“Something to Live For”
Wayne McLaughlin
February 28 , 2021
Second Sunday of Lent
Montevallo Presbyterian Church
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Hebrew Scripture Reading Genesis 17.1-7, 15-16 (The Message)
17 1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, “I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I’ll make a covenant between us and I’ll give you a huge family.” 3-8 Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.
Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: You’ll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that ‘I’m making you the father of many nations.’ I’ll make you a father of fathers—I’ll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I’m giving you and your descendants this land where you’re now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I’ll be their God.”
15-16 God continued speaking to Abraham, “And Sarai your wife: Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I’ll bless her—yes! I’ll give you a son by her! Oh, how I’ll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her.”
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 22.23-31 (Wayne’s retelling)
Let’s all give God a round of applause!
Come on—Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians—
everybody! Hallelujah!
God doesn’t ignore the little people.
God genuinely cares about everyone who
suffers—even the animals.
Someday poor people will sit down and eat
as much as they like.
Someday our whole global village
will turn toward its Creator and pay attention.
The Holy One is the engine of the universe.
Even billionaires will fall on their faces
and worship the One who
enriches us with grace.
Our children and their children will know
about the Source of spiritual power.
The story will be told to every generation
from now on.
The future-ones will know that
life is worth living because of
the Power of Love
whom we worship.
Epistle Reading Romans 4.13-25 (The Message)
13-15 That famous promise God gave Abraham—that he and his children would possess the earth—was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise—and God’s promise at that—you can’t break it.
16 This is why the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift. That’s the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. He is not our racial father—that’s reading the story backward. He is our faith father.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel Reading Mark 8.31-38 (CEB)
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Promised One had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and religious scholars, be put to death, and rise again three days later.
32 Jesus said these things quite openly.Peter then took him aside and began to take issue with him. 33 At this, Jesus turned around and, eyeing the disciples, reprimanded Peter: “Get out of my sight, you satan! You are judging by human standards rather than by God’s!” 34 Jesus summoned the crowd and the disciples and said, “If you wish to come after me, you must deny your very self, take up your cross and follow in my footsteps. 35 If you would save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll save it. 36 What would you gain if you were to win the whole world but lose yourself in the process? 37 What can you offer in exchange for your soul? 38 Whoever in this faithless and corrupt generation is ashamed of me and my words will find, in turn, that the Promised One and the holy angels will be ashamed of that person, when all stand before our God in glory.”
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON TEXT:
Who are these twelve disciples? And why are the following this Jewish Teacher named Jesus? What do they want?
Let’s be clear. These twelve men do not think Jesus is God. Nowhere is that said. They see Jesus as a prophet of God—one who speaks on behalf of God; a person who has the message of God to share with them. There are also rumors in the air that this Teacher is actually the Messiah, the Chosen One of God.
These first century Jews have been given a great deal of religious freedom by the Roman Emperor. They have their Temple—a great edifice—one of the wonders of the world at that time. They are allowed to worship, to have priests, to carry out animal sacrifices, to follow the 613 commandments of the Torah.
But they don’t have full freedom of speech. You criticize the Emperor and you will be hanging on a cross outside the city walls and die a slow, torturous death.
They don’t have a nation of their own. They live under Roman occupation. What they yearn for is to be free. To be citizens of a Jewish nation of their own. But they live under the thumb of Rome and are treated as less than human. Their sense of dignity has been taken away.
But they see hope in Jesus. They follow him because he treats them with dignity. He tells them the truth of God. He calls God Abba. He speaks with authority. He gives them a vision of a kingdom: the Kingdom of God. It sounds to them that this kingdom Jesus keeps talking about is what they’re looking for. Could he be their new king? They are hopeful.
But…
PART I
Did you hear what he just said? He said he was going to suffer…to be rejected by the chief priests…and to be KILLED!
It wasn’t just Simon Peter—we were all thinking the same thing. But Peter had the courage to take him by the arm and drag him a few steps away and look him in the eyes and say what we were all thinking. Peter didn’t mince words. In no uncertain terms he said what we all wanted to say.
“With all due respect, Teacher” said Peter, “don’t joke around like that about your future—and our future.” “I’m not joking,” said Jesus. “I’m telling you the truth.” “NO!” yelled Simon, “We know who you are. God has anointed you. We are with you because you are our hope!”
Jesus pushed Peter’s arm away and yelled back at him. “Get out of my way! If I didn’t know better I’d think the devil has gotten hold of you! The way you’re thinking is not the way God thinks.
“Don’t you remember our father Abraham, and how God told him when he was ninety-nine years old and his wife was old as well, that they would give birth to a son? You are a descendent of that old, shriveled up couple. How did that happen?” (He paused to let it sink in. Peter said nothing.)
Jesus continued. “I meant every word I said. I will have to suffer, and be rejected by the Temple officers. And I will be put to death.” He said every word in a deliberate manner. Fear hung in the air.
“Like father Abraham and Mother Sarah,” said Jesus, “you will have to trust God and not waver in your faith. You will have to deny yourself—your survival instinct—and take up your cross, if you really want to follow me. If you want to save your life, you will lose it. Because to live to only survive is not to live at all. In order to save your life you will have to lose it.”
His words made us nervous. Other people had gathered as he talked. He looked at all of them and said, “Are you looking for a bargain? Let me tell you something. If you gain the whole world and lose your soul, that’s no bargain. If you are ashamed of me and my death, you will be ashamed of yourself someday.
“I know you’ve seen those men and women outside the city gates—hanging on those crosses. You want to follow me? Then you’d better get yourself your own cross. Then, get behind me.”
We looked at each other. No one spoke. We tried to take it all in. My body was shaking…
The words of Jesus in Mark 8 are echoed by St. Paul in his letter to the congregation in Philippi:
2.1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
(from The Message)
PART II
John Lewis, whom we lost not long ago, learned some of his Civil Rights skills at the Highlander Folk School, located on a small mountain farm 90 miles away from Nashville on the Cumberland Plateau. It was founded by Myles Horton, a native of Savannah, Tennessee in 1932. It was intended to be a center to train labor leaders. It was meant to be a place to learn the practical side of organizing and protesting.
Myles Horton liked to quote a saying of his grandfather: “You can hitch your wagon to the stars, but you can’t haul corn or hay in it if its wheels aren’t on the ground.”
The Highlander Folk School played a strategic part in the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks took training there, then went home to Montgomery and refused to give up her seat on the bus.
Ralph Abernathy, Pete Seeger, and Martin Luther King, Jr. participated in the schooling that took place there. Even Eleanor Roosevelt showed up at the School. It was one of the few integrated facilities in the Jim Crow South. Blacks and whites ate together, swam together, and square-danced together there.
In 1958 John Lewis went to Highlander. He was inspired by the vision of Myles Horton, it’s founder. Horton said to him:
I think that people aren’t fully free until they’re in a struggle for justice. And that means for everyone. It’s a struggle of such importance that they are willing, if necessary, to die for it. I think that’s what you have to do before you’re really free. Then you’ve got something to live for.
In light of that vision of the struggle for justice, we might look again at the words of Jesus: Deny yourself…take up your cross…if you want to save your life you must first lose it. The unspoken words may have been something like:
You will not be free until you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me.
Indeed, Jesus had made it clear that he had come onto the scene to set people free. The Lord has anointed me to set the prisoners free, to liberate the oppressed. That’s what he said at the beginning of his ministry.
He knew that only by going “all in” would we find the freedom to live with the joy that the Kingdom of God offers. When we “hold back,” we are refusing to walk through the cell door out into the world as a free person.
The prison of our Ego is a subtle cell of selfishness.
Jesus came to say that the Kingdom of God was breaking in so that we can break out!
The good news of the Kingdom is that we can trust God to take care of us, no matter what. Even if we have to die for the sake of the gospel, God will take care of us.
Jesus told them the truth. He didn’t sugar-coat it. He said: If you’re going to join my Cause, there might be trouble. You might get hurt. You might have to make the extreme sacrifice.
But you and I are lucky. We live in this small town, or another community not far away. We live in the beautiful State of Alabama. We live in the United States of America. We are safe, and we live in comfort. The extreme words of Jesus don’t really apply to us, do they?
We are indeed fortunate. And we are indeed white.
