"Following Jesus"

​2nd Sunday in Lent – B                                                                     LSB #’s 837:1-2, 5-6; 708, 722
Text – Mark 8:34
 
And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself & take up his cross & follow me.”   
 
FOLLOWING JESUS
 
 
Peter did not want things to go badly for Jesus.  Peter wanted things to go well, but in front of everyone, Jesus rebuked him: “Get behind me, Satan!   For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”  (Mark 8:33 ESV)   As it turned out things went badly for Peter that day, & there are many days when things go badly for us. 
Just before Thanksgiving, I caught a cold that gave me the worst case of laryngitis I have ever had.  The day after Christmas, I was exposed to the latest strain of Covid.  By two days later I was feeling it.    Goodbye 2023 & good riddance.   You have experienced bad days, even bad weeks, where everything seems to go wrong. 
One of our neighbors, a widow, has had something like six friends die in the last year.  In the past three years, all of us have experienced inflation like has not been seen in over 40 years.   Previous generations had to confront WWI, & WWII, with the Great Depression sandwiched in between, all within a 30 year time frame. 
You may remember the space shuttle Challenger blowing up shortly after launch, & 9-11 is a day that no one will forget – unless they weren’t born yet.  The Bible tells us that we live in a world that is entirely corrupted by sin.    You & I have plenty of evidence of that in our own experience.  Why do we ever expect our plans to go well here on earth? 
In this world, people die, & we are still surprised when it happens.  Peter did not want things to go badly for Jesus, so he rejected the prediction of Jesus’ death.   However we define it, all of us look for & long for success.   Jesus was not concerned about being seen, by human beings, as successful.   He set His mind only on the things of God.  To explain what that is like, Jesus said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself & take up his cross & follow me.”  (Mark 8:34 ESV)   Jesus is not saying what we must do in order to be His disciples.  Rather, He is telling us what it is like if we follow Him. 
This text from the Gospel of Mark is not telling us to leave our home, our family, our career.  Jesus simply describes life under the reign of God.   It is filled with dying – dying to self.   There, God brings life.   The ministry of pastors is filled with dying places where Jesus brings life.    That is a paradox in this sinful world.  
If we live in a self-centered manner, we are not following Jesus.  Even if it seems like we are getting ahead, we are going in the wrong direction.   By trying to save our own life we are actually losing it.   Instead, Jesus tells us, “…whoever loses his life for my sake & the gospel’s will save it.”  (Mark 8:35 ESV)   That is simply a description of following Jesus. 
God’s Son wants us to know what we’re getting into when we follow Him.  He’s already given us eternal life, but our road there will not be easy.   Too often, Christians assume that it will.   Worse yet, many pastors preach as if God wants us to have heaven on earth, & we are simply not good Christians if we don’t achieve that. 
To counter that sort of false belief, in this text from the 8th chapter of Mark, Jesus promises that wherever there is dying, in Him, there you will find life.    If Jesus is not present, dying only brings death.   Yet, if Jesus is there, He brings life out of death.  A logical question then is this, “What does that dying look like, that Jesus is preaching?” 
On a personal level, dealing with illness is common, especially when we must live with it on a daily basis.  Having children that stray from faith in Jesus, in whatever way, certainly brings a type of dying to this world.  Not having a great income & having to constantly make ends meet is another form of dying, especially when so many others are living high on the hog.  Ultimately though, taking up our cross to follow Jesus is about the deaths that we face for living our faith in Jesus.  Being pro-life or believing in Creation instead of Evolution, will bring ridicule at work, among neighbors or family.   Ridicule is a temptation from Satan to stray off the path set by God. 
On a national level,  as more & more Americans drift away from taking up their cross & following Jesus,  God will allow or cause  challenges & struggles that our nation will not be able to overcome.  Just like on a personal level, Yahweh Himself does that in the hope that our people will turn back to Him for solutions.  Political solutions are useless without Christ. 
Faith in Jesus trusts   that even as He leads you on that road of dying, you will also discover life along the way.   That life will be eternal, unlike the life we pursue in this body, which is very short.  Life in Christ is very different from the one Satan & our world offer to us. 
The struggle of being a Christian is twofold: “How do you live in this world while not clinging to it?   How do you survive in this world without giving in to despair?”  The Lutheran answer is to be studying & simply reading the Word of God.  Then meditate upon it as it applies to the events of your daily life. 
In addition to that, remember what God promised you at your Baptism.  It forgives your sins.  It rescues from death & the devil.  It gives eternal salvation to all who believe God’s promise.  And make use of Holy Communion where God also takes your sins away, thus renewing the life & salvation He first promised you in Baptism. 
Strengthened by God, through those three means of salvation,  you are enabled to die to the old things of this world  & rise to the new things of the eternal life you have already been granted.  And, strengthened by God, through those three means of salvation, you can take your eyes & your hearts off the suffering of this life to find peace in Christ so that you do not despair.  Truly following the will of God is quite difficult.  We cannot do it by our own reason or strength.  The problem is not with the will of God.  The problem is with sinful creatures like you & me.  Sin & grace coexist within us.  Sin separates but God’s grace always unites.   God’s grace is working in you, enabling you to be faithful. 
As God’s children, we can only ‘fail’ when we diminish or do not make use of the ways in which we are connected to the Vine.  The three means of salvation, God’s Word, Baptism & Holy Communion, are how God connects us to Jesus’ saving work of the cross & the empty tomb.  If we minimize them, or separate ourselves from them, we cannot follow Jesus. 
And that is a great temptation, because following Jesus entails the death of our sinful nature.  It involves self-sacrifice & being in service to other human beings.  No matter how sincerely you give your life to Jesus here, you, & your family, will still & always suffer the effects of sin – your own sin, & the sins of others. 
Satan’s end game is always & only death.  If you follow Jesus, you still will die, but only to the brokenness of this world.   In following Jesus, your suffering & death, will be used by the Holy Spirit to bring to you eternal life.  At the end of your resources, at the end of your strength, at the end of your reason, there is life – Jesus’ life. 
That is the life of faith in Jesus as your Savior.   In many ways, the season of Lent has been designed, or intended, to help you come to grips with the cost of following Jesus.  Lent is about growing our understanding of discipleship & what it means to have a future with Jesus.  Abraham went through a type of Lent when God called him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. 
Following Jesus in this sinful world is a constant struggle.  Even when we think everything is going well there are still problems that we simply are not aware of, or have become insensitive to.  The paradox of dying in order to remain alive is something that only Jesus could do perfectly & He accomplished that on our behalf.  Jesus’ description of what following Him is like, is ultimately a call to faith & trust in Him as our good & almighty Lord & Savior.  As always, the point of the good news is to reveal what God has done for our salvation.  Jesus is the way & the truth & the life, because He loves us.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Lord, take my hand & lead me upon life’s way; direct, protect, & feed me from day to day.   Without Your grace & favor I go astray; so take my hand, O Savior, & lead the way.     Lord, when the tempest rages, I need not fear, for You, the Rock of Ages, are always near.   Close by Your side abiding, I fear no foe, for when Your hand is guiding, in peace I go.     Lord, when the shadows lengthen & night has come, I know that You will strengthen my steps toward home.   Then nothing can impede me, O blessed Friend; so take my hand & lead me unto the end.  Amen.  LSB 722.