Preacher: Rev. Jennifer Hosler, PhD

Date: February 25, 2024

Scripture: Mark 8:27-38

The past two weeks, I was part of a multifaith action called the Pilgrimage for Peace. It was led and cosponsored by Faith for Black Lives, Rabbis for Ceasefire, CAIR Philadelphia, the National Council of Churches, Hindus for Ceasefire, and many other congregations or smaller organizations (including our own church, since I was on the organizing team, and we made a small donation as a congregation). This Pilgrimage for Peace was a nonviolent action calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and detainees, and unhindered humanitarian aid in Gaza. These steps are the first steps needed to move towards change, to move towards an end to cycles of violence.

This Pilgrimage for Peace was designed to start at the birthplace of US democracy in Philadelphia and to continue all the way to the White House, here in our city of Washington, DC. Some people joined in for a few miles, some for a day or two days, and a smaller number of people marched every single day, 144 miles, from Philly to DC.

Walking together with other Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and people of no faith was a meaningful way to pray with our feet, as Rabbi Heschel coined it in the Civil Rights Movement. I marched on the first day (Ash Wednesday) in Philly as we walked 10 miles toward Chester, PA. Other pilgrims continued the march from Pennsylvania to Delaware and Maryland. I rejoined the group this past Wednesday in University Park, MD, as we walked the final 8 miles to the White House. My kiddo came with me and was an eager interfaith marcher, singing along to the ceasefire songs and keeping a lookout for where the Torah scroll was being carried at a given moment.

During our debrief after day one, several people spoke about how our walk was an act of protest – we were trying to bring awareness to the multifaith support for a permanent ceasefire – and as an act of solidarity. Over the past five months, about 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced in Gaza, with many needing to walk from the north to the center to the south, to find illusive safety from bombing. We talked about our awareness of our bodies after just one full day of walking when we were fully fed, had ample clean water available, and we were mainly carrying ourselves and not our children or our possessions.

During the day one debrief, I realized I should bring my own child with me to finish the march, as an important learning experience and a way to honor the families who have walked with their children. The Pilgrimage for Peace was a way to raise our voices and use our bodies to be in solidarity with people in Gaza, in a very small way.  

Admittedly, joining a physical walk from Philadelphia to Washington, DC is not a normal thing. It is kind of strange to be talking about upcoming travel during evening school pickup and for that travel to be a literal walk from Philly to DC, to call for a ceasefire. Yet as followers of Jesus, living out the values of our faith and beliefs in radical discipleship can often involve practices or commitments that our culture finds to be weird. One Church of the Brethren writer Donald Kraybill referred to this as Jesus’ “Upside-Down Kingdom” – and we get a glimpse of this kingdom in our lectionary scripture for today.

Our passage is in Mark chapter 8. I am going to paint a little background to the Gospel according to Mark, thus far. Instead of starting with a genealogy or narratives about the incarnation, Mark starts the gospel with John the Baptizer, doing his baptizing and proclaiming the good news of repentance. I need to note that this is starting out weird in the first sentence: Mark says he is writing about the beginning of the “good news” of Jesus Christ and starts describing what John did.

The phrase “good news” or gospel is from the Greek work εὐαγγέλιον euangélion, a word that likely would have made 1^st Century listeners gape with their mouths open. The word “has military overtones. Good News means Military Victory. In the Roman Public Squares, town criers began their announcements saying, ‘And now the Good News of the First Legion.’ Evangelion carries those connotations” (Lindon, 2017). What does the victory of Jesus the Messiah start with? Repentance and baptism. Not really a Roman Empire kind of vibe.

Back to the narrative: John preaches and baptizes. Jesus comes and is baptized, is tempted and then starts his ministry in Galilee. John gets arrested for calling out the immorality of a puppet king Herod. Jesus walks along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He approaches some fishing folks and says, “Follow me.” They do and these disciples accompany Jesus as he teaches in the synagogues with authority, as he heals sickness and the crowds come to seek him from all over the countryside. Jesus goes from town to town, to both Jewish and Gentile areas in Galilee, to his hometown of Nazareth. The crowds follow and push and there is so much need and sometimes not enough food. Thousands are fed from just a small portion (twice, in Mark). Right before our passage, Jesus has just restored the sight of a blind person.

Throughout the first half of Mark, we see healing miracles followed by encounters with the religious authorities. Jesus is asked, “why aren’t your disciples fasting? Why are they picking grain on the Sabbath? Why are you healing on the Sabbath? Why aren’t your gross disciples washing their hands before they eat?” As early as Mark chapter 3, the religious leaders conspire “to destroy” Jesus for what they see as subverting religious practices.

We find Jesus in Chapter 8, v. 27, on foot with his disciples, journeying between towns again. While on the move, the disciples and Jesus are talking. Having done some long-distance walking recently, it is rather conducive to good conversation. Jesus asks a question: “Who do people say that I am?”  The disciples answer the question. One says, “Some people say you are John the Baptizer” come back. Another replies, “I heard some folks whispering that you are the prophet, Elijah!” Two more agree, “Yeah, yeah. We hear people say you are this prophet or that prophet.”

As would have been very common in rabbinical practice at the time, Jesus asks his disciples another question: “Who do you say that I am?” It would be interesting to know if there was silence for a while or if Peter jumped in right away (I’m guessing the latter). Peter says, “You are the Messiah!” The Messiah was the one that many people of Israel were longing for, someone to bring a righteous rule over the people and act as God’s agent in uniting and liberating the Jewish people, facing occupation under Roman rule. Jesus instructs the disciples not to spread Peter’s answer around.

The walking and talking continues and Jesus begins to teach his disciples about what exactly the trajectory of this Messiah-ship looks like. Jesus says, “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.” According to Mark, Jesus said “all this quite openly” – not hiding it in a parable.

At this, Peter steps up. We don’t know what it entailed, except that Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. “Teacher? A word. What are you thinking? Suffering? Rejected? That isn’t for you! Why are you talking about being killed?”

Clearly Peter and Jesus were still with the group; Mark writes that Jesus turns and looks at all the disciples and explicitly rebukes Peter. Peter, the one who has just recently said that Jesus was the Messiah, is now confronted with Jesus saying, “Get behind me, deceiver! You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” The One with the gold star for naming Jesus as the Messiah just got demoted to getting called “Satan.” Peter sees the power of God at work in Jesus but is clearly missing what the implications will be.

The next thing Jesus does, in verse 34, is call the broader crowd to him. Jesus says, “If anyone wants to follow me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. Anyone who wants to save their life will lose it; those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, will save it. What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can a person give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

For our 21^st Century ears, this does not ring the same way it would have for the original listeners. “If anyone wants to follow me, let them take up their cross and follow me.” I’d like to point out the bronze or gold-ish looking cross on our platform. A golden cross.  While we have this somewhat sanitized image of the cross, people didn’t wear crosses around their necks in Jesus’ day. This was not some gentle religious image – not religious at all – but an image of the state torture.  It is striking to think about the cultural evolution of the cross and how an image of government torture and public execution became quaint enough to wear it on one’s neck or to put up in gold at the front of our meetinghouse. I confess when I look at this, I don’t really get a “state execution” vibe. I’m not sure what vibe I do get – but that is another conversation.

Jesus’ listeners would have been horrified, shocked, and appalled. “Take up our cross?” A cross didn’t just mean your quaint little burden to bear. Crucifixion was reserved for the lowest of society (enslaved persons) and enemies of the Roman empire who put Roman power at risk. Crucifixion was the most shameful and humiliating way to die in that era.

What is Jesus teaching here? First, I think he is reorienting Peter and the disciples about the way of Jesus. It isn’t about overpowering the empire with violence (not about violence at all). It is about following the way of God even if it leads to suffering. This meant death for Jesus and for many of the disciples. Following Jesus in the way of love, mercy, service, and justice has sometimes meant death. I think there is also another layer here – it would be too easy for the crowd and for us to dismiss it if it only meant death.

Jesus and his listeners would have been quite familiar with the words of Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Taking up the cross to follow Jesus means following Jesus with our whole being. It means being willing to risk humiliation or suffering when the values of Jesus are antithetical to the values of our culture or the actions of our government. This could involve standing against violence when violence is seen as a solution. Taking up the cross might involve interrogating our own desires when the standard of living we long for poisons our earth and exploits the neighbors we are called to love, or when supporting such a standard means we don’t have time for service or community. 

Jesus asks the question, “Who am I to you?” In our congregation, we believe that Jesus is the anointed one from God, the one to redeem and reconcile our brokenness, to show us the Way of God and break the cycles of hatred and greed and violence in humanity. This Jesus calls us to be part of God’s a ministry of reconciliation, healing, mercy, and justice. Following Jesus involves embodying solidarity, being an incarnational presence amongst the outcasts or people at the margins. It involves not shying away from suffering; not grasping or clinging to status that we might have (Phil 2). Following Jesus involves risk: going against the culture, confessing allegiance to God—not country or military or money or being middle class. Following Jesus may place one in an antagonistic position with the Empire. Being ashamed of this message means being ashamed of Jesus, he says quite starkly.

Lent – the weeks before Holy Week and Easter – is a time of reflection and preparation. We can ask ourselves, Who is Jesus to us? How do we respond to his message of radical discipleship? How do we wrestle with these questions together, in community? May we seek to ask these questions, may we seek to love God with our whole selves, no matter the risk. AMEN.

References

Lindon, L. (2017). Concerning the Good News of the Military Victory of Jesus Messiah, Emperor. Retrieved from https://www.uccmedina.org/sermons/concerning-the-good-news-of-the-military-victory-of-jesus-messiah-emperor/