Die and Rise with Christ

13th Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: Romans 12:9-21 ; Matthew 16:21-28

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Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In last week’s gospel we heard Peter proclaim that Jesus IS “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!” Peter got it right. Yet in today’s gospel, we hear Jesus proclaim to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” Peter, the rock, has quickly turned into a stumbling block. Ouch. What is it that could constitute Jesus’ harsh words to Peter here?

You see Peter rightly proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, he just didn’t quite understand the terms and conditions of the title. ‘The Messiah is to suffer and DIE!? Say it ain’t so!!!! God forbid our Messiah to endure such calamity!!’ The Jewish Messiah was destined for great things, not death. On this side of history, always knowing Jesus as the crucified and risen Messiah, I fear the cross has lost its shock value. We have gotten much too comfortable in the theology of glory, imagining the Messiah we want, but not necessarily the Messiah we received.

The theology of the cross is central to Lutheran theology and recognizes that life, REAL life, is only bestowed after death. And no, I don’t mean that REAL life only comes to us in the afterlife – I mean that REAL, transformed, resurrection life comes to us HERE and NOW when we accept Jesus’ invitation into death; the death of self which yields the rise of Christ. When Jesus invites us to pick up the cross and follow him, THIS is an invitation to death; to join him not only in resurrection life, but the death it takes the get there.

God in Christ came to us in vulnerable human form, ready and willing to enter into the messiness of the human condition. God in Christ did not come to us as ‘other,’ but he was recognized as one in the same. God in Christ did not come to us as rich, powerful, haughty, and proud; rather he came to us as a carpenter’s son, born to a teenage mother in a barn. You could not find Jesus in a castle or in the company of kings and pharaohs, rather he was always found with the lowly, despised, and outcast. Like Peter (even after the fact/on this side of history) this may not be the Messiah we want, but it is the Messiah we get.. and most certainly the Messiah that we NEED.

There are still worldly things that get in the way of the divine. There are still stumbling blocks in our path to Christ. I wonder what it may be that is a stumbling block for you? Certainly it’s different for each of us. I wonder.. what are the things God asks of you that make you respond, “Please God, No! Forbid it!” When it comes to your discipleship, what things do you try desperately to deny and run away from? What in your heart needs to be rebuked by Jesus himself?

Certainly there is a cost to discipleship. Dietrich Bonheoffer wrote a whole book on it! Yet we are called (or rather invited) to, LIKE CHRIST, enter into this messy human life fully, vulnerably.. willing to go to the low places, to welcome the stranger, accept the outcast, to love unconditionally. Will we suffer? Did Christ?! Yes, we will suffer! The world will push against our efforts and throw their stones.. But like Paul told

the Roman’s “do NOT repay evil with evil,” (Romans 12:17). Don’t ‘fight fire with fire.’ “Don’t be overcome by evil, rather overcome evil with GOOD,” (Romans 12:21).

In fact, “hold fast to what is good! Rejoice in hope! Love genuinely! Live together in harmony, peaceably with ALL; take thought for what is noble in the sight of ALL,” (Romans 12:9, 12, 16-18). These are easy and beautiful things to speak.. much harder to put into practice. For to live these ideals out, we have to put some things about ourselves to death. To live in harmony and peace with ALL, requires great compromise and sacrifice. We hope and we love at great RISK to ourselves. Nothing causes more physical or emotional pain than dashed hopes or a broken heart. Therefore, to hope and to love are two of the boldest things we can do as humans and require the utmost vulnerability. Jesus is asking for a lot here. Only when we “lose” our life, will we gain it. Only when we are willing to put our life on the line, to enter into suffering and death, will we know REAL, true, FULL life.

Part of Jesus’ invitation that we often also forget, is the invitation to do this NOT for our OWN sake, but for the sake of the world – to live in peace and harmony with all. Christ died and rose again for the sake of the entire world and God’s call for us is no less universal. We do not answer the call of discipleship, pick up our cross and follow Christ for a crown of reward to be placed on our head at the end of the road, but for the sake of our neighbor. In fact the real, actual, literal cross Christ is referring to was too heavy to carry alone! Our “imaginative” cross today is no lighter. Community and relationship are essential to God and therefore essential to discipleship. We cannot experience abundant life alone and we certainly cannot experience abundant life while others are suffering and dying.

We will not gain life until we lose it. We will not live in peace and harmony until we put to death the self so that Christ can rise – so that God’s will can reign over our own. This is not ideal, it’s not comfortable; it is messy and requires great risk. We all long for a better world; we are all waiting for the time when God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and suffering will be no more.. but if we are waiting here hopeless, as if we have no agency, we are missing the kingdom which is ALREADY at hand! The kingdom which we are invited into! It may not be a road paved with gold like we would imagine or desire, but it is the road to LIFE. Real, whole, ABUNDANT, transformed, RESURRECTION life!

Hear God’s call anew this morning; Pick up your cross and follow Christ; “hold fast to what is good! Rejoice in hope! Love genuinely! Live together in harmony, peaceably with ALL; take thought for what is noble in the sight of ALL. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” And when the world pushes back, when you struggle to see the good through all the evil, when you feel like you’re losing hope.. recall the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu turned hymn, “Goodness is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Light is stronger than darkness. Life is stronger than death. Victory is ours! Victory is ours, through God who loves us!”

Amen.