“Christ among us, showing faith”
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Mark 8:31-38
(February 25, 2024)
40 days is one of those biblical phrases that’s meant to convey a long period of time! 40 days it rained when the earth was flooded in the time of Noah. 40 years the people wandered in the wilderness in the time of Moses. 40 days Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan.
And so we have our 40 days of Lent, which can drag on for a long time. Will we ever get to Easter? Well I say, “Have a little faith. God will lead us on our journey.”
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Waiting can be hard. Sometimes we want to hurry things up. Like children in the back seat of a car. “When are we going to be there? Can’t we go any faster?”
Or like someone I know, returning recently from vacation in a warm sunny place. They arrived in Toronto, ready to board their connecting flight to Saskatoon, and then were told there was a problem. Their flight had been cancelled. They would have to spend the night.
Flying isn’t the fun, exciting thing it used to be. That whole experience of being herded through lines and scanners and holding areas, cancellations and delays, luggage and people jammed in tiny spaces …
“We’re not sticking around here!” they said. They decided to book another flight for the next morning. Only to find that flight too was delayed. On the plane. Off the plane ….
Two days later, they finally made it to Saskatoon, exhausted, just in time to prepare for work the following day! The choices we make don’t always get us where we want. Sometimes what we think is best can actually make things worse.
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Abram and Sarai had been waiting a long time. I’m talking 25 years since God called them to go to the land that God would show them.
Along the way there were promises made. Covenants, we call them. These covenants are of God’s instigation, not ours. We’ll be hearing about them each week throughout this Lenten season.
God brought Abram out of his house one night and pointed to the sky. “Count the stars, if you are able,” said God. “So shall your descendants be.”
But over time God’s promises can become a painful thing – when nothing seems to happen. And years go by. And the gap between heavenly promise and earthly reality grows ever larger. So you begin to wonder if you’re going to get there at all.
It’s hard to believe God’s promises. When things don’t seem to be going in the right direction. Darkness closes in.
Can you think of those times when you’ve pinned your hopes on something good? But there’s no sign of it coming to fruition. You’ve invested time and energy, maybe even money. You’ve set your sight on a certain outcome. But time is dragging on. And now you wonder if you’ll live long enough to see it?
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That’s when we are tempted to find our own solution. Force the outcome. Find a shortcut that will bring in the kingdom of God – just the way we want it! The emphasis here is on “we”. What we want.
You know the scheme that Abram and Sarai cooked up, when there was no sign of children on the horizon and they became impatient. Sarai gave Abram her slave-girl, Hagar. So they had a child, and called it their own. But it was never what God intended.
Our bending, twisting and manipulating of circumstances and people around us rarely are. For those who like to be in control, it’s hard to step back and wait for what God will do. We want a good outcome and quick success. Success – as we define it.
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Our Gospel reading today shows us another person who mirrors this tendency in ourselves. I’m talking about Peter.
When Jesus started speaking about his suffering, rejection and death, Peter began to panic. “No Lord, you can’t mean that!”
So he took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. That’s right, Peter rebuking Jesus! The disciple thinks he knows more than the master.
Not two minutes before he’d blurted out his profession of faith: “You, Jesus, are the Messiah!” Meaning, you are the one who will deliver us, defeating our enemies, bringing in the Reign of God. Isn’t that right? “So now what’s all this talk of suffering? Surely you will not die! Not you! There must be another way.”
I picture him putting his arm around Jesus, rather condescendingly. Explaining a more successful plan, one that will bring God’s kingdom right here and now. No messiness. No cross. “Come on, Jesus. We can do it. Just listen to me.”
But Jesus doesn’t listen to Peter. Or any of those disciples who’ve been constructing their own plans for power and self-promotion, seats of honour at his right hand. Jesus looks at all of them. And says to Peter, in particular, “Get behind me Satan! You’re setting your mind on human things, not on God’s.”
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So now who’s rebuking whom? Calling Peter, the leader of the group, calling him Satan! That’s such a startling thing to say! And it must have hurt like blazes – Peter, for sure, and maybe Jesus too.
“Get behind me Satan.” Jesus will have no part of Peter’s plan.
We met Satan just last Sunday. Do you remember? After his baptism, the Spirit of God cast Jesus into the wilderness where he was tempted. We noted that Satan means Adversary. One who stands in opposition to God.
Satan tried to seduce Jesus with certain promises of success. “Hey Jesus, why don’t we do it this way? I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world!”
And now here’s Peter too, trying to convince Jesus he can have it all. He doesn’t have to die. We can have the kingdom, have it now, have it our way.
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I find it disturbing that Peter is the one who becomes the Adversary in this passage. And this week, as I’ve pondered that accusation from the lips of Jesus, it’s made me ask a hard question:
“Can I be a Satan?” I mean, if Peter could, what’s to stop me from trying to steer Jesus in my own direction? Redirecting God’s way of being in the world . Promoting the things that I desire. If Jesus called his good friend, Peter, the Adversary – what would he call me?
Lent is a time for us to examine our lives. Recognizing that our purpose is not always well aligned with God’s. Jesus’ way and our way can be two very different things. And half the time we don’t even realize it. We’re so clued out! So ill-tuned to the melody of God’s kingdom and the voice of God’s Holy Spirit.
I wonder … how are we not listening to things that Jesus has taught us? What don’t we get? How might we be bending him to our purpose – our politics, our plans, our practice of faith? How might even our good intentions be standing in the way, putting up road-blocks, and preventing others from the path we’re meant to follow.
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There are no short-cuts to the kingdom. The road is not meant to be easy. Jesus tells us to take up our crosses and follow him. He tells us to deny ourselves. He says we have to give up our lives if we want to save them.
The part of us that has to die is self-centred. It’s impatient. It doesn’t want to wait, it wants to get there now.
It doesn’t want to do the hard work of peace-making or reconciliation, which never happens quickly. It opts for quick solutions, just to get us out of these uncomfortable seats, eliminate the agony of waiting.
And maybe also the disappointment of a kingdom that has not yet come! “Why is there still so much darkness in the world? Come on, Jesus, can’t we just snap our fingers and make it right?”
We’re like kids in the back seat of a car. We are not a very patient people, are we?
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It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows.
“Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Kings vision of a world where all people would live together in harmony, with equality and justice for all, would not come without a monumental struggle. It’s still going on!
But God is in that journey. Christ is with us on our way. The Spirit is leading us toward an end that God can see.
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Our sermon title for this morning is “Jesus among us, showing us faith.” And so we see him following God’s plan for his life. He refuses to be diverted from it.
He puts his trust in God. Faith and trust are two sides of the same coin, you know. To believe in God, is to put your trust in God.
There comes a time in all our lives when we can no longer control circumstances or things around us. Maybe once we thought we could. But now we see how foolish that idea was.
Like Abraham and Sarah, coming to the end of their lives, with no hope of bearing children on their own, the only thing they can do is trust. Trust that the promise of God is real. Trust that God is dependable. Trust that the covenant God made all those years ago will be fulfilled!
It’s God’s doing, not our own. So we must go forward believing there is more to this old world than we can see. And that no plan of ours alone is ever going to fix it. And that God is with us!
Come to think of it, that’s kind of what a Christian is, isn’t it? Someone who believes there’s more to life than meets the eye. Someone who takes a stance on what most of the world around us may think of as ridiculous. So much so that we are willing to stake our lives on it. Trusting that the one who made us and called us and gives us life, will be there to welcome us at the end of our journey.
To live well in this present time is so much easier when we have faith. We believe in God. Even when the way is hard. And even when the way is long. God is trustworthy and God’s promises are true. Thanks be to God!
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