4th St. Johnstide
Mark
8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s Confession), adapted from Madsen
And
Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi (in the north of the land at the source of the Jordan
where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way there
he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”
They
said to him, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still
others that you are one of the prophets.”
Then
he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’
Then
Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
And
Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
And
he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will be rejected
by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the law, and he
will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and openly he
told them this.
Then
Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let this happen. He, however,
turned around, looked at his disciples, and reprimanded Peter, saying to him,
“Withdraw from me; now the adversary is speaking through you! Your thinking is
not divine but merely human in nature.”
And
he called the crowd together, including his disciples and said to them
,
“Whoever would follow me must practice self-denial and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever is concerned about the salvation of his own soul will
lose it; but whoever gives his life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, his
soul will find power and healing. For what use is it to a human being to gain
the whole world if through that he damages his soul, which falls victim to the
power of an empty darkness? What then can a man give as ransom for his soul? In
this present humanity, which denies the spirit and lives in error, whoever is
ashamed of me and my words, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he
comes in the shining revelation of the Father among his holy angels.”
 |
| Roland Tiller |
And
he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there
are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising
in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”
4th St. Johns
July
21, 2019
Mark
8:27 – Mark 9:1
We
have passed the half-way point in the year. Those of us in the Northern
Hemisphere have begun descending from the sun’s zenith. For those in the
Southern Hemisphere, the time of the year’s deepest darkness is past. Now
begins their ascent into the light.
In
today’s reading, Peter’s recognition of the Christ in Jesus is a kind of a high
point. It allows Christ to further reveal even more of Himself—He says that the
Son of Man must suffer much, be rejected, killed. He speaks of a descent into
the depths of human existence, into death, and beyond; but He will rise again.
This
revelation seems to spur Peter’s thinking into a narrow abyss of fear—he urges
Jesus to save Himself; but thereby Peter’s practicality misses the bigger
picture, and he inadvertently opposes Christ’s mission. For Christ came
specifically to conquer death from within. In descending to the depths of the earth,
Christ will ultimately make the whole earth itself into His body.
In
our lives too, there are moments when the working of the divine reveals itself,
often in the midst of an ordeal. We may not recognize it until later. And we
may also then see how we resisted it out of fear or pride.
Though
it is certainly human enough that we resist suffering, we ultimately need not
fear it. These are indeed just the places where Christ is most easily found.
For He has placed Himself forever into the depths of human existence. Whether
we are ascending into the light, or descending into darkness, He always there
to help us begin anew on our path. As Vaclav Havel said,
 |
| Collot d'Herbois |
It
is I who must begin.
Once
I begin, once I try --
here
and now,
right
where I am,
…
I suddenly discover,
to
my surprise, that
I
am neither the only one,
nor
the first,
nor
the most important one
to
have set out
upon
that road.*
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*Vaclav Havel, “It Is I Who Must Begin’ in Teaching
With Fire, ed. by S.M. Intrator and M. Scribner
