Luke 9: 18-24 | June 27, 2010
Being a Christian is a wonderful thing. To know the love of God in Christ, the hope we have as God’s forgiven children is a powerful thing. And when tough times come, I have heard more than one Christian say. I don’t know how people make it through without the Lord.
But just imagine that the Holy Spirit had not yet brought you to believe the gospel. Just imagine you were on the outside looking in at this Christian faith.
What would you think when you heard the words of our text? Listen again: (Read 18-24.)
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it
Across of suffering and death for this Jesus. Then this. Crosses of suffering for me. What would you think? How about this: What a strange religion!
We find Jesus doing what he often did. He got away from the busy-ness of the day. He got away from the crowds filled with those hoping to experience his healing touch. He got away to have a undisturbed heart to heart talk with His Father in heaven.
Jesus then took advantage of these quiet moments to teach his disciples. He began with a question. Who do people say I am? You just heard them answer with the rumors that were circulating. Maybe he is John the Baptist of some other prophet of God come back to life. Nice sounding, wouldn’t you say? But something like the kind of thing we hear about Jesus. He was a great religious teacher. He came down on religious hypocrisy. Fine sounding things that totally miss the mark.
Yet Jesus says nothing about the people’s opinions. He is more interested in the answer to another question, a question that speaks to us today. Who do you say I am, he asks his disciples. Not the crowds, not the religious leaders. But you. Who do you say I am?
Peter stepped forward as he often did and spoke for the group. The Christ of God. Bull’s eye. Woosh. Perfect shot, Peter. And what they witnessed confirmed it. They had seen Jesus raise the daughter of Jairus back to life. They had seen him feed a crowd that could fill a small stadium with a little bread and fish. Who do you say I am? Without hesitation, the Christ of God.
OK men, go out and tell the good news. Right. Wrong. Instead Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. Huh?
You see, the Christ they expected was not the Christ who stood before them. They and others expected one who would rise up in power as their king to overthrow their Roman rulers. No more soldiers marching through our land. No more taxes to Rome. No more Roman governors oppressing us. The Christ of God. Such talk would only get in the way of what Jesus came to do as the Christ.
And now for the first time he told them. He told them something that defied their expectations. There would be no glorious victory over the Romans. They would see no golden crown placed on his head in Jerusalem. Instead Jesus told them this. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Imagine his disciples. Don’t tell us that! We don’t want to hear it. It makes no sense. In Matthew, we hear Peter rebuke Jesus. Never Lord. Well if that’s how Jesus disciples reacted, think of the world in which we live. What a strange religion whose founder MUST suffer rejection and death.
But we know why he had to. It was God’s plan and purpose. Jesus would be the stone the builders rejected. And why? A three letter word with a big I in the middle. He had to because of my sin. He had to because of my angry words, my selfishness, my sinful failures to love my wife, my children, and the people around me. He had to suffer because that’s what my sin calls for. That’s what my guilt deserves.
Yet there’s a much more important reason why he had to. He had to because of his love… his love that propelled him forward to lay down his life for us who don’t deserve it. He had to because of his Father’s love that would not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. And why? So that you and I could be justified, pronounced innocent of it all. Why? So that you could go through life always moving closer to that bright shining city called heaven.
So someone might say. What a strange religion. And we have to agree. It is strange. So strange to our way of thinking that it could only come from God. So strange that only God could bring us to stake our eternal life on its message.
Yet there is something else strange and different about this religion. We don’t visit the tomb of some dead and gone founder. Think about it. Confucius, Mohammed, Buddha, Joseph Smith are all dead. Their bodies lie in dust, a memory and nothing more. But look to Jesus Christ. He suffered and died and then he rose. And now we worship the Christ who sits at the right hand of God. We worship Jesus Christ whose life gives ours real meaning and hope.
But we’re not done. Jesus is not done with us here. As you listen to his words, again picture yourself on the outside looking in. What a strange religion, we could say. For Jesus does not just tell us about his cross. Our Lord also tells us about the crosses we must bear.
Our Savior warmly invites each one of us. Come to me. Follow me. But he wants us to understand what comes with following him. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” To follow Jesus means that we must deny ourselves. Now that doesn’t mean that we become like monks and put a wall between ourselves and the world. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have any fun and must walk around like a bunch of sourpusses.
But it does mean this. We must deny that sinful, self-centered person that lives inside each of us. And that’s not easy. It’s not easy to say no that self which only cares about me. It’s not easy to say no to that sinful self that really doesn’t care whether its right or wrong, whether it honors God or dishonors him. It doesn’t care what it does to the people around me. If its fun or feels good or benefits me, that’s what counts. Well to follow Christ, means to deny that old self and take up our cross.
The crosses we have around us are often pretty pieces of jewelry or decoration. But the only cross these people knew was an ugly instrument of torture and death used by the Romans on their fellow Jews. What a shocking description of what is required to follow Jesus. He must take up his cross daily.
What did Jesus mean? This cross is not made of wood like the one Jesus was made to carry. Instead it comes in many shapes and sizes. Yet they have one thing in common. They come our way because we belong to Christ. It can be the grief, the pressure, that young Christian gets because he or she chooses to not use his/her body for sexual immorality. It can be the label you get at work because you won’t go along with the way, we usually do things. It can be the popularity you lose, the promotion that doesn’t come, the cutting remark made in class by that instructor because he knows you are a Christian.
But crosses can also be what the name implies. It can mean losing your life for following Christ. That rarely happens in our land. But in places like Pakistan or Iraq Christians are sometimes targeted for death. Churches are bombed. Pastors are kidnapped. Many are afraid to come to worship. Those are heavy crosses to bear.
But here is the great irony of this strange religion. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. In other words the person who turns away from Christ to avoid those troubles, those crosses, he will lose so much more than he gains. He will lose the life that our Lord Jesus died to give.
But whoever clings to Christ, even if costs him his life, will save his life. He will not lose it. Instead he will enjoy that life that Christ has for all who call on his name.
So again we say, what a strange religion. It’s founder chose suffering and death on a cross. And we who follow must bear our own. To someone on the outside looking in, this Christian faith must hardly seem inviting. Yet knowing Christ, knowing his love, knowing the hope we have in him, makes it more than strange. It leads us follow. Amen.
