"The Glory of Jesus" - words for the new year (Mark 9:1-13)

If anyone was in doubt as to who Jesus was, then this uncertainty was addressed this day on this high mountain. Jesus took his three closest confidants with him. Peter, of course, had just spoken the right words about the identity of Jesus … “You are the Messiah”, but had subsequently shown that he didn’t really comprehend and was far more interested with his own agenda than with the purposes of God.

The appearance of Elijah and Moses showed the continuity of God’s purposes from the earliest times of human functioning. Moses was the liberator of the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt. Elijah was the great prophet who challenged people toward a pure allegiance to the one true God. Both Moses and Elijah had in their own lifetimes revelatory experiences on mountains and visions of God, seemingly qualifying them for their appearances here with Jesus the Son of God. [Also, as included in verses 11-13, the message of Elijah had already been relived by John the Baptist, acting as a forerunner to Jesus in calling the people to repentance.]

But it was Jesus who was central here, transfigured and seen as never before in all his divine splendour, dramatically dressed in dazzling white clothes. Peter, James and John would for certain have had to pull out their sunglasses. This would have been like the sun stunningly coming through the windscreen of our car, blinding the driver to anything else ahead.

No wonder the disciples present were terrified … how could you explain all this. In their terror (v.6), all they could come up with was some plans for camping out! But they weren’t left in their fear for too long, because God turned up; and from a cloud reiterated words that had already been spoken at Jesus’ baptism, that Jesus was God’s own Beloved Son. But this time the words of reassurance were not just for Jesus (as they were at the baptism scene), but rather for his disciples to hear – Peter, James and John.

These disciples should be in no doubt who Jesus is! [Interestingly, here the disciples were being overshadowed by God in the same way that Mary had been overshadowed by God’s Spirit at the time of her conceiving Jesus.] This was all intended to defeat fear and build faith in the loving-kindness and wisdom of God. The disciples had interpreted the news of Jesus’ impending death (from Jesus’ own lips) as defeat. However, the readers of this gospel should not despair that God is being thwarted by Jesus’ upcoming suffering … rather this is an ultimate expression of God’s grace. This is the extent to which God is prepared to go. We have to understand the length and depth of God’s love for humankind.

And because of this identification as God’s Son, God says that the disciples (and therefore we also) should “listen to him” (v.7). When Jesus says that he ‘must undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders and others, be killed, and after three days rise again’, then the disciples must accept this (even if they can’t make sense of it). And we have already been told that the way to understanding is to focus on “divine things” ahead of “human things”.

Jesus’ glory was going to lead him down a path to a cross. Jesus’ glory was going to be seen, not just in dazzling white clothes, but also in his sacrifice. Jesus’ glory was also going to be seen in the victory he would have over death. And Jesus’ glory was going to be seen in the lives of all those transformed by these events. In connecting this divine glory of Jesus with his impending suffering and death, the heart of God is exposed for all to see. God will go to extraordinary lengths to reconnect with us.

But we can also see in this scene of transfiguration the ultimate resurrection of Jesus and sense the eternal nature of his mission. Jesus will be the centrepiece of the eternal kingdom of God – the gathering of all those who throughout the generations find faith through Jesus.

Can the glory of Jesus be seen in me? Can I even contemplate that possibility? As I live my life, and open my mouth, and make various life-style decisions, and pursue my various interests … can people see Jesus in me? Can they at least see something that has hope, purpose and peace attached to it? Can they?

I may need to take a little trip in my own mind up that high mountain and see Jesus crowned in beauty and honour, and allow myself to be “overshadowed” by God, and hear those words, “This is my Son, the Beloved – listen to him”.

I want to be consumed by the glory of Jesus, but life just gets in the way! When I am consumed not by Jesus, but rather by the issues of life (as the disciples were), then all the more I need to hear the call of the overshadowing God to “listen to [Jesus]”! Maybe some of us will have to take Mark 9:7 into the new year with us as our resolution!

This is why in January we’ll have a look at some areas where life can get in the way of experiencing the glory of Jesus … areas like worry, discouragement and bitterness. The disciples couldn’t get through some of their life issues to truly experience the glory of Jesus until after the resurrection (they continually struggled with stuff like status, personal expectations, lack of understanding and fear). We in the post-resurrection era still have ongoing problems that diminish our capacity to follow Jesus and feel in touch with God. I know I do!

The disciples time high up on the mountain concluded with seeing Jesus alone. Moses and Elijah were there no more, for they didn’t need to be. Now for all time it would be Jesus who would be the liberator and truth-teller for all people. Everything we might think or believe or trust in will be addressed by Jesus. Indeed a lot of what the world believes will (or should) be turned on its head by what Jesus has said. Let’s listen to Jesus!

Christmas Day Message 2008 - "The Angel Speaks" (Luke 1:26-38)

It was time for an angel named Gabriel to speak to reveal the purposes of God. There had been 400 years of prophetic silence in Israel. Throughout this time, with the lack of such dissenting voices, the religious law under which these people lived had become complex and unhelpful in the hands of their leaders. However, the whole of history was now about to turn. The world was crying out for reform, and God would answer in the most dramatic of ways. First the great prophet John the Baptist would be born, and then six months later, the prophet beyond all prophets would arrive. This would all certainly pan out in the “fullness of time” of which Paul speaks.

God entering the world to bring about personal transformation and salvation would not happen in the way people might have expected (with a lot of pomp and pageantry). It would all begin with the quiet voice of an angel to a young girl from Nazareth. The name of the angel was Gabriel, such a name signifying the active presence of God. And Nazareth would be one of the last places you would expect anything significant like this to occur in; yet, initially it would here, that the ancient visionary promises concerning the everlasting nature of David’s kingdom were realised. The young girl’s name was Mary, and she was betrothed to Joseph (meaning that they were legally promised to each other, yet had not been sexually intimate yet).

Mary was probably looking forward to an uneventful life as Joseph’s husband, rearing whatever children God happened to bless them with along the way. All what she was being told would surely be too much for such a young girl to bear, and we read here of Mary’s apprehension; yet we also read that having been reassured by the angel, Mary was able to say: “Here I am … the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (v.38). Mary chose to accept any inconvenience, accusation and danger involved – in faith. Indeed Mary was chosen because of the committed availability to God’s purposes she would show.

So what was it that the angel Gabriel revealed that was so reassuring, that was so remarkable, that was so convincing? God’s approach to Mary was so thoroughly personal – “Greetings favoured one, the Lord is with you”, was so beautifully accepting – “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favour with God”, and was so impactingly significant – “You will bear a son, and name him Jesus (meaning ‘the Lord is salvation’)”! God encountered Mary in such a personal, comforting and affirming way, that she was assured that it was her Loving Creator God. Hopefully today, in the celebration of Jesus’ birth, we can all at some stage hear that same soft voice of God in our ear … saying something thoroughly personal, beautifully accepting and impactingly significant.

[We would have to say that Mary was told the absolute truth … she was not in any way being deceived – unlike a guy I heard about recently.
There was a young man shopping in a supermarket.
He noticed a little old lady following him around a bit.
And she kept staring at him.
Later, this old lady called him over to the checkout line she was in, and said to him, 'I hope I haven't made you feel ill at ease; it's just that you look so much like my late son.' The young guy answered, 'That's okay.' The lady continued on … 'I know this might sound silly, but if you'd call out “Goodbye, Mum” as I leave the shop, it would make me feel happy.' So she went through the checkout, and as she reached the doorway, this guy called out, “Goodbye, Mum”. The little old lady waved and smiled back.
Pleased that he had brought a little sunshine into someone's day, the guy reached for his wallet to pay for his groceries.'That comes to $121.85,' said the cashier. 'How could it be that much? ... I only bought 5 items!' The cashier replied: 'Yes, but your Mother said you'd pay for her things too.']

No, Mary was not being deceived. Through the words of the angel, Mary would come to understand that this event, being initiated within Mary’s own very body, would have nation-wide and world-wide significance. The child that would be born to her would take up the spiritual implications of the throne of King David and inaugurate a new kingdom of which there would be no end. This child will demonstrate once and for all how to live as a human according to God’s ways and how human affairs should be conducted. If the people of the world would just look and listen, what change could be experienced!

Mary would be giving birth to the very Son of God, the bringer of salvation. Yes, okay, but how is it that I as a virgin can conceive such a child, asks Mary! This is because, replies the angel, “nothing will be impossible for God” … “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of God will overshadow you”. Hopefully today, as we seek to follow Jesus, we can all hear that same clear voice of God reminding us, in the face of all the burdens we are carrying … that nothing is impossible for God, and that the Holy Spirit overshadows us (meaning that we having the covering of God as we walk the journey of life). With this, the angel Gabriel had said all that needed to be said, and thus departed.

Galatians 4:4-6 ... "In the Fullness of Time"

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba Father’."

(1) Introduction – the “fullness of time”

> you can access the newspaper from the day of your birth
> we are each born into a pre-existing context
> the world went about its business before we came, and will likely continue after we’ve gone

> the 25th August 1959 … a red letter day … Sir Robert Menzies was prime minister of Australia; Eisenhower was US president (this was 2 months before the election of John F Kennedy); tensions were growing between the US and Russia; we exchanged goods for pounds, shillings and pence; shops weren’t open on Sundays; television had only been available for 3 years, Glen Iris was an outer suburb of Melbourne; Carlton hadn’t won a premiership for 14 years

> Jesus was born to a particular time in a distinct place, and that forms the context that we remember at Christmas through the various nativity scenes and plays
> the engagement and marriage of Mary and Joseph, the census, stable, shepherds and astrologers, as well as the political situation and the religious understanding of Israel, all form the cultural basis of the story we know and love
> Paul tells us that it was in the “fullness of time” that Jesus came … we’ll try and discover what he meant by this …

(2) But first, why did Jesus have to come at all (v.5)?

"… in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children"

From the earliest beginnings of the Hebrew nation, the people had been given a moral and ethical code under which to live – referred to here by Paul as the “law”. Keeping the “law” was to be the people of Israel’s right and proper response to the “covenant” of love God had made with God’s people on earth.

Whereas the sacrificial system attached to the “law” provided a way to express regret for sin and gain ‘atonement’, this “law” could never be described as life-changing. And if ever the people of God were really going to be the people they were created to be, and truly experience the depth of God’s love, something else (or indeed someone else) was going to have to fulfill and supercede this “law”.

In itself this “law” was powerless to make any real difference in a person’s life. A person could try harder to obey, but given this was dependent upon their own mortal efforts, it was a never-ending battle. There needed to be an avenue of personal inward change, so that lessons could be learned, and mistakes not repeated. This would need to be based, not on effort, but rather on a free gift of grace; where a desire for forgiveness could truly lead to a reformed life.

We perhaps could sense this from our own experience in life. Since our first acknowledgement of a “fall” from God’s best, it became very hard to actually make any spiritual, moral or ethical advancement in our own strength. We found life just too complicated, too problematical, and too easily fell into some sort of survival mode … just as long as we can access forgiveness when we need it. But, what we actually needed was a Saviour – someone to rescue us from this whole battle within ourselves!

God is interested in far more than survival mode. For we were created “very good”, and we have been called to make a positive difference as “salt and light” in the world. How are we going to reach this great God-given potential? The “law” was never going to do it – we needed a personal experience of the Divine Triune God. Human beings need to be able to identify with a person, not a set of rules.

So, in response to this, God sent Jesus (God’s own Son) to inhabit the earth. This Jesus was both fully God – the second person of the ‘Trinity’ (or ‘Community of God’), and fully human – “born of a woman”. Jesus would be the person who could and would identify with us, while bringing God’s invitation to identify with him.

God, in human form, could also model life as it should be lived, i.e. with integrity, faithfulness and compassion, becoming a friend to the outcast, offering healing of mind and body to the afflicted, teaching eternal truths and principles for living; and this in the face of great opposition. Jesus is able to reveal God to humanity – if you want to know what God is like … look at Jesus [John 14:9].

We read here also of a particular purpose of Jesus’ incarnation – to re-unite us with our loving creator parent (v.5). Each person needs to be in receipt of the sort of grace which will carry them beyond all the human limitations that had previously entrapped them. We need the ‘sinless Son of God’ to take away from us the fear of judgment and death!

We can then learn what ‘repentance’ really is, not just feeling sorry, but being willing to have a change of mindset in terms of how we shall live – a mindset open to new possibilities never before thought possible, empowered by the Holy Spirit traveling with us. We needed to be able to put our faith in something beyond ourselves, and be drawn out of drudgery into all sorts of exciting possibilities … of community, of ministry, and of mission.

Through Jesus, we were being redeemed back to God. This is like God going to “Cash Converters” to use the currency of Jesus to buy back what we had sold off – our very lives / our very souls! This is like God paying the ransom to the kidnapper that had taken us away from our Parent. [Our particular kidnapper could have been our selfish desires or our destructive behaviours or our feelings of hopelessness, and we had become enslaved to these things, yet Jesus has bought us out of these into freedom.]

And this act of redemption would be equally for all people, female and male, of all nations from all socio-economic backgrounds.

(3) Okay, so why did Jesus come at the time he did (v.4)?

Why did God choose the time in history He did to send Jesus into the world?

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law …"

In saying “born under the law”, Paul was referring to Jesus being born into the world in a specific time, culture, and religious & political atmosphere.

We could interpret this “fullness of time” phrase by suggesting that God chose exactly the right time. We know that this would undoubtedly be the case, yet we can also see some reasons why.

a. The Religious Malaise – i.e. God’s people were under various unhelpful influences at the time of Jesus’ actual coming – the ‘Pharisees’ were small-minded … fixated on petty detailed matters of the “law” & outward acts of piety; the ‘Sadducees’ preferred to maintain their acceptability to the Roman authorities rather than listen for God’s voice; the ‘Zealots’ perverted God’s intentions by resorting to violence; and the ‘Essenes’ withdrew from society rather than actively seeking a better world.

Many thoughtful Jews were dissatisfied with such a state of affairs, and longed for a religious movement without prejudice, such burdensome rules, political alignments, and violence. And certainly the ‘gods’ of the Roman world did not satisfy the longing hearts and hungering souls of others. May non-Jews had been attracted to the mono-theistic religion of the Jews, but were not admitted to the synagogue without circumcision – and so they would be ready to embrace the freedom Christianity would offer.

b. The “Pax Romana” – Jesus came at a time of unprecedented peace, civil harmony and political stability in the Roman Empire (even if that had come at a great price for some); thus there was such a freedom of movement that Jesus was able to travel around the various towns as he chose to share his message. (A century earlier, the then known world was intensely localized and subdivided, and suspicions & jealousies led to constant conflicts and closed borders.)

Ironically though, it was the same world setting that set the stage for Jesus’ coming that also set the scene for Jesus’ crucifixion. This was because the agenda and status of the religious elite was being threatened, which in turn could lead to a threat to the peace of Roman rule – the “Pax Romana”. But this could all be seen as being the “fullness of time”!

c. Subsequent Developments – Following Jesus’ 33 years on earth, due to the easy movement around Palestine (and the wide knowledge of the greek language), there would follow further time in which his disciples could be effective in spreading the gospel. Even as some were persecuted, they would be able to take the good news with them where they fled and eventually settled. As the gospel was shared and discussed on the highways and byways, those traveling for business would come into contact with it, receive it, and take the news of Jesus back to their own home towns. As the teaching about Jesus was shared with enthusiasm, courage, integrity and social conscience, many thousands had the opportunity to come to faith.

In a sense, God couldn’t wait any longer, and here was an opportunity where the arrival of Jesus would make a real impact for all time to come. The whole of history led up to this decisive moment. For those who had (properly) heard the prophets like Isaiah and were expectant – their waiting was over! Jesus himself said: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near… (Mark 1:15a).

(4) What does this mean for us (v.6)?

"And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba Father’."

Basically this means that we can live in relationship with Creator God. Through what Jesus has done, we can be forgiven, and live in unbroken harmony with God. Our humanness less and less limits our capacity to live according to God’s way. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, has come upon us, and through this inner knowledge of God’s presence and leading, we can worship God … responding to God with thanksgiving and praise. God is truly our heavenly parent that always has our best interests at heart.

If we ever come to think that God isn’t playing fair with us, then we need to try to reinterpret events in a way that acknowledges that God does completely care for his created beings. This admission should be the framework for our thinking. We may also have to consider our desires, and what we would think would obviously be God’s will, in terms of the fact that we don’t live in isolation … we live in community. This means two things:

a. only God has all the information to hand concerning the big picture of community life, we don’t have anywhere near the appreciation of the big picture that God has.

There was an obvious need for God’s intervention given that the ‘religious law’ had not really advanced humankind toward the purposes of God; however there would not have been much point if Jesus came at a time when there was no-one prepared to follow him. When God responded to the need of the world in sending Jesus, there had to be a realistic expectation that the fisherman and the tax collector and the zealot and the others would actually respond to the call to follow Jesus. There also had to be the expectation that Peter would preach on the ‘Day of Pentecost’ to inaugurate the church, and that Paul’s mindset would change towards being a missionary for Christ.

b. that other people can work against what God is trying to achieve on our behalf, and thus, in the short term, disrupt God’s plans (refer to the Psalms).

We probably don’t even understand our own personal needs clearly enough … let alone the needs of the world as a whole. This shouldn’t stop us praying, even praying specifically, yet we need to understand that God will answer and bring change in “the fullness of time” or ‘just at the right time’. Part of this ‘fullness of time’ however, may be our personal readiness to recognize God’s activity and our preparedness to cooperate with God (just like the 1st Century disciples).

This coming of Jesus had the purpose of re-uniting us with our loving creator; we have been “redeemed” into God’s (eternal) family – becoming a member of the household of God. So, we don’t have to strive to impress God anymore – just be trusting, open and ready to learn. We are loved as God’s child, and we can affectionately call God Daddy!

And God is not confined to any of the negative experiences of fatherhood we may have experienced. God never abuses, God never stops loving us, and God never fails us. God accepts us, God values us, and we belong to Jesus. God will honour the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf.

So, we can acknowledge and embrace that we are children of God, and pray that the Holy Spirit within us will change us in every way toward being in the image of Christ Jesus; committing ourselves to our part of this process: prayerful communication with God, study of His Word, participation in the local church, involvement in witness and mission.

For any who are yet to experience being adopted into God’s family, today would be a good day to open yourselves afresh to becoming a child of God – to begin the wonderful journey of acceptance and nurture and purposeful living.

What a joyous time Christmas can be!

What a joyous time Christmas can be, especially if we don’t let the busyness get on top of us. What wonderful celebrations we can have! If we can just take the time, as we have done today, to think past the arrangements that have to be made, and the presents that have to be purchased, to the real reason this time of year is important.

We can really gain a lot of peace and hope singing these carols. This is because they speak of the Christ child, who came to save all the people of the earth from their sin and lostness. Whenever we need God the most, and that is often at the end of a busy and complex year of work and family life, we know that Jesus has come.

We can, as it were, move with the angels, or soar with the eagles, as we ponder the birth of Jesus in all its glory and significance. We know that having a relationship with Jesus is so transforming, because, when he came and then grew to manhood, Jesus healed the sick, befriended the outcast, taught the humble, and called ordinary people into his service.

I want everyone I see this Christmas to know that the child in the manger is the Jesus I seek to follow in life – the one who has made the ultimate difference in my life. I also want to dare to believe that God is working in other people’s lives preparing them to encounter the living Jesus in me and in us. I want to pray that my neighbours, next door and around the whole world, will come to worship Jesus as the Christ this Christmas. Heaven knows there are enough people searching for truth!

We sometimes bemoan the loss of spirituality at Christmas to the ravages of commercialism. But there’s no point in just being critical of this. We need to address this ourselves, and make a point of pointing to Jesus at every opportunity, the baby in the manger who became the Saviour of the World. May many people be able to start 2009 with new insight and enthusiasm because they have truly met Jesus this Christmas!

Let us mostly be thankful, really thankful, that God didn’t leave us to our own devices (and vices), but entered right into the midst of our everyday experience … to journey with us, to transform our thinking, to give us purpose and meaning, to make life make sense! Thank-you Saviour Jesus.

May our prayer read this way …

“Loving God, we worship You: the God who comes at Christmas.
You are not remote from the world You have made,
You have engaged with and entered this world through Your Son.
And each day You come to us,
Blessing us with Your presence.
Grant us the grace to welcome Your coming;
Inflame our desire to experience Your company;
Enlarge our vision to recognise Your care for our neighbour;
May Jesus be central in our thoughts and lives. Amen.”

With thanks to David Coffey for the inspiration in his recent little devotional book: "Joy to the World".

"Putting First Things First" - a Sermon on Mark 8:31-38

1. Personal Introduction

What does this passage mean in our everyday living? Well I have had cause to ponder this very question as my thoughts have intersected between my involvements of the past couple of weeks in community activities and this text. I have continually had to reflect on why I am there.

Sure I can be present as one providing a calming and harmonising influence, but when you have accepted a level of authority over these events, it can become so difficult to maintain the purpose for which I got involved. I have to step aside and have a good think and a good pray and make sure I am putting first things first. Am I just another well-meaning community minded person, or am I first and foremost a follower of Jesus. And if the latter is the answer, what does that mean in the cut and thrust of a debate between differing views.

How do we live as Jesus’ followers in the midst of dissension? How can we still maintain harmony when we’re pretty sure our opinion or action is right? What do we do when we might have been a bit too reactive or unhelpful? What happens next when someone attacks our credibility? Very difficult questions that I’m not sure I can answer adequately today; but I do know what the starting point is. If we can just get a natural indwelling sense that we live for Jesus, then we’ll get it right more often than not.

2. Peter’s Misconception

Peter had responded to Jesus’ earlier question (in 8:29): “Who do you say that I am” with … “You are the Messiah”. While this was certainly a statement of faith, we now see that Peter still had a lot to learn about what such a designation really meant, and what making such a confession would actually mean in life. For when Jesus started talking about his own future journey of rejection, suffering and death (in verse 31), Peter had the gall to rebuke Jesus over such statements. And this behaviour of disagreeing with Jesus would tend to stand in real contrast to Peter’s confession of Jesus’ ‘Messiah-ship’.

So what was in Peter’s head?
· That Jesus’ mission was all about taking control over human affairs and becoming an earthly king?
· That Jesus’ mission was purely about national expectations and the destruction of all their oppressors?
· That following Jesus would mean special kudos or status or merit for the disciples?

Jesus wanted to teach precisely the opposite, and Peter didn’t like it. Jesus wanted to say that:
· far from taking control, his mission was about transforming hearts one by one from a standpoint of humility
· far from concerns about certain national expectations, Jesus’ mission was about bringing salvation to the whole world
· far from bringing public renown or high status, Jesus’ disciples would be persecuted for their faith because they would be challenging the status quo.

There is no doubt Peter loved Jesus, but it seems that his lack of understanding badly affected his capacity to follow Jesus properly. It would have been good to be in the ascendancy for a change, on the victory side, but this missed the point that good leadership actually comes from a servant heart and a pureness of spirit.

But before we go any further, it’s time for a little good news concerning Peter. Often understanding and insight about important matters comes gradually. This whole section follows that miracle of Jesus healing the blind man (we looked at a little while ago). Remember the healing occurred in two stages, first the man saw dimly, before later (following another touch by Jesus) he was able to see clearly. When Peter came to see clearly after Jesus’ resurrection, then we know what brilliant things he achieved!

However back in the time of this text, when Peter, albeit unknowingly, wanted to counteract Jesus’ willingness to serve humanity from the place of humility and lowliness, Jesus saw this in terms of Peter siding with Satan. Wack! What a reality check! I say “You are the Messiah” and then get accused in public of being just like Satan. What gives? Well what gives is that Peter did not have his mind first and foremost on “divine things” (refer v. 33). This is not to say that we should be other-worldly or have our heads in the clouds … this means that we’ll always be looking toward God’s agenda first (and seeing from there where everything else fits in). This is not to say that everyday human life in community is not important … far from it; it just means that we have to see everyday life from God’s perspective much more so than from the commonplace cultural perspective.

Why so strong a rebuke from Jesus? To refer to someone as “Satan” means that they are acting as an opponent, or an obstruction, or completely contrary to the way that is required. Peter was actually acting like Satan himself did when tempting Jesus in the desert to take control and divert from God’s will. Jesus replied then, “Away with you Satan, for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him” (Matthew 4:10). There was no place for this Satan anywhere near Jesus’ ministry. To Peter, Jesus replies slightly differently though: “Get behind me Satan”! ‘Peter, you are getting in my way, fall back into line behind me, and appreciate the divine will’. Peter wanted Jesus to avoid the cross and take a safer path. If Peter had been allowed to divert Jesus in this way, then this could have subverted God’s plans in bringing an offer of salvation to all of us.

Jesus was not done with Peter like he was with Satan though, far from it – Jesus’ love and patience with Peter would allow him more chances to follow and learn. Soon, Peter would be allowed to climb a mountain with Jesus and gain a glimpse of the glory of God. There was a slightly military tinge to this picture, of Jesus ordering Peter back into line behind the leader. So Peter had to learn to accept and respond to Jesus for who he was, not for who he wanted him to be. This could be a great challenge for us too … responding to Jesus for who he really is, not for who we want him to be! This is precisely why we’re progressively working through the Gospel of Mark … to try to discover afresh who Jesus is, and what our required response is.

3. Taking up Jesus’ Cross

Following in the way of Jesus might clearly not be the easiest route, but it is the best route. This is purposeful living; this is relational living. This is giving up the desire for independence, and instead favouring interdependence. This is giving up a desire for personal control, and instead developing a faith in God and a trust in others. This is moving ourself out of the centre of our being, and letting Jesus take up residence there. This is giving up any desire for material wealth in favour of considering broader need around us. This is discovering what’s of ultimate worth. This is developing a concern for the spiritual well-being of others.

As the “cross” was a symbol of ‘suffering’, to take up Jesus’ cross is always going to bring challenges. Yet, we will be people who deal well with any difficulties and circumstances that come upon us; also accepting any consequences that come from being publicly known as a Jesus follower. Some Christians in history have actually rejoiced in their persecution because this meant that they had made a difference. At least in the church we can gather together all our circumstances and burdens and support and resource one another. Also, as Athol Gill wrote, “When we carry the cross we shall never walk alone, for we are following Jesus”.

To truly be a follower of Jesus, Peter had to get over his own views of justice, and focus on God’s view of mercy. But being peace-makers, advocates of forgiveness and reconciliation, challenging people’s desire toward revenge or holding bitterness and animosity, is often going to make us unpopular … because we are touching places that have the sorest wounds. Yet this is one of the most important factors in following Jesus.

4. Real Incarnational Mission

While we have no choice but to be involved in God’s mission in the world, because that’s the role of all Jesus followers, we have to be careful that our neighbourly and community-building endeavours don’t take us over to the extent of not being seen as salt and light anymore. This is where I’m currently at in my reflections. We can work alongside side others on mutually worthwhile enterprises, but still must stand out as people with God-defined priorities. We don’t need to smash these into the faces of others, like in one of those mad-cap coconut-cream pie fights (eg. ‘Blazing Saddles’), but our belonging to Jesus does have to be apparent nonetheless. Our motivations should continue to centre around introducing people to (our friend) Jesus. Our Christmas celebrations in the face of the world will ultimately centre on the child born to be our Saviour. So we need to step back and ask ourselves the hard questions in this area.

5. Conclusion – First Things First

If we can just get a natural sense that we live for Jesus, then we’ll get it right more often than not. We’ll be compassionate more than being judgemental. We’ll be wise decision-makers rather than being indecisive and ineffective. We’ll be helpful more than we are destructive. And when we are at our worst, like I may have been at times recently (at least on the inside), we might be cut a little slack by those around us, because generally speaking we’re good people to be with. We have some light to shine, some insight to share, some love to express – which beats the heck out of the rampant ambition, greed and violence in the hearts of so many.

Putting first things first, is to deny self and to live for Jesus. This doesn’t mean that we’re not valuable in ourselves … quite the opposite – we have found our true and full value (in God). This teaching does NOT endorse people forcibly living under oppression or in poverty or enduring abuse, but is rather a call to live out Jesus’ love and defeat such evils. We have died to serving our selfish desires, and consider that the needs of others are at least equal to our own needs.

This will play out everyday in the way we speak about other people in their absence, beginning with how we allow ourselves to think about them internally. I have found myself having to be so careful in how I express myself about people I’ve been working with, in terms of my own feelings and also the common cultural pattern of just firing away bullets and mindlessly agreeing with the negativity of others. We have to resist conversations that disparage other people. Please God help us to find helpful and healing words to lead others toward knowing the Jesus whom we seek to follow.