Borne Up
Mark 8:27-38
There is a story about a woman who was standing in line at the bank and all of a sudden became very upset and distressed. She started exclaiming to others around her, “Where will I put my money? I have all my money and my mortgage here? What will happen to my mortgage?”
It turns out that she had misunderstood a small sign on the counter which read, “WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD FRIDAY.” I guess Easter was not uppermost in her thoughts, because she thought that the bank was going to close for good that coming Friday.[1]
I was thinking of canceling Good Friday. This year it is our turn to host the Good Friday service, one that we share with the Congregational church. It is a service that usually isn’t very well attended, so I was thinking that maybe we might just skip Good Friday this year. However you can’t really get to Easter without going through Good Friday. We can’t celebrate the empty cross without understanding the suffering of Jesus on the cross. We can’t get to the resurrection without the atonement for our sins.
Good Friday is the day that we remember the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. It was on the cross that Jesus did the hard work of reconciling the sins of humanity. In the traditional path and progression of our Christian faith, our relationship with God which had been broken was now restored by Jesus who suffered and died on our behalf. We celebrate his triumph over that on Easter morning. And it isn’t easy to completely understand the atonement and the suffering of Jesus who trusted in God and freely went forward in faith to his death upon the cross. It isn’t easy to understand and certainly Peter didn’t want to hear about it in our scripture lesson today from Mark. No one wants to hear about suffering, rejection and death.
Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
All of a sudden the direction of Jesus’ time and teaching with the disciples took a different turn – one that seemed to indicate some messy stuff ahead. Suffering, rejections and killings? The gospel writer makes a point of saying that Jesus made it pretty clear or plainly that this was what was going to be ahead. Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. Jesus will have none of that – and turns the tables on Peter and it is now he who is doing the rebuking.
33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Jesus now speaks to the entire crowd including his disciples and explains that following him means taking up our cross as well. We must give all we have to Jesus, follow him in faith and trust our entire life to him including the crosses that we have to bear. The path will not always be easy but we trust that God will take care of us as we move forward in faith.
Today is the second Sunday in Lent and this scripture speaks to issues of trust during difficult times. Trust that the difficult times, the suffering, the fear and the anxiety will be a burden that we can bear. We trust in God and trust is an action. It is the act of placing one’s confidence in someone else with the belief and assurance that the other person will be true to you and to their word. We trust and so we move forward.
We all want to be in relationships that we can trust – with a loved one, with family members, with co-workers and with friends. We are shattered when that trust is broken. Trust is so essential in our relationship with God. When things get tough in our life, we trust that God will be present with us through thick or thin. We all desire relationships, both human and divine, that are built on trust. Our Lenten journey calls us ponder and wrestle with issues of trust especially when the cross we are carrying seems almost too heavy to carry.
The story from Mark is a story about trust and relationships. The disciples had already given Jesus their trust and were in a relationship with him. They had followed him around the countryside, listening, learning, and watching him touch, heal and bring a message of hope. But now these words from Jesus seem to take a very different turn and the disciples were puzzled and filled with questions. Peter was shocked and surprised – he took Jesus aside and “rebuked” or admonished him privately for what he had said. Imagine doing that to Jesus? Jesus turns away from Peter and admonishes him in front of the others by saying “Get behind me Satan” as Peter’s line of thinking had become more human than divine. Jesus explains
the cost of discipleship. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” The journey with Jesus was not going to be easy - Jesus never promised them that it would be easy. Jesus was simply and purely asking for their trust through good times and times of great difficulty. This was a covenant moment for the disciples and a call to trust. Being in relationship is a matter of trust. The scriptures are filled with words about trust.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14: 1
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3: 5
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7
We are asked to trust in the Lord. But it is not always that simple to trust - is it? There are far too many folks whose trust has been shattered and who live with the pain of broken relationships. Some wonder if they will ever be able to trust again and too many of us live with broken hearts and burdened minds. But Lent is a time to wrestle with issues of trust – be it with one another or with God. Broken hearts and broken relationships can be mended along the way. Lent is a time for healing and we can dare to believe that a time of wholeness and spiritual health is ahead. We always keep our eye on the resurrection even if we are having a Good Friday time in our life.
What does it mean to take up our cross and follow Jesus? What does it mean to bear a cross or a burden as Jesus had to do when he carried it through the streets? Imagine the beat up, scarred and bloody Jesus slowly making his way to Golgotha with the heavy cross upon his shoulder. It is heavy but he keeps moving forward. According the dictionary the word “bear” and other forms of it such as “borne” and “born“ mean to move forward while holding up and supporting. The words all have elements of forward movement to it even while you are carrying something heavy. Jesus moved forward while supporting the weight of the cross.
You might remember the song…
Eagles Wings
You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord,
who abide in His shadow for life,
say to the Lord: 'My refuge,
my God in whom I trust!'
And He will raise you up on eagles' wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of His hand.
When we declare our faith in Jesus and trust in him we can move forward while bearing whatever burden we are carrying. Rev. William Willimon shares this story:
The doctor spared few words. "Your baby is afflicted with Down’s Syndrome. I had expected this, but things were too far along before I could say for sure."
"Is the baby healthy?" she asked.
"That’s what I wanted to discuss with you," the doctor said. "The baby is healthy -- except for the problem. However, it does have a slight, rather common respiratory ailment. My advice is that you let me take it off the respirator -- that might solve things. At least, it’s a possibility."
"It’s not a possibility for us," they said together.
"I know how you feel," responded the doctor. "But you need to think about what you’re doing. You already have two beautiful kids. Statistics show that people who keep these babies risk a higher incidence of marital stress and family problems. Is it fair to do this to the children you already have? Is it right to bring this suffering into your family?"
At the mention of "suffering" I saw her face brighten, as if the doctor were finally making sense.
"Suffering?" she said quietly. "We appreciate your concern, but we’re Christians. God suffered for us, and we will try to suffer for the baby, if we must."
"Pastor, I hope you can do something with them," the doctor whispered to me outside their door as he continued his rounds.
Two days later, the doctor and I watched the couple leave the hospital. They walked slowly, carrying a small bundle; but it seemed a heavy burden to us, a weight on their shoulders. We felt as if we could hear them dragging, clanking it down the front steps of the hospital, moving slowly but deliberately into a cold, gray March morning.
"It will be too much for them," the doctor said."You ought to have talked them out of it. You should have helped them to understand."
But as they left, I noticed a curious look on their faces; they looked as if the burden were not too heavy at all, as if it were a privilege and a sign. They seemed borne up, as if on another’s shoulders, being carried toward some high place the doctor and I would not be going, following a way we did not understand. [2]
As we move forward in Lent and as we go through our Good Fridays and things we do not understand, may we all be borne up by completely trusting in the atoning work of Jesus Christ and trusting in one another, always keeping our eyes and our hope on Easter morning.
Amen
Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard
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