiercely on Peter. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.”

The anger of Jesus is most revealing. It reveals what had been going on in the mind and soul of Jesus. Peter was saying aloud what Jesus had already been tempted to think.

That is also how it goes with us. When you or I have withstood a temptation to do wrong, and then a friend dares advise us to take the easy but wrong way, we too are likely to feel anger.

The scale of our anger matches the degree to which we had been sorely tempted:

The anger of Jesus towards his good friend Peter, shows us how deeply Jesus himself had fought the temptation to take an easier way, and how tough was his decision to set his jaw and keep heading towards his own demise. “Get behind me, you devil! You are not on God’s side but that of my enemies!”

His fixed determination to keep pressing towards that cros s which was awaiting him, must have been won at considerable emotional cost. Then Peter, a best friend, was trying to reopen the pain! Peter, one of the select three who had been with Jesus on the holy mountain when he was transfigured, was undermining his determination! Peter, the very same man who had just a short time before declared Jesus to the long awaited Messiah, touched the raw nerve. Jesus reacted vehemently!

Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God but of men.”

THE HARD TRUTH

Nothing could be clearer than this. Nothing could seem more unpalatable than this. To take the road with Jesus, will cost you. To be faithful to God will cost you. To be loving will cost you. The person of determined hope who attempts to create a little bit of heaven on earth, will pay a price.

This may not be a popular message today in this “me-first” generation. Self indulgence is the popular thing. In fact it is the dominant theme within our decadent western world.

I am appalled by the degraded values of much of the community around me. I am appalled by the way these values have insinuated themselves into churches. I am appalled by any preacher who peddles a fairy floss religion, offering hedonist emotional highs each Sunday, plus promising material success and prosperity in the secular society around us.

JESUS SPEAKS TO US

I hear Jesus saying:

And I recall some other of his warnings, such as: “Woe unto you, when all people speak well of you.”

I don’t go looking for trouble. Nor to I ask any of you to do so. That is not our game plan at all. But I do ask myself and you to remain true to the Christ of the Gospel story. Be true to that sometimes angry Jesus, who for the glory of God and the good of the world surrendered his precious and remarkable life that we might gain ours in larger abundance.

The faithful can dare to make mistakes and fall down; and by the grace of God the faithful get up again from their tumble and press forward resolutely.

NO MIDDLE GROUND

Let me give you a quotation from a novel which might help.

Some of you have maybe read some of the historical mystery novels by Anne Perry. She is a skilful writer of stories set in London of the Victorian era. But in one of her later book Perry departs from her normal style and setting, and creates a story which is a kind of salvation myth.

“Remember, there is no middle ground. We are either for God or for Asmodeus [Satan]

. Either we are for the light, the beauty, the good, or we are for darkness, pain and bondage.

There is no place between, only the illusion of it. And that too is the creation

of the Enemy [Satan]; the eternal lie that you can win without battle, reap without cost, triumph without courage or pain.”

It is not easy to take the straight road in a bent world.

Jesus was under no illusion that goodness would bring earthly favours and success. He faced the harder truth:

THANKSGIVING

Thanks and praise belong to you, God our Holy Friend.

Before the beginning of creation you cherished great hopes for this world,

purposing that earthlings might become creatures full of light and love.

Thanks and praise belong to you for the seeds of light you sowed

in the hearts of the children of Abraham and Sarah;

for the great Hebrew leaders who began to share your wonderful vision

and to live lives loyal to faith, justice, mercy and peace.

Thanks and praise belong to you for your most astounding deed,

for the son of Mary, the only true Child of Light this planet has seen,

who cared for this world most completely and passionately

with a love which suffering could not deter nor death destroy.

Thanks and praise belong to you for those who were called by him,

for all who follow his lead in the darkness of this old world,

for those who care for others without thought of reward,

who will sacrifice to give hope, foster peace, and share your love.

God of God, Light of Light, may our thanks expand and grow,

infiltrating our thoughts and prayers, shaping our words and deeds,

declaring to all around that Christ is a joy beyond all imaginable joys!

Glory is yours, now and forever!

Amen! Now and forever!

PRAYERS FOR OTHERS

As we seek God’s blessing on other people, let each of us in silence verify our own contract to love friend, neighbour and enemy.

Let us pray

* brief silence

God our Friend and resourceful Helper, as we call to mind other people in their numerous needs, we pray that you will encompass them with your loving Spirit, and enable your churches to find practical ways of ministering to them.

Somewhere at this moment there are thoughtful, kindly men and women who are staring at prison walls because they dared speak out for truth and justice.

Loving God, give your people the faith to counterbalance despair