Mark 8:31-33
Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.” He said this simply and clearly so they couldn’t miss it.
But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. “Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works.”
And suddenly, here we are in the hard core part of Jesus’ ministry—the part where he is starting to try to teach his followers that this journey they are on is not going to end in skittles and beer for everyone. So far in this new lectionary year, which began with Advent, the stories have all been reader-friendly. Even last week’s temptation in the wilderness wasn’t really frightening, because Jesus didn’t appear to be frightened by any of Satan’s efforts.
But now comes the cold, hard reality that when you stand against those who hold all the power—when you speak out against their immoral positions, there will be a price to pay for your stand. So far it has all been good — Jesus is welcomed wherever he teaches and heals people, but the authorities are noticing and they don’t like what they hear and see, and Jesus is not as naïve as his followers. He knows it’s not go to continue being this easy.
So, Jesus faces a decision. He can either continue to do what he believes he is here to do and face the inevitable backlash — or he can quiet things down and slide back out of their notice. We already know his choice. But his followers are still caught up in the euphoria of being with this wonder-working Jesus and they can’t conceive of it ever going wrong. When Peter tries to say nothing bad can happen here, Jesus barks back at him with, “You have no idea how God works.”
And this is why Peter is the Everyman straight person to Jesus’ star-power. Because he, like most of us, really does not have any idea how God works. After getting exactly the right answer to the question of “who do people say I am?”, Peter now manages to get it exactly wrong by trying to shut Jesus up with this frightening news.
We just don’t know how God works. We think we know—we think we have it all figured out—and then something happens that we don’t like and we are all, “God, how could you let this happen? Why didn’t you do something?” Even Jesus reached this point when he was hanging on the cross.
The truth is, in most cases, I suspect, that we don’t honestly try to understand how God thinks. We try for a while and then end up convinced that God must think just like us.
Unfortunately, we’re wrong. God is God, and does not always think like us. God’s thoughts are above us. For us there is only trust. We either trust God’s ways or we do not. Jesus trusted. Even Jesus didn’t always understand, but he didn’t argue – he believed and he trusted. If God said do it this way, he did it that way.
One of my all-time favorite movies is “Godspell.” I watch it every Easter. I love this story of a caring, vulnerable Jesus and the rag-tag group of followers that he loves so very much and the love they have for him in return. You can feel the love they all have for each other. The first part is a real feel-good movie – much like the euphoria of the disciples when everything was going well for them all.
I cry every time I watch this film. I start crying half-way through the thing because I know where it is going (I’ve read the book, after all) and I really, really don’t want it to go there this time. Every year, I don’t want Jesus to die – I’m so caught up in the feel-good--I want a different ending.
I can imagine that this is how Jesus’ followers felt, this is how they loved him, and why they ignored the signs and refused to see the end that was coming. And I understand why they think like humans think instead of thinking like God. I suspect thinking like God is way too hard for us to bear.
No, I don’t know how God works. And I don’t want to know. I am content for God to be God and take care of the God stuff. But I believe God and I trust God. And I know God is with me, and with you, and I know God loves me, and loves you. And I try not to argue with God, too much.
So where is the love we’re supposed to be finding in our Lenten stories this year? This happens to be a pretty easy one. The love here is found in the choice Jesus made to continue doing the right thing instead of choosing the easy thing. To continue teaching and healing God’s lost and broken people because they so need to hear this truth — that God is on their side. He chose this path—even knowing where it would lead—because of love. That’s the truth we all need to hear – that Jesus loves us -- God loves God’s people—always and forever.
Thanks be to God. Amen
But now comes the cold, hard reality that when you stand against those who hold all the power—when you speak out against their immoral positions, there will be a price to pay for your stand. So far it has all been good — Jesus is welcomed wherever he teaches and heals people, but the authorities are noticing and they don’t like what they hear and see, and Jesus is not as naïve as his followers. He knows it’s not go to continue being this easy.
So, Jesus faces a decision. He can either continue to do what he believes he is here to do and face the inevitable backlash — or he can quiet things down and slide back out of their notice. We already know his choice. But his followers are still caught up in the euphoria of being with this wonder-working Jesus and they can’t conceive of it ever going wrong. When Peter tries to say nothing bad can happen here, Jesus barks back at him with, “You have no idea how God works.”
And this is why Peter is the Everyman straight person to Jesus’ star-power. Because he, like most of us, really does not have any idea how God works. After getting exactly the right answer to the question of “who do people say I am?”, Peter now manages to get it exactly wrong by trying to shut Jesus up with this frightening news.
We just don’t know how God works. We think we know—we think we have it all figured out—and then something happens that we don’t like and we are all, “God, how could you let this happen? Why didn’t you do something?” Even Jesus reached this point when he was hanging on the cross.
The truth is, in most cases, I suspect, that we don’t honestly try to understand how God thinks. We try for a while and then end up convinced that God must think just like us.
Unfortunately, we’re wrong. God is God, and does not always think like us. God’s thoughts are above us. For us there is only trust. We either trust God’s ways or we do not. Jesus trusted. Even Jesus didn’t always understand, but he didn’t argue – he believed and he trusted. If God said do it this way, he did it that way.
One of my all-time favorite movies is “Godspell.” I watch it every Easter. I love this story of a caring, vulnerable Jesus and the rag-tag group of followers that he loves so very much and the love they have for him in return. You can feel the love they all have for each other. The first part is a real feel-good movie – much like the euphoria of the disciples when everything was going well for them all.
I cry every time I watch this film. I start crying half-way through the thing because I know where it is going (I’ve read the book, after all) and I really, really don’t want it to go there this time. Every year, I don’t want Jesus to die – I’m so caught up in the feel-good--I want a different ending.
I can imagine that this is how Jesus’ followers felt, this is how they loved him, and why they ignored the signs and refused to see the end that was coming. And I understand why they think like humans think instead of thinking like God. I suspect thinking like God is way too hard for us to bear.
No, I don’t know how God works. And I don’t want to know. I am content for God to be God and take care of the God stuff. But I believe God and I trust God. And I know God is with me, and with you, and I know God loves me, and loves you. And I try not to argue with God, too much.
So where is the love we’re supposed to be finding in our Lenten stories this year? This happens to be a pretty easy one. The love here is found in the choice Jesus made to continue doing the right thing instead of choosing the easy thing. To continue teaching and healing God’s lost and broken people because they so need to hear this truth — that God is on their side. He chose this path—even knowing where it would lead—because of love. That’s the truth we all need to hear – that Jesus loves us -- God loves God’s people—always and forever.
Thanks be to God. Amen
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