Text — Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.  32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?  38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words † in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Peter is certainly out of line to be correcting Jesus.  If he knows Jesus is the Messiah, he might show a little more respect.  But we can see this from Peter’s angle.  When Jesus says he has to suffer, be rejected, and be executed, this does sound a bit gloomy — not exactly the power of positive thinking. 

Peter wants Jesus to have a better outlook.  Don’t passively accept the worst.  Do something about it.  Take action.  Take care of yourself.  Peter sounds very modern and healthy-minded.  Imagine a better future.  Make the world a better place.  This is a big part of what we all believe.  Peter makes sense.  He’s practical.

So why does Jesus rebuke Peter?  What’s wrong with Peter’s thinking?  Jesus uses pretty strong language here.  Get behind me, Satan.”

Then he tells the disciples and the crowd these words — ones I think are very important to understanding Jesus overall message.  “Those who want to follow me must take up their cross…  Those who want to save their life will lose it.  And those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

What is that about — especially the part that says “for my sake, and the sake of the gospel?”  

We want our lives to go well.  We want to be safe.  We don’t want to be rejected.  We want to be liked.  We want to belong, to fit in.  When we try to do something, we want to succeed — if not at first, at least eventually.  We want to accomplish something.  We want to stay healthy.  When we’re sick, we want the best medical care we can get.  We want the treatment to work.  We want our cars to work, and not break down on the highway somewhere.  We want the stock market to go up.  We want a decent retirement.  We want peace, not war.  We put a lot of energy into our desire to make things go the way we want them to go.

I don’t think Jesus is saying that these efforts are wrong, by definition.  In other passages, Jesus talks about how a little mustard seed of faith can move a mountain.  That is the power of positive thinking.

I think what Jesus is getting at here is this: life won’t always go the way we want it to go.  The car won’t always work.  More snow may fall.  The basement may leak.  Wars are waged.  The way we want things to go won’t always be the way they do go. 

Other people won’t always act the way we want them to act — the people we live with, and work with, the people in our government, the people in other governments, our in-laws, our children’s friends, our children’s friends parents, our children’s teachers, our church leaders. 

The challenge is: How will we make peace with all these obvious “imperfections” that we can’t control?  I think Jesus is saying that, if we don’t make peace with these things, if we see our lives primarily as a battle against them, we will lose our lives.  Life will be worse.

But if we do make peace with these imperfections, if we are in some sense willing to lose our lives, we will paradoxically save our lives.  Life will be better, even blessed.

Right now, think of something in your life that you’re afraid of losing, some something you’ve lost already.  Take a moment to bring something like that to mind.  There are many possibilities.

If you’re young, you’re going to lose your youth.  We’re all going to lose our health and our capacity to enjoy many things we now enjoy.  How have you been disappointed, or frustrated, or hurt?  Where has life not gone your way?  All of this comes under “losing your life” in Jesus’ terminology.  Losing life as you want it be. 

What Jesus is saying is, “If you have to lose your life, lose it for my sake, for the sake of the gospel.  Take up your cross, more willingly, and follow me.”  Look upon these troubles, these imperfections, these dangers, not as something wrong with your life.  Not that you’ve missed your chance, or gotten a bad deal, or that you’re cursed, or unloved by God.

Look at these things another way:  Trouble is part of the way life is.  This is part of the package we get; it’s an important part.  These imperfections, these crosses, have something to teach us.  They can even bless us.

Jesus is saying, “Find a way to embrace these crosses.  Find a way to make peace with them.  One of the most important parts of making peace with them is to face them together.  This is why we have the church. 

I believe that when Jesus says, “Lose your life for my sake, and for the gospel’s sake,” a big part of what he means is “Lose your life with others.  Lose it in a way that will help other people lose theirs, because everyone’s time is coming. 

If you have to lose your lives, lose them together.  It’s a lot better than losing them alone.  What a simple idea.