‘The Way of the Cross’
Scripture Collage – The Way of the Cross
1 – Jesus’ ministry was a sharing of good news for all people. He proclaimed the coming of God’s kingdom in which the blind see, the lame walk, the sick are healed, the possessed are released and hospitality is shared. Many saw this good news take shape before their eyes and believed. But as Mark’s gospel continues on, Jesus begins to hint at something that sounds more like bad news.
2 – Then Jesus began to teach his disciples 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. He said all this quite openly… And to the crowds he said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (8:31-32, 34)
1 – Take up your cross and follow me. This doesn’t sound so much like healing and freedom and release and restoration. And Jesus’ suffering and dying doesn’t sound like good news. At first, Jesus’ friends didn’t understand at all. They figured Jesus was off his rocker.
2 – After he had said all this to them, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him (8:32).
1 – But Jesus appeared to be deadly serious.
2 – But turning and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (8:33).
1 – A little while later, Jesus tried again.
2 – They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be handed over to the gentiles; they will mock him and spit upon him, and flog him and kill him; and after three days he will rise again” (10:32, 34).
1 – While Jesus tried to prepare his disciples, the seeds of unrest were already being sown. Jesus’ miracles of power and restoration felt a little unsettling to those with a stake in the way things were. The political situation was delicate, and the crowds unpredictable. The authorities who had been challenging Jesus now began to whisper about a more permanent solution.
2 – When the chief priests and the scribes heard about what Jesus was doing, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching… they wanted to arrest him, but feared the crowd. So they left him and went away (11:18, 12:12).
1 – Jesus could see that his ministry of good news was a dangerous business. He knew what was coming. But his way of the cross was more than a painful consequence. It was also the shape of a faithfulness he recommended for all. A way of humility and self-giving love.
2 – Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all… But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (9:33-35, 10:31).
1 – This was tough for his friends and followers to get their minds and hearts around. It’s hard to set aside our ambitions for power and wealth and status, and become servants to all. Jesus’ followers ran into this wall a couple of times.
2 – James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher… grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (10:35, 37, 41-44).
1 – This was a confusing idea. How can one be great if one is a servant?
2 – 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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? (8:35-37).
1 – When Jesus looked for an example of faithfulness, he turned to the smallest in their company.
2 – Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me… Let these little children come to me, do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it. And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them” (10:13-16).
1 – Is the way of the cross still good news? Maybe it depends on who you are, and what you have to lose.
2 – They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible” (10:26-27).
1- For God, all things are possible. Even the blind might see. Even the last might be first. Even the dead might be raised.
Sermon
When is good news bad news, and when is bad news actually good news?
Most of you probably know by now that I am a lover of board games! I love the intricacies of a game, their design, all the strategies and ways of playing, how you get victory points or the most money or past the goal line, and yes, I have a strong competitive streak and like to win. I’ve learned to accept that about myself, but hopefully also learned to lose, to be a good loser, and to see more fun in the actual playing of the game then the end result. This was not always the case. My love of games started early in childhood. How many of you remember playing the game Monopoly? (raise your hand). How many of you liked the game? How many of you couldn’t stand it? I loved the game. It got my competitive juices going and I wanted to win, at all costs. I would play for hours with my siblings, cousins and friends. I would get all excited about acquiring properties and thrilled if Boardwalk and Park Place would come my way. Let’s go hotels! I would wheel and deal and was ruthless and often won… But I was a poor winner – not mindful of the people around me, kind of lording it over others. I was also a poor loser – getting upset and taking it way too personally when I lost. I remember my parents having to sit me down at one point and explain how losing is a part of the game too, and really, this was not so important – who wins and loses; it is simply having fun playing and spending time together. I was right there with those sons of Zebedee, James and John, wanting to win, to sit at the right or left hand in glory… when Jesus talked about servanthood and said whoever wished to be first among you must be slave of all. When I talk to Rachel on the other hand, she hated the game Monopoly as a kid. Her siblings and friends were relentless and the game always ended in tears – in fact, she can’t remember ever lasting to the end of a game, it upset her so much – she was so tuned in to the feelings involved and the inter-personal dynamics. It felt like everyone was losing in the process of playing the game, whether someone actual won or not. It is a game she will still not play.
Games like Monopoly set up a win lose scenario, and yes, they are just games, but I wonder if sometimes they creep into how we understand life itself – we set up winners and losers, success and failure, those with power and those without. We want to climb the ladder of vocation, or financial success or responsibility and rank, or social status. What do we make of the words of Jesus that many who are first will be last, and the last will be first, or that whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it?
When is good news bad news, and when is bad news actually good news?
Today is the last Sunday in our worship series on the Gospel of Mark. It has been a rich time of delving deeply into this gospel, hearing lots of Scripture each Sunday, and exploring the themes of following Jesus, healing and cleansing, tradition and innovation, teaching, and signs and wonders. We started off in early January with the Good News of Jesus, good news about the Kingdom of God ushered into our world, but also so often in secret, as a secret message, discovered in parables and story, and only by those with ears to hear, often by those most vulnerable and the outsiders in society.
Today we circle back to this good news, but find out how difficult and challenging that good news is, and that it can sound like bad news. As Ryan said when we met ‘this is the hard part of being a Christian.’ Jesus starts to teach his disciples that he must undergo great suffering and that he will be killed and after three days rise again. The disciples object, and don’t catch or believe his message. He keeps repeating that if anyone wants to become his followers they must first deny themselves and take up their cross and follow him… whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servants of all… those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the good news, will save it. These are tough saying – hard to understand and still harder to live by. All together, they are often named as the ‘way of the cross,’ and we soon see Jesus doing just that – going to the cross, giving up power, sacrificing his life for the sake of our world – the cross, self-sacrificial non-violent love, being God’s answer to the evils of this world – the answer to violence itself. Jesus chooses the cross rather than fighting back and conquering. It is the mystery, the wonder and the paradox of how God works – sacrifice over victory, forgiveness over revenge, love over hate, losing over winning. Crucifixion that does in the end lead to Resurrection. This is the bad news that is actually good news. This is the way of the cross.
The way of the cross is also core to Anabaptist-Mennonite theology. It has been a theology and a church history that has talked so much about following Jesus, and about living out your faith in daily life, by how you live like Jesus. It is at the root of pacifism and non-participation in war. It has been where lines have been drawn between the church and the world. It is the short hand we find with Palmer Becker – ‘Jesus is the centre of our faith. Community is the centre of our Life and Reconciliation is the centre of our work.’ (https://www.amazon.ca/Anabaptist-Essentials-Palmer-Becker/dp/1513800418) We follow the way of the cross in faith, life and work, however imperfectly that has been done in the real lives of people and community. At times in our collective history, this has led to persecution or exile – there has been a price paid for following the way of the cross. We also know that our real daily lives can be more removed from our theology. As a whole now, in this time, we are well integrated into our society, into the school and work and professions and community life around us. We are more often than not the ones with plenty of resources, finances, status, social and political influence, and yes, power within our society. To use the game analogy, we are the ones getting lots of victory points and winning the game. What does the way of the cross really mean for us?
The other week, a group of us from church went to the Princess Theatre and watched the Sarah Polly movie ‘Women Talking’, based on the Miriam Toews novel of the same name. Many of you watched it on different nights in its local run. It is a difficult movie to watch. It brings out tears and strong emotions. While never directly naming the context as Mennonite in the movie, the original novel was based on the disturbing true story of women in a Mennonite colony in Bolivia who experienced repeated sexual assaults by men in the colony who had drugged the women in the middle of the night – ghost rapes they were called, dismissed by the men as wild female imagination. (https://canadianmennonite.org/stories/modern-ghosts-horse-drawn-scandal-part-1) The fictional novel and then movie, Women Talking is named intentionally as ‘a work of female imagination,’ a re-claiming of women’s voices, as the author explores the conversations up in the barn among the women of the colony when the men are away at court, when they must decide whether to do nothing, stay and fight back or leave the colony. There are all sorts of profound and agonizing conversation and questions around power, gender, violence, abuse, faith and forgiveness. There are many painful scenes and memories and forms of trauma, even as there are moments of spontaneous laughter and tender expressions of mutual support and strength, a claiming of voice and thinking and agency. What is so striking is the struggle the women have with reconciling their inherited Mennonite theology with what has happened and what they should do. The very faith that provided comfort was also used to do harm. A distorted theology of the way of the cross, of needing to forgive those who hurt you, of not fighting back, contributes to the abuse. There is a longing to forgive, and yet how can you forgive your attackers if it is forced, and nothing changes. At times they quote Scripture and sing the hymns of the faith, these being at the same time the source and justification of their oppression and loss of voice and power. There are gendered power structures in the colony that use religion to enforce rather than liberate those structures. This story brings into question how the way of the cross gets played out within real communities, and how its message is heard and lived out depending on where one stands, what the real power dynamics are, and what hope and liberation could look like. There is much more that could be said about the movie.
When is good news bad news, and when is bad news actually good news?
When you read the gospel of Mark, you hear all of these passages about the way of the cross, about the first becoming last and the last first. Notice that these words are directed to those who already have power – to the religious leaders, to the chief priests and scribes, to the learned, to the disciples, to those who would want to be first, often to the men. As we heard in the dialogue – ‘is the way of the cross good news? Maybe it depends on who you are, and what you have to lose.’ There is a turning around of the power structures, a sacrificing and letting go by those who have, for the sake of those who have not. Take up your cross, deny yourself and follow me if you want to become my followers.
Alongside all these saying are stories of healing and liberation. The good news of Jesus comes to a whole host of folks who feel on the outside, who feel oppressed, hurt, abused, lost – a hemorrhaging woman, Jairus daughter, Blind Bartimeaus and another blind man, the boy with a Spirit, the Syrophoenician woman, the sinners and outcasts. Maybe the message of the cross sounds different to those folks? Is the way of the cross something that both challenges some to give up control and power and follow the cross, while others are empowered and lifted up through that very same cross? This reminds me of the song of Mary in Luke, the Magnificat – ‘my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant…. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.’ (Luke 2:46-55) The way of the cross looks different and plays out in very different ways depending on your social position, where you fit in the power structures of our world.
There is a statement in Women Talking about the destructive patriarchal and gendered systems of the colony along the lines that we have all learned this behaviour so well, the men and the women. By beginning to question and break the systems, by claiming their voice, there opens up the possibility of liberation for all – for good news to truly take shape, in the movie, for the hope of the next generation, the girls and the boys.
There is a mystery in the cross, in that gospel good news that comes through Jesus. Crucifixion cannot be uttered without naming Resurrection – the power of God to bring life out of death. Good Friday leads to Easter. There is no one to one relationship between cross and resurrection, no predicting how and when life and liberation and freedom and grace and love will arise. But the good news is that the way of the cross ultimately, through the power of God, leads to Resurrection, the secret of the Kingdom, the good news for ears that listen and respond. This is the journey we are about to begin as we enter the season of Lent.
This Family Day weekend I am in the middle of a mostly Games playing weekend with friends, mixed with some food, outdoor activity and conversation. I will play countless strategy games and group games and silly games. I will lose some, and maybe win a few others. Rachel even joins me for some of them. But I have slowly learned that the end results don’t really matter. It is not about having some as winners and some as losers. The point is the community fun and friendship that happen along the way, the deepening bonds of community, the shared experience and journey. This way everyone wins. I am slowly learning that in game playing, but hopefully also in life. May we all learn that lesson in all of life. Then we will have found good news and good news will have found us! Let it be so. Amen.