“Final Answer?”

Rev. Debbie Cato

Isaiah 53 & Mark 8:27-38

The Way of the Cross –Week 2

Peace Presbyterian Church

March 1, 2015

“Final Answer?”

How many of you are familiar with the TV Game Show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” I’m not sure if it’s still on or not but it first aired in August 1999 with Regis Philbin as the host. The contestants sit in a chair and answer one question after another, and each time the money gets bigger and bigger. You can stop and take home the money at any point or move on and risk losing it all. For most contestants, the gamble to win more money is often more enticing than the risk of losing it all, so they continue to play. When they give their answer, Regis gives them one more chance to change their mind – “Is this your final answer?” he asks. “Final answer,” the contestant says.

Imagine that we are watching “Who wants to be a millionaire?” and Jesus is the host and the contestant, Peter sits across from him. Peter answers question after question and now he’s at the million dollar question. Answer this one right – he wins it all. Answer wrong – he loses everything.

“For one million dollars, Peter,” Jesus says, “Who do people say that I am?” I can see Peter, all excited… shaking in his seat… grinning from ear to ear. “I know this one, Jesus,” Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” “Final answer?” Jesus asks. “Final answer.” says Peter.

Final answer. (pause) What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Messiah? That Jesus is the Christ? What does it mean to be a disciple – a follower of Christ the Messiah? Peter knew the answer but he certainly did not understand.

Mark’s Gospel naturally breaks into two halves. The first 7 ½ chapters are filled with accounts of Jesus’ healings, his miracles, exorcisms of demons, and his teachings and parables to the crowds and his disciples. Throughout Jesus’ ministry we see example after example of his authority. People wonder, “Who is this man that teaches with such authority?” Some call him rabbi; some think he is John the Baptist, some Elijah the great prophet. People speculate…

but Jesus keeps his true identity quiet.

The second half of the Gospel of Mark begins at chapter 8 verse 27; our text for today. For the first time, Jesus begins to speak boldly about his purpose and his mission. From here through the end of chapter 15, Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem. He has completed his ministry in Galilee and is traveling toward his ultimate mission. It is in these chapters that Jesus acknowledges who he is and he tries to teach his disciples what that means – for him; and for them. It is in these chapters that we learn that Jesus must suffer and die. While Jesus and his disciples journey toward Jerusalem, He prepares his disciples for suffering; He continues his ministry in Jerusalem; and when the time is right, Jesus is arrested, tortured, crucified, and buried. And then; after the suffering, after the pain and anguish, after the shock and fear, after it seems everything is over; is the grand finale. Mark ends his Gospel in chapter 16 with the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead!

Hints about Jesus’ identity build up throughout the first half of Mark’s Gospel. All these hints culminate with Peter’s confession that Jesus is THE Messiah. Peter’s confession separate what the disciples know about Jesus from the common views about him. Jesus acknowledges that He is the Christ and yet, Jesus still does not fully claim the title of Messiah.

You see, the Son of Man did not come only to exercise authority on earth. He came to suffer. Although Peter and the others appear to have reached the correct insight that Jesus is Messiah, that confession is misunderstood if suffering is not the central truth about Jesus’ identity. Jesus will not claim the title of Messiah until His mission is complete. He will not claim the title of Messiah until he has suffered; until He has been crucified; until He has risen from the dead. It is through his resurrection that Jesus truly is the Messiah – a title achieved only through the cross.

Jesus explanation results in bewilderment and dismay, not only because of its implications for His Messiah-ship, but equally because of its implications for discipleship. Since the disciples participate in the ministry of Jesus, they must also learn to share the suffering of the Son of Man.

When Peter gives the final answer – “You are the Messiah.” – he has a different definition of what that means. He doesn’t like the talk about suffering. He doesn’t like the talk about dying. How can Jesus say this? You’re wrong, Jesus! The Messiah can’t suffer! You can't die!

Jesus’ uses their journey toward Jerusalem as an opportunity to take on the difficult task of teaching his disciples the true meaning of Messiah-ship. And, it’s not what they expected.

Jesus is not the expected messianic teacher who will explain and re-institute the Torah in Jewish life; rather, he teaches in puzzling and probing parables about the surprising in-breaking of God’s kingdom and the nearness of his love and forgiveness of sinners. Nor does Jesus exhibit stereotypical messianic authority, such as royal control, reestablishing and purifying the temple cult and above all expelling Gentiles from Jewish life; rather his authority is rooted in who he is. As God’s Son, he reinterprets God’s commandments, presumes to forgive sins, has power over nature, and speaks for and as God.

Not only does Jesus not fit the messianic stereotype, He defines his mission in scandalous contrast to it. The meaning of his life and mission is not about victory and success, but about rejection, suffering, and death. When Jesus finally speaks to the issue of his identity and mission it is summed up in “The Son of Man must suffer many things.” The way to Jerusalem and the bitter end that awaits Jesus are affirmed as God’s ordained way for him: he must suffer.

It is natural and understandable that Peter should feel obliged to correct Jesus. In trying to avert Jesus from suffering, Peter, in a way he cannot know, opposes a deep mystery of God. Suffering is the only way to destroy the stronghold of Satan, which is Jesus’ declared purpose from early in the Gospel. For Peter, the indication that the Son of Man will die is unthinkable. For Jesus, it is inevitable.

The danger of a wrong view of messiah-ship is that it leads to a wrong view of discipleship. The disciples have participated in Jesus’ ministry of preaching and healing. Now they discover that they must also participate in the ministry of suffering. Following Christ in self-denial and even in suffering is a necessary means of salvation. One cannot follow Jesus except “on the way” of self-denial. On the way to the cross.

Modern culture is exposed to the symbol of the cross primarily in jewelry or figures of speech. Bearing a cross is putting up with an inconvenience or a hardship of some kind. But, the symbol of the cross in the first century was vastly different! An image of extreme repugnance, the cross was an instrument of cruelty, pain, dehumanization, and shame. The cross symbolized hated Roman oppression and was reserved for the lowest social classes. It was the most visible aspect of Rome’s terror apparatus, designed especially to punish criminals and quash slave rebellions. In 71 BC the Roman general Crassus defeated the slave-rebel Spartacus and crucified him and six thousand of his followers. A century later in Mark’s day, Nero would crucify and burn Christians who were falsely accused of setting fire to Rome. The image of the cross for Mark’s community suffering adversity under Nero was not a sign of God’s abandonment but rather of their identification with and faithfulness to the way of Jesus himself. The image of the cross signifies a total claim on the disciple’s allegiance and the total relinquishment of their life to Jesus.

The church continues to be a martyr throughout the world. In our day Christians who work to bring justice and peace to suffering peoples around the world are often victims of the violence they are trying to end. Sometimes death squads single out religious leaders and missionaries for particularly brutal execution in the hope of frightening the people.

We need to consider whether there are situations in which public pressure may lead us to deny our faith. We know that our Christian faith is not always welcome in the workplace, so we learn to cloak our Christian identity when morally questionable practices seem to be the order of the day. When we go to the polls, we forget the gospel teachings of justice and love of neighbor and vote in ways that benefit ourselves and hurt those without a voice. We spend our money on things we think we need, while people all around us are hungry and homeless. We would rather deny others than deny ourselves.

Jesus warns Peter and the disciples - and us, that attempts to preserve our physical life from self-denial and suffering may jeopardize our very soul; whereas the willingness to lose even our physical life for the sake of the gospel will guarantee our eternal being. To lose our life is one thing but to lose our soul has eternal consequences. When the way of Jesus is more important than our own existence, we will secure our eternal being; but when our own existence is more important than Jesus, we will lose both Jesus and our existence into eternity.

Confronted with the necessity of suffering, most people react exactly like Peter. In a “pain-killer” culture, a balanced understanding of suffering is difficult to achieve. Jesus sets out the challenge for us to think as God thinks, not as human beings. Jesus’ healing miracles and his compassion for the crowds at the feeding miracles make it clear that God does not delight in human suffering. The disciples were sent out to heal as well as to preach the good news. Yet danger lies in concluding that suffering and self-sacrifice are always undesirable. Despite everything the Bible tells us about the suffering of truly righteous people, Christians frequently think that if we pray hard enough, God will remove all the trials from our lives. When a loved one is diagnosed with a dreaded illness, we tend to pray for miraculous healing rather than pray for strength and courage and wisdom in dealing with the bad news. Somehow, we have grasped the Jesus of the miracles but have ignored the way of the cross. Prayer is important in healing, but prayer is opening ourselves up to what God wills; not an exercise in forcing God to do our will. “Your will be done.”

When confronted by the call to discipleship, disciples do not have a “both…and” choice – both Christ and our own lives. We stand before an “either… or” decision. The claim of Jesus is a total and exclusive one. It does not allow a convenient compartmentalization of natural life and religious life, of secular and sacred. The whole person stands under Christ’s claim. The issue is who is in charge. To say “Christ” is to give up the right to define what “Christ” means; it is to acknowledge His authority to define the terms and with it the meaning of the confession.

This text has great significance for us. By leading to a clear understanding of the correct answer to the question “Who is Jesus?” this text points to a clear under-standing of the question, “Who am I?” I am a disciple: a learner who follows Jesus: a follower who learns from him.

So imagine you are the contestant and Jesus is sitting across from you. He smiles and says, “Who do YOU say I am?” A lot is at stake. Your answer has eternal consequences. What is your final answer?