"The Bottom Line"

Scripture: Mark 8:31-38
Preacher: Rev. Ross Purdy
Date: March 5, 2006

It was a gruesome death.   It didn't have to happen.   Jesus' journey to the cross could have been avoided.   There were plenty of times when Jesus could have stayed away from the cross completely.   Even at Gethsemane, His last night prior to His death, He must have watched the torches coming across the Kidron Valley out toward the Garden.   His prayer, as the lights grew nearer must have intensified.  

"Father, I see the threat.   I know the danger.   Please, don't let this happen.   I know they're coming for me.   Alright, Father, if it must be, Thy will be done."    Even then, He could easily have slipped up the steps and over the hill.   No one could have caught Him.   But He remained steadfast.

Waking the disciples, Jesus said, "It's time.   Get up.   The Son of Man has been betrayed."   Wiping the sleep from their eyes, His friends were mystified.   "What was He saying?   Betrayed?   By whom?   How?   We just had a nice meal and a meditative evening."

Then they turned to look at the torches held by the masses, tens, if not hundreds of people.   Peter grabbed a sword.   "Take up arms.   They're here to take our Leader."   Plunging forward, Peter thrust his sword forward and cut off Malchus' ear.   "NO, Peter!" Jesus said, "This is not the way.   Put your sword away."   Then the soldiers rushed Jesus after Judas, His friend, identified Him with a kiss.

Peter and Judas; Two very different men...yet, two very similar men.   Each would face a moment of betrayal.   Peter would deny Jesus three times; Judas, only once, but with premeditated intention.   Both may have had good reasons to do so.   Peter saw no reason for two to have to die.   It could have been that Judas was merely trying to force Jesus into a position to pull down the kingdom of God from above.   It could have been that Judas simply saw things from a more urgent perspective.   If Jesus would just strike the enemies of God, we could get on to the freeing of God's people from the tyranny of the Romans.   Perhaps Judas was just trying to speed things up a bit.   Or maybe he was just trying to corner the religious leaders.   Certainly if he could get Jesus and the religious leaders together, maybe they'd see His power and strength.   After all, he cast out demons, healed the sick and raised the dead.   "I'll make Jesus do something."

Peter, on the other hand, was a simple disciple.   But he, like Judas, wanted to move things in a direction the way he saw best.   When Jesus spoke about dying on a cross, Peter responded, "No, Lord.   You're all wrong.   It's not going to end this way. You're a great teacher and powerful man of God.   You won't die!"   He, too, tried to make Jesus do what common sense dictated - life is about things getting better, not suffering and dying.   What's all this talk about a cross?"

Jesus, in front of all the disciples, rebuked Peter.   "Get behind me, Satan.   You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men...you know how I don't want this to happen.   But it must happen.   I must go to the cross.   It is the only way.   This is my cup and I must drink it to its fullest."

Two different men; Peter and Judas.   Both would deny the Son of Man.   Judas would try to force Jesus' hand, thinking that he could manipulate the Son of God to do what he expected Him to do.   When the Lord wouldn't submit to the servant (He never will submit to servants.   Stop trying.), Judas would find himself deep in a grief so strong that he would take his own life.   He was so overcome by his sin that he couldn't believe in God's mercy.   He stopped short, never realizing that the very cross Jesus died upon was the only way Judas could find life.   He, to the end, took matters in his own hand and that's exactly the definition of sin.   We know Judas' end.   He's in hell.   The Scriptures make that clear. (see Matthew 26:24)

Peter, he would deny the Son of Man also.   Jesus specifically told him that he would deny Him just as he warned Judas of his future also.   But Peter, after denying the Lord three times, went out and bitterly wept.   "Oh God, what have I done?   All my promises to stand with Jesus even until death have I forsaken.   Forgive me.   I am fit for hell alone.   But...if there is a chance, please forgive me."   As Jesus took to the cross, Peter could not have known that the very instrument of death would be his pathway to life.   Jesus was agonizingly dying for the sins of Judas.   Jesus was agonizing dying for the sins of Peter.   Jesus was agonizingly dying for the sins of you and me.   Whose course will we take?   Will we bitterly weep for our transgressions and come to the cross like Peter where we can receive God's mercy and acceptance?   Or will we take matters into our own hands, like Judas, and deny the Lord even an opportunity to give His grace and mercy freely?

Here's the bottom line: we've all denied...we've all betrayed the Son of Man.   Which course do you follow?

Jesus would go to the cross.   It was the very thing He came to do.   He often spoke about the cup that He had to drink from.   He used that analogy for life; that God has a path for us all.   Will we drink from the cup?   And how will we drink it?; with passion to its last drop or with hesitancy adding sugar and other substitutes to make it more palatable?   I see a world that avoids the bottom line.   I see a world living in delusion, seeking the comforts that distract from the fullness of reality.   Jesus, and He alone, sweetens the bitterness of the cup.   But the suffering remains.   Every other sweetener destroys the contents of the cup.  

Jesus eagerly drank from the cup to its bitter end.   He was seeking another cup, one that would last forever.   He offers that cup to us.   He wanted to please His heavenly Father by being obedient.   And that obedience would be unto death.   But who said that in this life, the cup had to taste good?   If this life is all there is then you and I could expect the cup to taste good.   But, if there is a life to come, then maybe the cup we may drink from might contain some bitterness.   God is accomplishing His will in saving the world through you and me as we drink from the cup Christ drank from.   Jesus said,

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.   For whoever wants to save his life will lost it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." (Mark 8:34-35)

Peter would discover this all too well.   But because Peter choose the right path, he would have opportunities to find out that Christ never expects perfection.   He would learn the way of the cross, that while it is a way of sorrow at times, it is one outweighed by mercy and grace over and over again.

The early church use to tell a story about Peter.   I mentioned this story in our newsletter this month.   When Peter went to Rome to be a part of encouraging the church, he didn't realize that it would be his last trip anywhere.   He was horrified as he watched people who never saw Jesus, yet believed in him, give their lives as martyrs before a cruel and blood-thirsty crowd.   As he saw the cup those believers drink from, Peter's courage waned.   When several church leaders encouraged Peter to leave Rome so he could spare his life, Peter relented and agreed, possibly justifying his departure as a good thing, so he could do more missionary work.   But it was the cup Peter was supposed to drink.  

As Peter left down a path outside the city, he soon saw the Lord Jesus walking on that path, but in the direction of Rome.   Peter bowed before Jesus and said, "Domine, Quo Vadis?   Lord, where are you going?"   Jesus answered Peter, "To Rome to be crucified again.   Peter, remembering the earlier words of Jesus by the lakeside indicating Peter's impending death upon the cross, realized that Jesus was going to Rome to drink Peter's cup for him. Someone needed to finish Peter's cup.   Peter was immediately confronted with his own disappointment regarding his lack of discipleship.   Though there was no judgment in the Lord's response, Peter regained his courage and returned to Rome to die a martyr's death.

When Jesus calls each of us to discipleship, He calls us to a life of obedience forever.   How quickly we reach for those opportunities that provide us with good things (thank God those blessings come freely and often).   But how often do we recognize that the life of discipleship demands difficult things?   When Jesus said, "Follow Me", He meant for us to stay on the path of discipleship, even when it leads to places we don't want to go.

What's your bottom line?   What are you here to do on earth?   What is the cup you must drink?   Have you identified it?   It's not a difficult one to find, but it is a hard one.   Sometimes we wonder what life is all about simply because we don't like the message of the one we have heard from Jesus: God loves you.   God has a plan for your life.   God is asking you to turn from your evil ways and live a righteous, holy and good life.   And God has called you to be a witness to the salvation made possible through Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.   But if you live that life, there will be sacrifices all along the way.   Can you drink this cup?

In the Daily Lenten Meditations, my very favorite author, Henri Nouwen, talks about the suffering we endure in this life.   He even goes so far as to say that when we suffer, there may be joy in doing so.  

"The deep truth is that our human suffering need not be an obstacle to the joy and peace we so desire, but can become, instead, the means to it.   The great secret of the spiritual life, the life of the Beloved Sons and Daughters of God, is that everything we live, be it gladness or sadness, joy or pain, health or illness, can all be part of the journey toward the full realization of our humanity.   It is not hard to say to one another: 'All that is good and beautiful leads us to the glory of the children of God.'   But it is very hard to say: ' But didn't you know that we all have to suffer and thus enter into our glory?'   Nonetheless, real care means the willingness to help each other in making our brokenness into the gateway to joy."

The world will never understand. The cross is a powerful symbol for me.   It tells me that what lies ahead in my life, if I dare to follow Jesus, is this very cold fact - the cross.   I don't like it.   I know that Jesus forgave my sins on the cross and I know that eternal life came about because He died on the cross.   So I wonder, why must I pick up one too?   I can't bring salvation to the world.   I have nothing to give.   This sinner is no different than any other sinner out there.

But the world doesn't need another Savior.   The world just needs to see the Savior who gave His life on the cross.   And, as I carry that cross around, all of hell, all of this dying world, and all who are indifferent will find rage and anger at the scandal of its message.  

God's grace is given freely!   God's grace is given freely!
(that's the bottom line)

Do you know how that incites hatred and anger?   What a scandal!   It means that the Almighty God has come in weakness and through weakness, has destroyed the powers that reign.   Through weakness, God, in Jesus, has unmasked the illusion of power, disarmed the prince of darkness and united the divisions of all humanity.   Through weakness, God has opened the way to the very heart of God.  

This is the standard I wear upon me - the cross.   When the world sees me I want them to see the crucified and weak Jesus.   I have to pick up my cross and sacrifice in this life to present to the world a living drama of the life of Jesus.   Imagine what the crowds in Rome saw as they later reflected on those early believers who dared to die a gruesome death, refusing to settle for the comforts of life, which were offered even up to their final moment of decision.   But imagine the life those martyrs are living now!   Imagine what life those who witnessed the drama of the martyrs and gave a confession of Christ are also living now!    It is all worth it; to drink the fullness of the cup.

I am not Jesus.   I am a follower of Jesus.   I am here to be as Jesus to the world, that's the definition of "Christian".   I am a reflection of God's Son.   I am here to do my part.   I choose the path of Peter, the path of God's grace as I fail.   But I won't give up like Judas.   For me, to live is Christ...and to die, well, that is gain.

I believe in a life to come where all who pick up their cross and follow Jesus live forever.   I believe that there is a purpose in each and every moment of life.   No complaining, just receiving.   I believe that Jesus calls us to follow.   To be certain, there is a world that will crucify us if we live the same way Jesus lived.  

It is a hard message.   But it is the bottom line.   Jesus promises us the cross as a gateway to eternal bliss.  

"What good is it for one to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?   Or what can one give in exchange for their soul?   If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that one when he comes in His Father's glory with the holy angels."

Welcome to the season of Lent.   I offer you an opportunity to find life's real purpose.   "Deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me!"

Amen.