Gospel Say, What?:A Ruling Mercy

 March 17 2024

Mark 8:27-38

         Have you ever noticed how looking at something from a different vantage point or a different perspective can help you understand it better? I was thinking about this very thing as I considered a quote that I had used in a previous message in light of our scripture for today. When I used this quote previously I agreed with the overall sentiment of what was said. Today, though, I thought I would instead play the devil’s advocate and seek to understand this problem from a different viewpoint. The quote is by a well known leader in the Southern Baptist Convention by the name of Russell Moore. He says that the moment of clarity for him, that there was something seriously wrong with Christianity in America, came when several pastors told him essentially the same story of how they had quoted the Sermon on the Mount in their preaching, the whole, turn the other cheek idea, and when they did they had someone who came up to them afterwards and said, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?’ The pastors response to this was, “I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ”, which usually would have ended the conversation but the person countered this by saying, “Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore.” Now, you can understand, I hope, the very serious issue here but I thought, in all fairness, we should at least consider just where such comments are coming from. The clue to understanding what the real issue is can be found in the labeling of the teachings of Jesus as being, “liberal teaching points”. In classifying the teachings of Jesus as being liberal, these people are using terms associated with government. Now, if the teachings of Jesus are going to be pressed into service of government then, yes, they most certainly will be considered to be weak and to be real honest, they most likely will not work real well in the governments that rule the countries of this world. 

So yes, if the teachings of Jesus are viewed from a stand point of running the world, these people are absolutely correct, the teachings of Jesus are very liberal and they do not work very well in the typical way of governing people. Many people might find this odd, however, what I have just said begins to make sense when we consider scripture. Take for example the story of Jesus being tested in the wilderness as found in the fourth chapter of Matthew, where in the last temptation by Satan, Jesus is taken up to a very high mountain and there Jesus was shown all of the kingdoms of this world and their glory. Satan tells Jesus that all of these kingdoms would be given to Jesus if he would but fall down and worship Satan. Jesus counters this offer by saying, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” It seems that what Jesus is speaking about here is simply our religious life but if you look closer what you find is that he is actually speaking of a different way of governing people. To worship only God and serve him only is to be an alternative to the rest of the world governments that find themselves in the service of Satan himself. So, if we consider our worship of God we know that we do so because God in his mercy has found us worthy of life and, in return, we find God worthy of our life, serving him through acts of mercy. It is these acts of mercy, this is what those who see things from the vantage point of government find to be a problem, what they label as being, “liberal”. The reason for this as we find in the thirteenth chapter of Romans is that the governing authorities are agents of judgment. As Paul says here, if one does wrong we are to be afraid because the judgment of the governing authorities is backed by the sword. So imagine a system that is based on judgment, fear, and the power of death and trying to introduce service and mercy into that system, and, yes, such acts of mercy do indeed look weak next to the terror that governing authorities can impose. Yet, this is not the final word on the subject because as we find in the book of James, the second chapter, “For judgment is without mercy for the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” So, perhaps, mercy only looks weak to those who have never experienced its real power.

This rather lengthy introduction to todays scripture is really necessary for us to understand fully what this conversation is all about, the one that Jesus is having with Peter. Jesus is preparing Peter and the rest of the disciples for the dark days ahead. In this series of messages for this special time that we call Lent, called, Gospel Say, What?, we are considering just what does the gospel say to us. What we have found is that the good news is Jesus is king, the king who rules with the power of life, and we are to change our minds about how the world works and believe that the way of life taught to us by Jesus is the right way we are to live, no matter how liberal or weak that it might appear to others. It just makes sense then that if our focus is on Jesus being our king then we would at some point have to talk about the government he would establish to rule the world. This is obviously what Peter thought as well. Peter, in stating that he thought that Jesus was indeed God’s anointed king, said this perhaps to begin this necessary conversation of just what kind of government Jesus had in mind. Peter may have had a familiar song on his mind, what we know as the second Psalm, that said, “The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and his Anointed, his Messiah, his Christ.” Peter most assuredly would have remembered that the song continued saying, “The Lord said to me, “You are my Son”; today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Peter, after seeing all of the miracles, the feeding of thousands from what was found in a boys lunchbox, and watching Jesus walk with waves under his feet, knew that this friend of his was indeed the very one that this song was singing about, the Anointed one, the very one that God called his begotten Son. In Peter’s mind, he wondered why wait any longer, let’s bring on judgment day. Where is that iron rod, lets get that and start wailing against those arrogant Romans. Come on Jesus, call down the angel armies and show them just who it is that they are dealing with. Justice is on our side Jesus, they deserve death for all of the deaths at their hands. Let us go and taste that sweet revenge!Peter was responding just like we expect governing authorities to react because this is what justice, the very foundation of law, calls for, an equal exchange, you know, that whole eye for an eye thing, that tooth for a tooth kind of equality.

Can you hear Peter gasp, see the confusion on his face when Jesus does not exclaim with a battle cry. No, Jesus instead begins talking a bunch of nonsense, that he the very Son of Man, the one seen in the prophecy of Daniel, he was going up to Jerusalem, not to wipe out the Roman army, no, Jesus says he is going to allow himself to suffer at the hands of his enemies. Jesus goes on describing his rejection by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, all will cast him aside and take his life. Yet this was not all because Jesus also said that after three days that he would rise. Peter must have thought that Jesus obviously does not know his scriptures. Didn’t Jesus know that the Son of Man in Daniel’s vision was going to be the king who would be served by all peoples, nations and languages.. It was not the king who would serve others, Jesus. Had not Jesus read that the dominion of the Son of Man was going to be an everlasting reign which would never pass away, that his kingdom was one that would never be destroyed? If, you are going to have a kingdom that will never be destroyed then how can you allow yourself to be destroyed at the hand of your enemies? And did you say, Jesus, that you would rise in three days? Don’t you know that Daniel prophesied that this was going to happen at the end of this age? Well, even if Peter was unsure as to what was going on with Jesus, Jesus, on the other hand, was quite confident that his version of how things were going to go down was, we might say, the gospel truth.

Peter knew that as the leader of this bunch of Rabbi wannabes he had to do something and do it fast. Peter, in anger reaches out his hand and grabs hold of the arm of Jesus, jerking him, shaking him, trying to get him to come back to reality. Peter acting out of pure emotion, had never even considered that he had assaulted the very king whose kingdom would have no end. Jesus responds by turning his face toward the other disciples. Did they see how Peter was acting? He was acting like all rulers of this world act, seizing hold of power. Peter demonstrated through his actions that he had allowed the lies of Satan to enter into him, the lies that the way of real power is through the taking of life. The taking hold of a life and forcing that life to be forced to serve in the very ways of death, this is what the hand of Peter grasping Jesus said in oh, so many words. This is why it is Peter who had to come back to reality not Jesus. Peter, as the pawn of Satan had to take his place at the back of the line because Jesus, we remember, had defeated Satan when he was tested in the wilderness. Jesus countered Satan’s control over the countries of his world by simply stating that, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” Peter had set his mind on the ways of men instead of the ways of God. How very interesting that Peter when he was called to be a disciple as told in the gospel of Luke, the fifth chapter, knew the greatness of his sin and therefore, also knew of his great need of mercy to just be in the presence of Jesus for Peter knew that Jesus was indeed God who came as one of us. Yet, even though Peter worshipped God because God in his mercy found Peter worthy of life, what had not happened is that Peter had not served God alone. If God works through the power of mercy then in order to serve God alone we must serve God with actions of mercy, in essence working with God by doing acts of mercy that bring life not death. So, when Peter wanted to be part of God’s merciful kingdom and he decides to use the ways of the judgmental and condemning ways of the world, he in affect opposes all of what God is attempting to do. The new wine, the new way of mercy that Jesus brings, this simply cannot be put into the old wine skins, the old dying way of the world.

Nowhere does this difference between the old ways of the world collide with the new ways of our merciful Jesus then when we come to the cross. Jesus shouts loud enough for all to hear, “If anyone has a desire to follow me, they have to strongly reject themselves. They must take up their cross and follow me just as I take up my cross.” You see, the governing authorities of this age are controlled by laws, laws that are determined to be fair and just, if they protect a person’s rights. As all Americans probably know, our rights are the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Concerning how these rights are affected by Jesus and the cross, I am grateful to the insights of an author named Tom Noble who observed something quite interesting about what we hold to be our fundamental rights, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He saw that when Jesus went to the cross, and tasted death for all of us, he rejected his right to life. Jesus also rejected his right to freedom allowing himself to be shackled and imprisoned, his hands and feet nailed to a piece of wood unable to move at all. Jesus took the cross upon himself to walk the path of sorrow soundly rejecting his right to happiness. Jesus knew that there was a greater principle at work than his own personal rights and that is the very cause of mercy which triumphs over judgment. In the face of the world’s judgment against us, we, in response, can offer ourselves as an act of mercy, this is what is meant for us to carry our cross.

You see, when we live under the authority of law enforced by judgment, it is easy to see that we will become inwardly focused. This is perhaps why Paul says that sin actually increases when we are under the law because it is then that we live where our rights are upheld through the power of judgment and condemnation, causing us to be inwardly focused and enslaved by fear. In such a situation we strive to escape death for just one more day and we do so by filling our life with stuff. To this Jesus asks, if we gain the whole world over our whole lifetime, our life will be gone and what will we have to show for it? Can you feel the sorrow in the voice of Jesus as he asks us to really consider if our effort to stave off death for one more day is this really what life is supposed to be about?  Can you begin to understand this riddle Jesus gives to us that those who save their lives will lose them and those who give their lives for the sake of our king and for the good news, this is when our lives will be safe. I mean, if we give our lives in the service of the king of life, being a life giver, then doesn’t it make sense that our life is going to be safe with him.

What Jesus is asking us to do then is live in this tension of being in the world, a world governed by laws enforced through judgments, condemnation, and the very power of death, all the while being under the reign of Jesus whose rule is the very power of life. This means that as Paul explains in the twelfth chapter of Romans, when we encounter our enemy, one who counts us as unworthy of the honor that our life is due, we in return, out of mercy, we will find them worthy of life and offer them part of our life, our food and our drink, to honor their life. The testing of our life then, will be whether we stay committed to a life of the cross, a life which offers mercy in the face of judgment and condemnation. Or will we, like Peter, be ashamed at all this talk of giving life through acts of mercy? Will shame cause us to speak only of Jesus on the cross as we hide the cross that is ours to bear from the watching eyes of those around us. These are the tough choices we are faced with on our journey with Jesus. I pray that mercy rules in your life, now and always.Amen!