Day 1008 - Full Disclosure (Reprise)

This is the Men's Bible Study at Second Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN, September 10, 2015, on the text of Mark 8:27-38.  This is a reprise on an earlier post, Day 812.

There is so much packed into these twelve verses in Mark. The central message is the full disclosure of exactly what the future holds for Jesus and for those who seek to follow him.

The previous seven chapters Mark has raced through the entire ministry of Jesus – three years. Here in Chapter 8 his narrative is preparing us for his entry to Jerusalem in Chapter 11. Beginning there, Mark lapses into “slow motion,” taking the last 5 chapters to cover the Passion of Jesus in his last week.

Here, in 8: 27-38, for the first time in the Gospel Jesus breaks the news of the cross in his future to his disciples and everyone listening (and reading). His death on the cross lies ahead.

He and Peter, who has just stated he knows Jesus is the Messiah, engage in an outright argument over whether Jesus should have made this “full disclosure” of his fate and the expectation he has for his followers. Jesus severely upbraids Peter, not with a prediction, not an exaggeration, but a complete disclosure of what the future holds. Jesus knows what is going to happen and it is time for everyone to know:

^“31“The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly.”

Up until now he has made every effort to keep this divine secret of who he is and where he is going. (He has just healed a blind man and told him not to go even back into his village but to go straight home in silence.)

But here with a question leads Peter and us down a primrose path to reveal the contradiction between Peter’s our understanding (and by extension the understanding of his disciples AND us) of what following Jesus means. “Who do people say that I am?” Peter as he will do in the transfiguration, looks forward to a party, hanging out with Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Are we much different today?

What does Jesus say to Peter and the disciples after Peter’s upbraiding Jesus for speaking this way? He uses a verbal twist here. He tells Peter, “get behind (opiso) me, Satan” and then tells everyone what it means to follow (akolutheo) (get behind) Jesus. Mark does not use the same verb in both cases but the irony in evident. Maybe he is telling Peter to follow along over the next few weeks and see what happens?

After he calls Peter “Satan,” he talks about what it means to live a Christ-like life, “If you want to follow me, drop all your preoccupation with this world of flesh, and take up your own cross.”

I know you are thinking, “This world of flesh. Why are you bringing this up again, Henry?”

We learned earlier the “world of flesh” is every element of our bodily existence; it is, to use the Greek word Mark uses, what immerses your psyche, or living being. Although the term, psyche is often mistranslated “soul,” it does not mean some intangible, ethereal essence of being but the entire human being, physical life itself, the human experience. It derives from “nephesh” that does not mean “sprit” but living essence, being. In Genesis, God blew his breath, life itself, the “vital force of living” into Adam and he became a living being. When we die, that breath returns to God. It is important to appreciate that being is a quality or characteristic of this body itself.

That is what makes this passage so powerful, its contradictory claim that those who long for life, for living being, and cling to the things of the world of flesh will lose life, but those who cling to the things that make life, namely the Kingdom of God, will gain life though the lose the life of the world.

I’ve heard a lot about this in a tangential way lately. A few weeks back spinning through the channels, a televised worship service of the pastor of one of the largest Protestant churches in the US came up. If you like you can find him with an Internet search. His smile is as big as that on the Cheshire cat and he is full of “feel good” messages. I went to his web site and found this quote:

“… God gives us the power to get wealth. There are seeds in you right now that can bring abundance: gifts, talents, skills, ideas, creativity, favor. God didn't leave anybody out. You've got to get up every morning and remind yourself, "I am a no lack person." … Keep the right image in front of you. You are blessed. You are prosperous. You are well able. And yes, you may need some kind of assistance right now. But if you'll have this attitude and keep pressing forward, before long, instead of taking a handout, you'll be giving a handout. Instead of borrowing, you'll be the lender! Don't settle where you are; don't settle for lack. Press forward past a lack mentality and switch over to a blessing mentality!”

Is that what Jesus means here in Mark 8:34-38? Is Jesus preaching some kind of “Gospel of Prosperity?”

Yet none of us can get too haughty about this. The same kind of mindset comes over us when we get angry or resentful over a physical or emotional wrong done to us by someone.  A preacher may say, “You can forgive that person but you do not have to forget it. You have to protect yourself. If I forget it then that person might hurt me emotionally or physically again.” Or, maybe you hear, I’ll forgive that person when they apologize.”

Is that what Jesus means here in Mark 8:34-38?

Read passages such as Luke 17:1-4, and Matthew 5:38-48 and 18:15-20. How do we accommodate these “prescriptions for behavior with Mark’s passage? In Luke, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!  It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.’”

In Matthew Jesus tells us we are expected to avoid judgment, but to embrace your enemies (Matthew 5:38-48), or if you cannot find peace with a person it is better to separate yourself than continue the antagonism. 18:15-20

The conclusion might be, “No, I do not have to forgive someone who does not ask for forgiveness. I can stand on my “righteous anger” to take a reprisal against them.”

We may think, “That person embarrassed me,” or “made me look foolish in front of my wife, or congregation,” or fill your own reason in the blank. What about those crazy people we call ISIL or ISIS who killed all those Christians and even other Muslims? We have to stop them.  But is that righteous judgment, or is it revenge?

I hate to say it, but I don’t think it works that way.

I surely struggle with the text even though as far as emotional hurt is concerned, it is often only a matter of pride and ego, the old world of flesh pulling at us.  The bottom line is living a Christian life is more complicated but actually simpler. Luke is talking about those who cause others to stumble. Jesus calls them millstones. What happens when someone with a millstone around the neck falls out of the boat?

Perhaps the answer to these different guidances is that, yes we need to forgive, truly forgive and if we constantly find our self is a state of transgression we need to remove our self from their presence. You cannot fully forgive a person if you carry the memory of hurt and do not put it aside. If the act of forgiveness by God and Jesus means anything, it means our slate is wiped clean in their eyes. Even so, we still may pay some price for the loss of a friendship if we have to separate from them.

Mark 8: 27-38 is quite clear about what should rule our actions and forgiveness by its subject. Jesus is talking about the great injustice that is about to befall him. He has just explained that his own religious leaders, the priests, scribes, the elders (Pharisees and Sadducees) are all going to deny him and bring about his death.

Jesus is the only one of all men with the power to stop this madness using a wave of his hand, or with a simple thought formed in his mind. But rather, he tells us if you want to be like me, if you want to follow me, get ready to suffer from the abuse of those who despise you. Retaliate, cling to the world, soothe your pride, think positive and make a lot of money so you can ease your pain now if you like, but what you do by these acts is let go of life itself, of living in the Kingdom of God.

We must all decide for our own self whether we can forgive and be safe, if our conscience will abide an injustice, or separate from those who wrong us to get to forgiveness. No one should advise a spouse, child or congregant to remain with the someone that continually abuses them with no intent of stopping.

The fundamental reality in all this is being a Christian is extremely hard work that can entail risk to your life. Never forget that separation is the ultimate step, and no one comes out of it unscathed.

In his dying breath Jesus forgave those who killed him.  Forgiveness is a divine blessing. It is something we can only strive to achieve because we live in the old world of flesh that is dying, but it still feeds our anger, hurt pride, feelings of being dishonored over the acts of those who harm us.

To rephrase verse 37 and 38, “If I barter my life for wealth, for the right to harbor hate, for revenge, for resentment over wrongs to me what will I get when I stand before the Father and the holy angels? Will the Son of Man who was wronged by living beings yet forgave them not also be ashamed of me?  AMEN.