In a Rut on the Way to the Cross?

 Was Peter in a rut?  And are we ?  Mark 8:31-38

The Road to the Cross was not a rut.

"a habit or pattern of behavior that has become dull and unproductive but is hard to change.

"the administration was stuck in a rut and was losing its direction"

synonyms:

boring routine · humdrum existence · routine job · same old round · groove · grind · daily grind · treadmill · dead end · assembly line"

Then I saw this quote this week from one of my favorite Generals," Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”

GEORGE S. PATTON"

Peter was with Jesus and he saw and heard things .  Mark 8 tells us of the feeding of the 4000 and the 7 baskets full miracle Jesus did.  Of course Peter saw the healings Jesus did in ch 7 " the Healing of the deaf mute" , and the casting out of the demon in the daughter of the Syrophonecian woman ch 7 too.

Peter was in the rut of seeing one side of Jesus ," You are the Christ" but it was not the whole picture.  This Christ would suffer , be killed, and after three days rise again. 8:31

---what ruts are we in?  Some are good, as work is done and we fulfill our temporary purpose.  But what is our goal to be?  More ruts, or challenges we face as Patton said we may feel the exhilaration of victory?

" And having called to him the crowd with disciples his he said to them, ' Whosoever desires after me to come, let him deny himself, and let him take up his cross, and let him follow me." ( orig. Gk)

Disciples are learning people.  But the hard saying of Jesus in vs 31 about the necessity of suffering created a situation for Peter. " And he began to teach them that it is necessary for the Son of man many things to suffer, and to be rejected of the elders, and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, and after three days to rise again, and openly the word he spoke."  " And taking to him Peter began to rebuke him." But he, turning and seeing his disciples rebuked Peter, saying, Get behind me Satan,for thy thoughts are not of the things of God, but the things of men." rebuke greek-to mete out due measure, to censure

Disciples are learning people.  " Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating."  Nouwen.  The needed thing is creating the space for God, i.e. discipline.  " Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can freely respond to God's guidance." Nouwen again.

I heard a story recently about what the current Cardinal of New York shared.  He was talking to some of the seminarians from time to time about some of the things he had seen or others had seen in their behaviour. When he talked to them he said that nine of ten had not listened to his concerns, but tried to justify their actions. There was one though who listened and was the better for it.

When Peter spoke glowingly of Jesus as the "Christ" there was no rebuke. But when Jesus spoke of what was coming, the Cross, death and rejection, Peter began to rebuke Jesus. Here now there was a rebuke for Peter, " Get behind me Satan, for you savor not the things of God, but the things of men."  A commentator said that not even such a rebuke Jesus gave to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  We are not told here that Peter got it.  But if we read the rest of the New Testament we know that Peter did get it, and became one of the most devoted single followers and leaders of the disciples.

How do we react when we are on the wrong spiritual track and someone who cares points it out to us? There is the story of a priest who had a  parishoner who sat in the front pew and this particular saint used to make remarks under the breath during the sermons and have quite a lot of criticism for the priest.  At the funeral everyone was amazed that of all the mourners the minister seemed to take it the hardest. He said that of all the people this person helped him grow the most and who was going to take her place now that she was gone?

In this season of Lent as the days grow longer and our Lord is going to the shame and rejection He did not deserve we are to find time to listen to  Christ.  This may take the form of giving up something for Lent. Someone asked me the other day, " Did you give up something for Lent?"  I think I said no because if it is bad, why do it at all?  How about making room in the day for a spiritual practice as reading a good book or devotion?  Or as Nouwen says above we should practice our discipleship with discipline but the discipline should lead to service to ourselves and others in discipleship.

Jesus was saying that Peter was doing something that God did not want him to do. He was putting the emphasis in the wrong place. He did not see what was coming.  He thought that Jesus did not have to do things like go to the Cross. But this is not only what Jesus had to do for us but we are told to "come after" Jesus, take up our Cross, and follow Him.  8:34 Because as Jesus says later in vs. 36, " For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" I am happy that Jesus rebuked Peter but He did not reject him.

This seems to be one of the most difficult parts of Scripture.  What is our Cross? How do we lose our lives for Jesus' sake and the gospel's sake so that in the end we shall save our lives? We can be confident that we too are much like Peter in our misunderstandings and shortsighted ways about the true paths of the kingdom of God. We too find that it is so hard to know, " just what is the Cross?"  How can we savor the things of God and not the things of man?

We need time to be alone with God with the Scriptures and perhaps a few books that help us. We may use a book of prayers to set us on the right pathway. We may need to get back to some old-fashioned praying that finds us on our knees and saying,  " From all evil and mischief; from sin; from the crafts and assaults of the devil; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation, Good Lord, deliver us."  Litany  .  The devil is sly.  He disguises what is true and right , that is the right way, and often tempts us as an angel of light it says in the Scriptures.  What looks so good turns out to be another wrong turn in our spiritual lives. Take a shortcut. Or why even bother with all that talk about losing your life for Jesus' sake so that you can find it?

Some people and traditions do not much like Lent.  They think it is too Catholic.  I find it has much opportunity for spiritual growth and closeness to Christ.  There is that wonderful hymn we have that says, " May I see thee more clearly; love thee more dearly and closer to thee nearly." How to be there? For in journeying with Jesus to the Cross I am finding out something about His Sacrifice and my own spiritual life.

We have a wonderful opportunity to be on this trip with Jesus to the Cross. In Holy Communion I taste and see things unseen. " Here O my Lord I see Thee face to face" ( 1." Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to face; Here faith can touch and handle things unseen; Here would I grasp with firmer hand Thy grace, And all my weariness upon Thee lean. 2. Here would I feed upon the Bread of God; Here drink with Thee the royal wine of heav’n; Here would I lay aside each earthly load;")What a great hymn about the Sacrament in serving God .  Rejoicing now, losing our lives now, taking up our Crosses now, we are following our Lord on the pathway to sacrifice.  It is not always easy to know that path, but if we take the moments of our lives whenever we can find them to ask for direction, we can find it and will find it.

Standing face to face with Christ we are without excuse. There are no ways to get around it.  I do not like to face Him when I am without excuse.  I have none.  I do not want to experience what Peter did at all.  I want to hear that I savor the things of God and not the things of this world.  That is what this time of the church year and faith is all about. I do not want Jesus to tell me, " Get thee behind me Satan."  I want others  to especially know that His love is all that matters and though I never have to earn it, I want Him to know that loving Him and following His ways now are really all that matters to me now.  I want others to know that following Jesus is all that matters and that is all that I have ever needed.  I want others to know that too.

So back to ruts in conclusion.  Have you ever had an awakening to doing things in the right way despite the challenges?  A routine is good, but a routine without goals or higher aspirations for the Christian is not.  I was challenged this week by an event that woke me up.  I lay in the hospital bed waiting for a procedure.  I had to be wheeled about by others and was dependent on them. Then I was sent to another bay and had to wait again.  It gave me time to think.  My goals are easy, but God's not so much.  I remember I asked one of our laypeople to consider being the Sr Warden ( here Clerk of Session). He said he really did not want to do it, but when I challenged him with another person present that was in leadership already as a Deacon, he said, " Maybe God wants me to though."  He ended up doing the position despite his reluctance.

Pray this For Guidance not our own will but His, "

O GOD, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light rises up in darkness for the godly; Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou would have us to do, that the Spirit of Wisdom, may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord." amen.