Mark 8: 31-38

A husband says to his wife, “I don’t want to brag, but here it is February, and I’ve kept every one of my New Year’s resolutions. I’ve kept all of them in a manila folder in the back of my desk.” Some of us make resolutions like one man said to his friend, “There’s nothing like getting up at six in the morning, going for a run around the park, and taking a brisk shower before breakfast.” His friend asked, “How long have you been doing this?” The man answered, “I start tomorrow.”

We sometimes think of Lent as a time for Christians to give an account of resolutions they made to God, and how honest they’ve been to maintain such resolutions, such promises. At the start of Lent, we often do as the man told his friend, “I start tomorrow.” Our gospel lesson today puts everything in its proper context. Our Lord was meant to suffer, be rejected, be killed, and after three days rise again. He then told his followers and the crowd if one chooses to follow him, they must carry their own cross.

Peter’s rebuke of Jesus declaring he would be rejected by the chief priests in Jerusalem led Jesus to tell Peter he was thinking on earthly things and not divine things. Did Peter distinguish the two as different ways to think, two different world views? Peter didn’t like hearing Jesus talk like that. That can’t be right. Why consider such an outcome? Jesus knew the outcome and spoke about it openly. I guess this was thinking of divine things, and Peter’s reaction revealed his thinking on an inferior level, earthy thinking. Peter merely reacted to what Jesus proposed would be his destiny, to die, and then be raised from the dead. Peter’s reaction was reasonable. In every contest against demonic or religious or cultural opponents, Jesus came out the victor. Why would Jesus think he’d eventually be rejected by the dominant religious authorities and die? It makes no sense.

Jesus then calls the disciples and the crowd to him. He tells them if anyone wants to be his disciples, his learners, his followers, they must DENY THEMSELVES, take up THEIR CROSS and follow him. When I look back on decisions I’ve made, April and I have made, in ministry, as a pastor, as a follower, I think of that passage in Luke 14:28-29 – “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him.”

There’s always a cost. April and I know what it is to lose our income and benefits, to lose a residence, to lose friends, to lose reputations because we chose to follow what we believed was the calling of God that led us in pursuit of what we believed was God’s calling, God’s leading.  So, when I hear or read, “If any want to become my followers,” I wince a bit. I know there’s a cost. There’s a cost in carrying a cross, in denying oneself, and it sounds like a follower follows alone. BUT WE DON’T FOLLOW ALONE. JESUS WASN’T ALONE ENTERING HIS PASSION. We wouldn’t be either.

A pastor did some work on the church’s nonresident membership list. The pastor wrote a letter to one family that had been very active but had moved away. A letter came back: “We appreciate your recent letter. We now live near a university campus, and we go every Sunday to the chapel service. They have unusually fine music. They have nationally known preachers every Sunday. We hadn’t heard such preaching before. The children are being taught in church school by seminary students. But best of all there is no membership, no pledging, and no women’s society asking me to work. So, if you don’t mind, we’ll just leave our membership at your church and continue to enjoy what we have here.”

Interestingly, such a story conveys a pastor’s intent of purging the rolls of inactive members. The nonresident family was enjoying their discovery in a new town of a church that had everything for them, including a lack of commitment. I find this story amusing and, also, sad. Its amusing to hear of such overt narcissistic behavior related to church attendance and sad to assume Jesus would want your church involvement to be THE YARDSTICK OF FAITHFULNESS.

The phrase in Mark 8 that catches me is “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” I can say with confidence our decisions to FOLLOW WHERE WE BELIEVE GOD WAS LEADING US was a difficult journey of unfulfilled expectations, rejection by friends and associates and disillusionment in our relationship with God. Did we miss him? The text today does not answer that question, but it does lay a foundation for such risky adventures in following our Lord where we believe he can lead us. RISKY ADVENTURES IN FOLLOWING OUR LORD.

We followed with great joy. We believed if there was a cost to pay we’d do it gladly. We were passionately driven to do what we believed God was calling us to do. WE BELIEVED WE WERE FOLLOWING OUR LORD, AND THE LORD WAS WITH US. Considering what we believed God was calling us to still thrills me. And there were costs along the way, costs to spirit, soul and body far outweighed the materialization that never came; however, we still carry our crosses, and it’s brought us here. We still carry our crosses, and we do not carry them alone. Jesus said, ‘If you want to follow me, you must deny yourself (denying self is denying who we are by thinking earthly things; denying self is following our Lord because of our relationship with him). Jesus told his friends and the crowd he wanted them to follow him – where he went, what he did was never by himself. (John 17: 18-23)

What about you? You are not serving as a pastor in a church, but you’re not exempt from carrying a cross if you want to become a follower of Jesus. There will be a cost, but we’re promised life. This is where the text this morning brings us. If you want to be a follower of your Savior and Lord, there’s a cross you carry, a calling, a gifting, A JOURNEY that will lead you to where Jesus goes because wherever you go, your Lord goes with you. (Hebrews 12: 1-2)  

(Preached at St Mark United Methodist Church in Anniston, AL, 2-25-24)