Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on June 23 & 24, 2007
(Proper 7, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Zechariah 12:8-10;13:1
Psalm 63:1-8
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 9:18-24

My mother tells this story of my older brother when he was very young. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up he stated that he wanted to be a bishop. “So you want to go to college, and then to seminary, then ordained a deacon, and a priest, and then a bishop?” “No, I just want to be a bishop!”

Likewise, I remember being asked the same question and I wanted to be a grandfather. “So when you grow up, you want to be married, and have children, and then they’ll grow up and get married and have children so you can be a grandfather?” “No, I don’t want to do all of that, I just want to be a grandfather so any grandchild can sit on my lap and I can tell them stories.”

Today’s Gospel is a variation on this theme. Jesus has already grown up but who is he? Not what has he been or what will he become? Not who does he want to be or who does he think he is. But who do the people think he is? Now for Luke, Jesus’ identity and mission have been inextricably connected since the beginning of the Gospel, and we as the reader know that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed Son of God. But now, Jesus is asking his disciples “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Based on what you all have seen and have been witness to: the preaching, teaching, forgiving of sins; the healing, the exorcising of demons, the raising of the little girl from the dead; and the feeding of the 5000; after all of that, “Who do the people say that I am?

Well, one of the disciples said that he heard some of the people thinking he was John the Baptist brought back to life. Another heard that he was Elijah or one of the other prophets of old. Then Jesus asks his disciples the pertinent question, “But who do you think I am? I don’t care about popular opinion; I want to know who you think I am? And then Peter, old speak before you think Peter, says, “You are the Christ of God!” And for the first time in the Gospel of Luke, one of Jesus’ disciples has correctly acknowledged Jesus’ true identity! But before the disciples begin high-fiveing each other Jesus tells them that they can’t say a word to anyone about his true identity. Not yet. And then he proceeds to tell them why. He tells them exactly what his life is going to be like as he lives into his vocation: “The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and then killed but raised to life again on the third day.”

Now how can this be? He has come so far to get to this point! He has vanquished demons, controlled windstorms, survived a hometown lynch mob, and outsmarted hardhearted religious leaders. And now he is telling us that for enduring all of these things his final reward will be suffering, rejection, and death!

For Luke, the key word is must. Jesus’ mission is not happenstance or just the outcome of evil intentions on the part of certain people. His mission is the stuff of divine necessity. Jesus must do many things in order to fulfill God’s plan. Back when he was twelve years old and mistakenly left in the Temple, he told his mother and Joseph, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Later, when he was ministering in Capernaum, he told the crowds, “I must preach the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other cities also.” In today’s Gospel he tells his disciples that he must suffer many things. Later on in Luke’s Gospel after being warned by some Pharisees that Herod wants to kill him, Jesus says, “I must go on my way today, and tomorrow and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” And finally, after his resurrection Jesus tells his disciples that all that has happened and all that he has said to them has occurred because “everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Jesus must do everything that is required of him so that he is in total obedience to God the Father.

But there’s more to it than that. What he says next is more surprising than Peter’s revelation. Not only is suffering and death linked to Jesus’ identity and mission but it is also linked to discipleship. If Peter or any of the twelve or anyone at all wants to be a disciple of Jesus, they have to deny their self, pick up their cross on a daily basis and follow him on his unwavering path to his final destination of death.

So what that does that mean for us? Denying oneself doesn’t mean extinguishing any sense of self-esteem that we may have but it does mean that we stop living our lives according to our own personal agendas and start living our lives according to God’s agenda. It means that we live out our lives from a sense of selflessness rather than from a sense of self interest. It means that instead of just living a life of survival that we live a life that is thriving because God’s will is exemplified in, by and through us because we are living in, by and through the example of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus’ identity and mission was not based upon popular opinion but on his obedience to God so too, by virtue of our baptisms, our identity as Christians and our Christian mission and duty are not based on popular culture but by our complete obedience to God through Jesus. It’s a total package. When we are baptized into the life of Jesus not only do we share in his power and ministry but we also share in his suffering, death and resurrection as well!

Now my brother and I, in our innocence of youth, didn’t want to have to deal with the necessities of life that could or would lead to that which we aspired. We wanted instant gratification that children of all ages constantly demand. In my case, I just wanted to make grandkids happy by telling them stories and in my brother’s case, he just wanted to do whatever it is that bishops do, which in his mind at that age probably had a lot to do with wearing a cool pointy hat and carrying a big stick. But the point is that we didn’t want to work to achieve our goal.

Now have you ever noticed how Jesus always turns things upside down such as in his Sermon on the Mount? “Blessed are the poor, for they will inherit the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be satisfied.” “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.” Well in this Gospel he is doing it again. Jesus is making us an offer in which he will grant us our achievement first. If we want to be his disciple, and be a co-inheritor of the kingdom of God, it doesn’t matter what race we are, it doesn’t matter what gender we are, it doesn’t matter what socio-economic status we are in, all we have to do is believe in him, trust in him and be baptized in him, and we will have achieved our goal. That takes very little effort on our part, right? But here is the upside down part; when we have achieved our goal then the work will begin: We must deny ourselves, we must pick up our crosses on a daily basis and we must follow him even unto death. We must lose our lives for the sake of Jesus in order to be saved. We must be obedient unto God just as Jesus was.

The fact that we are in a Church today listening to the Good News of the Gospel tells us that throughout the centuries, there have been many disciples of Christ who have followed him on the way of the Cross. So if the Church is to continue it is incumbent upon us to give thanks and praise to God for giving us the gift of salvation by doing the work that he has given us to do. So let us pick up our Cross, each and every day, and follow, too. It won’t always be pleasurable, it probably won’t be popular, and I guarantee that there will be times when we will feel just plain beaten down. But because we are baptized into Christ, we are able to ask for the Lord’s help and strength to persevere until the end. And in the end, the rewards are out of this world and will last for ever.

Gloria Patri