Mark 8:27-38
“Saving Accounts”
September 16, 2018
While he was a POW imprisoned for five and a half years in Hua Lo prison in Vietnam after his plane was shot down, the late Senator John McCain was hit almost every day and frequently tortured by a truly sadistic guard there who he always referred to as “The Jerk.” He was often held in solitary confinement and one time he was caught trying to communicate with his friend in the cell next door. The punishment he received for this was to be held overnight in a special cell tied up very tightly with ropes while seated on a stool. During the night as he was internally fuming and angry while physically straining against the extremely tight ropes with all his might, the door to the cell was opened by a young guard that he recognized from seeing him periodically patrolling the prison. The guard immediately put his finger to his lips and then without looking directly at McCain, he loosened the ropes around McCain and quietly left the room. Right before dawn, he came back and tightened them to their previous tension before the next guard came on duty.
In the coming months, McCain would sometimes spot this guard when he was being moved from one part of the prison to another. The young guard never made eye contact with him or spoke to him until one Christmas morning when McCain was let out of his cell for a short time to stand alone outdoors and look up at the infrequently seen blue sky. As he was looking up, McCain became aware of this same guard coming closer to him. For a brief moment the guard stood right next to him without looking at him or speaking – he just stared at the ground in front of the two of them and then quite casually with his foot, he drew a cross in the dirt. For a full minute they both just looked at the cross and then the guard used his foot to get rid of it and walked away. John McCain would recount, “For just that moment I forgot all my hatred for my enemies, and all the hatred most of them felt for me. I forgot about the Jerk and the interrogators who persecuted my friends and me. I forgot about the war, and the terrible things that war does to you. I was just one Christian venerating the cross with a fellow Christian on Christmas morning.” (from John McCain’s book, Character is Destiny as seen in www.beliefnet.com) Our lives and our actions give voice to our beliefs and it can be risky business.
Jesus, at this turning point in the Gospel where he and the disciples are about to make their way to Jerusalem, stops the action for a moment to discover what those who have dropped everything to follow him and be in on the healing and teaching he has done up to this point perceive him to be. “Who do you say that I am?” is a question for these dear ones that could also be asked of each of us. Let’s brainstorm here for a moment…Who would you say that Jesus is? I invite you to just shout out your answer and there’s no right or wrong one….
There’s a technique often used by skilled therapists, lawyers, doctors, social workers, teachers and other professionals in the course of doing their jobs that maybe you find just as annoying as I do in spite of the fact that I’ve done it myself. Obviously there are really valid reasons for doing this but it can sometimes get to me when someone answers a question with a question. What Jesus asks here is “Who do you say that I am?” and what happens is that immediately the unspoken question becomes, “Who will you say that you are?” We all in responding to Jesus’ original question are answering the second question.
Who and how we think about Jesus is hard, especially when he speaks of sacrifice – taking up the cross and following him. In answering the question we are revealing how much we are committed to being a disciple or follower of Jesus. In answering the question of “Who will you say that you are?” we risk being known for what we believe. If you’re not sure you can put it in succinct words and stand by them, know that you are not alone.
There is no one version of Jesus present in the Bible. We have four really different perspectives on him in the Gospels then there are 23 additional books that depict Jesus in differing ways. There are even the 13 letters that are credited to Paul and they tend to talk about Jesus differently depending on who will hear or read them and where they’re located. This is all to say that there is no one way to look at and consider Jesus and as much as some folks want to claim that they have the definitive take on him, all they have most likely been able to do is find a Jesus that they can live with, one that goes along with their world view or the view that an influential person in their life passed onto them. There is no lack of inconsistency in the Bible and so beware of anyone that claims to have all the answers when it comes to Jesus and who and what he is. The initial answer from the disciples on what the buzz is about him is that folks see him as being similar to the prophets they know like John the Baptist or Elijah which is natural. Human nature always has us comparing. Even much beloved figures get compared to other revered figures – Nelson Mandela evoked comparisons to Martin Luther King who was compared to Gandhi.
When Peter answered, “You are the Messiah” it was clear to Jesus that he didn’t know the half of it. When Jesus lays out a picture of what’s to come, Peter cannot reconcile the greatness with the terrible pain that comes with it. When one thinks of a Messiah it is much easier to imagine perfection which would be pain-free but Jesus is saying no life devoted to him and the ideals of God will be free of pain.
The radical truth of Jesus’ message, that we are to love neighbor as self and that the attachment to earthly goods and matters as our priority are sending us in the wrong direction, means that we, like Jesus, will bump up against powers and principalities. If we put human dignity and justice and mercy ahead of amassing more and more and looking out for number one, we will get resistance. I know that some of you get that resistance from family members or neighbors or colleagues. That resistance certainly comes from a culture that places value on having more over caring more. Relationships are at the heart of following Jesus and that can mean taking on some of the pain of the world. To place value on human dignity and stand beside and speak out on behalf of those who are suffering or being treated as less than can come with risks and yet that is what we are called to as we take our lead from Jesus. As we wrestle with these paired questions of who Jesus is and what does that say about who we are, I’d offer this description that came to me in an email this week:
Jesus is God’s best selfie,
and humanity’s true DNA.
Jesus is God’s fragile hope set loose in the world,
God’s vulnerability surviving among us,
the living wound of the Beloved.
Jesus is the tear in the world where we see through to God,
what we look like when we let the Divine burn in us.
Jesus is the living bit of love that every empire trips over,
the peasant who shatters the world,
the victim who ruins our judgments
and leaves us with nothing but mercy.
(from Steve Garnaas-Holmes, www.unfoldinglight.net, 9/12/18)
Let us live into these questions, knowing our lives will offer our answer. Amen and amen.