SEPTEMBER 17, 2006 PASTOR SCOTT FULLER
IS 50:4-9a; PS 116:1-8; JA 3:1-12, 14-17; MK 8:27-38
Deny, Deny, Deny
Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we believe and in believing we obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Says Jesus in our Gospel for today: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (8:34).
There are a few ways to understand that little word: deny. For example, it can mean refuse to acknowledge. Back in the days of President Reagan during the political intrigue called Iran-gate, certain government officials were called on to testify before congress. It was reported that an inside consultant gave this advice to those who had to speak: “Deny, deny, deny.”
It can also mean to refute an allegation. During the soap-opera of Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, a reporter asked the president if he denied the charges that were made. That led to his now infamous assertion: I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
Deny can also mean to reject a request. For this example, we’ll jump out of the frying pan of politics into the fire of insurance practices. In John Grisham’s book The Rainmaker, a woman, whose son is dying of leukemia, lobbies his insurance company to pay for a bone-marrow transplant. But the provider stalls until the young man loses his battle with cancer and dies.
As if to rub salt into a wide open wound, the company’s rejections of the mother’s requests get nastier as time goes on.
The last one she receives simply reads: Dear Mrs. Black. On seven prior occasions this company has denied your claim in writing. We now deny it for the eighth and final time. You must be stupid, stupid, stupid. Sincerely, Evert Luftkin, Vice President, Claims Department.
But I still don’t think we’ve captured the meaning of Jesus’ charge when he said deny yourselves. Maybe the rest his quote can help: take up your cross and follow me. Any ideas about what Jesus intended?
The thesaurus identifies many synonyms for the word deny. In addition to refuse, refute and reject, there is also quit, stop, sacrifice, surrender, yield, relinquish, submit, give in. Now the question is: exactly what are we to quit, stop, sacrifice, surrender, yield, relinquish, submit, and give in…to? (I’m sorry, mom, for ending that sentence with a preposition!).
It’s a challenge, I know, that is unique for every person…Part of what Jesus calls us to deny are those things that reveal themselves as gods (little g) in our lives. Our worship of some are obvious like addictions to alcohol and other drugs, gambling, etc. Our devotion to many gods are easier to hide, but no less destructive: pride, self-righteousness, greed, envy, lust.
And what makes the problem worse is that we’re very good at excusing our behavior, very talented at finding ways to justify ourselves. It’s the fabric of our nature to deny all charges, to renounce all limits, and to embrace only those gods that best feed the worldly desires of our hearts.
Take a look at Jesus’ interaction with Peter in today’s Gospel. This is a critical moment in the faith development of the disciples. They have watched Jesus touch the sick and heal them; feed thousands from almost nothing; raise the dead; befriend the lowly; welcome the foreigner. They have heard Jesus teach about God’s love and passion for a just kingdom.
Then, in a sense, he says (v. 29), Does this ring any bells with Scripture? Who do you think I am?
And inside the heart and soul and mind of good old perceptive Peter, the light clicks on and he says, You are Messiah, the Christ…Three cheers for Peter – he gets it…or does he? If only we could stop the story right there, if only we could freeze that frame and let it stand as the monument to how humanity got it right, hit the jackpot, won the game. If only…
But then Jesus starts talking about the struggles ahead, about the upside down, inside out, backwards way that God will use to make this faith thing work…and Peter tries to set him straight. Thanks be to God that he does, because Peter is only saying what the others were thinking and what the rest of us would have thought or said.
But look how deeply he wounds Jesus with his good intentions – it drives the Lord to lash out with his tongue: Get behind me, Satan! What a betrayal Peter must have felt, to have his lord link him to the evil one. Get behind me, Satan! What a betrayal Jesus must have felt, to have his rock, his most loyal disciple, at this tender moment, utter the very same enticement that Satan had used to tempt him in the desert. Explains Jesus, You are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.
Satan wanted Jesus to listen not to God, but to his heart, to satisfy not God’s will, but his own desires, to do what comes naturally, to be true to himself. But, as Jesus says No! to Satan in the desert, so he says No! to Peter in our text. And, frankly, Jesus says the same No! to us whenever we rationalize our worship of other gods in our lives.
Look at verse 34 in the Gospel lesson and read it aloud with me. Says Jesus, If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me… There’s a double twist of fate in this story. Here Peter confesses his faith in Jesus. That’s not what happens after Jesus is condemned to die. Remember? When Peter is asked three times if he is a disciple of Jesus… he denies not himself, but his master, his friend, his lord.
So what does it mean for us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus? Well, in the first place I think it means acknowledging that we worship other gods in life. Whatever feeds us, body, soul, or mind, in unhealthy ways, are gods to be denied. At the very least, that means saying NO to those things in life that prevent us from living out our faith: on the job, at home, when we work and when we play.
And I think denying ourselves also means saying YES to the Lord through worship, with our wallets and purses, through our talents and with our time as we seek to love God and love our neighbor.
In short, to deny ourselves and take up our cross is simply to follow through on God’s call to embrace us in love and put us to work…serving the people of God’s kingdom. Amen.