The Gospel isn’t meant to be gulped down on Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us. You’ve got to work at it, like a dog with a good bone! Here’s the Gospel for this coming Sunday — the Second Sunday in Lent — with food for thought on what it means to put Satan behind us and follow Jesus. Gnaw away!

Mark 8:31-38

Then Jesus began to teach them that the Chosen One had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, chief priests and religious scholars, be put to death, and rise again three days later.

Peter then took him aside and began to take issue with him. At this, Jesus turned around and, eyeing the disciples, reprimanded Peter: “Get out of my sight, you Satan! You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s!”

Jesus summoned the crowd and the disciples and said, “If you wish to come after me, you must deny your very self, take up your cross and follow in my footsteps. If you would save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll save it. What would you gain if you were to win the whole world but lose your self in the process? What can you offer in exchange for your soul? Whoever in this faithless and corrupt generation is ashamed of me and my words will find, in turn, that the Promised One and the holy angels will be ashamed of that person, when all stand before our God in glory.”

The Backstory – What’s Going On Here?

“Then Jesus began to teach…” literally, this translates as “Jesus started a new lesson.” And that’s what this passage is in Mark’s Gospel … something new. Up until this point, Jesus has been gathering disciples, casting out demons, healing, tangling with the Pharisees, feeding the multitudes and talking about this new thing called the Kin-dom of God. But now, he is beginning a new lesson … and it changes everything.

Peter has just answered the question “Who do you say that I am” … and answered it correctly by saying “You are the Christ.” But now Jesus is telling the disciples what that means. It means that he will suffer and die — and beyond that it means that anyone who wants to be his followers will have to be willing to suffer and die as well. From here on out, if the disciples are to follow Jesus, they will do so realizing that cost will be their very lives – and that the reward will be life as well.

A few things to chew on:

*What can be lost in Jesus’ command to people to ” deny your very self, take up your cross and follow in my footsteps. ” is that the reason for doing this is to save our life. Jesus does not speak individually here. The words are all plural. The cross is singular, but it is borne by “you” plural … by the whole community. Likewise with the life that is saved. It is a community … a “you” plural that lose their life — in order that the life of that community might be saved. Following Jesus is always done in community. The question of Jesus is always not just “who will I be?” but “who will WE be?” And so the question this reading begs is not one of individual piety during Lent,
but nothing short of what will the Church of Christ be? Will we be a church that fearfully holds onto our life and never ends up living? Or will we be a church that is willing to die to follow Jesus … and in so doing saves our life … truly becomes the Church of Christ? What might this look like for All Saints Church?

*“Get out of my sight, you Satan! You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s!” One of the most powerful forces in society is “conventional wisdom.” Conventional wisdom is the wisdom of the crowd — the belief system that undergirds how societies operate. Conventional wisdom is not automatically good or ethical, but it is the values that a society holds most dear and so you go against it at your own peril. Conventional wisdom held that Jesus should not have to die … that he would have been far more effective as a Messiah if he were a triumphant military leader. That’s why Peter said “Jesus, don’t be That Guy!”. But Jesus is one who continually subverts conventional wisdom … who says to us “don’t be THAT guy!” … and asks the church to do the same. For example, conventional wisdom says that economic growth is good, but when our level of consumption is unsustainable economically and ecologically and comes on the backs of oppressed people around the globe, is that conventional wisdom that the Church of Christ needs to stand up against. What conventional wisdom undergirds our life? Where is Jesus challenging us to question or even subvert it.

Try This:

Pick up our cross. It’s not about doing the Ironman Triathalon by yourself. It’s about sharing the challenge of following Jesus. This week, take some time at the start of each day and think about the most basic commandment Jesus gives us: “Love one another as I have loved you,” knowing that Jesus love for us is one of extreme giving of self. Where is that difficult for you? Where does that involve sacrifice — be it material sacrifice, risk of losing someone’s friendship or respect, sacrifice of a precious personal agenda? Then think about how others in your Christian community can share in that cross carrying with you. How can you make that sacrificial following of Jesus a “we” effort instead of an “I” effort? How can we all love better … together?

The Cost of Discipleship

“If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away.”

Steve Jobs said these words in a 1985 interview in Playboy. As Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs tells the tale, it was right at a time when Jobs was about to implode and essentially get kicked out of Apple Computers — the company he helped found — because he had become impossible for anyone to deal with.

The reason Jobs was impossible to deal with is that he could not take seriously any wisdom that didn’t come from Steve Jobs. It was what happened when someone, albeit a brilliant someone, took 100% to heart Polonius’ last advice to Laertes in Hamlet:

“This above all, to thine own self be true.”

And yet, there is an interesting parallel between Jobs’ words and Jesus’ words in this week’s Gospel.

Jesus is inviting his disciples into a life of deep beauty and meaning — but it comes with a great cost. He is saying “You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away.”

The truth behind this is that we can live extraordinary lives and do extraordinary things only to the degree that we are willing to sacrifice.

That is a truth that has been proven over and over again … from the figure skater who was up practicing at dawn every morning since she was 5 to our own Weicheng Zhao and the multitude of hours he has given of his life at the keyboard … to Steve Jobs himself.

But the real question is, in whose service is the sacrifice made? Steve Jobs imploded when he was just serving Steve Jobs. He became an icon who transformed our everyday lives when he became capable of serving something greater than himself … first Apple Computers and eventually humanity and a more selfless idea of his creation as art.

As Christians, we are invited to take whatever we’ve done and whoever we are and throw it all away for the sake of Christ. To have loving the world and loving God deeply and passionately … and not any personal agenda … be the cause.

And as we do this, as we lose our lives, we are told that we will actually save them. That we will not just have a life measured in weeks, months and years … but in a depth of truly living that will change not just us but those around us.

That is our invitation as a Christian community. To be willing to leave it all behind. To be free to love in bold and transforming ways. To die so that we might live.

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Check out the rest of Sunday’s readings

The Lectionary Page has all of the readings for this Sunday and every Sunday.

Collect for Sunday: Pray this throughout the week as you gnaw on this Gospel.

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your
Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Want to read more?

“The Text This Week” is an excellent online resource for anyone who wants to dive more deeply into the scriptures for the week.

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Gnaw on This is written by Mike Kinman and is a weekly publication of All Saints Church.