I Must Go

Jann Martin August 31, 2008

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Matthew 16: 21 - 28

Gospel Lesson

Jesus Predicts His Death

²¹ From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he told them what would happen to him there. He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day.

²² But Peter took him aside and corrected him. "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to you!"

²³ Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's."

²⁴ Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. ²⁵ If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. ²⁶ And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? ²⁷ For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. ²⁸ And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom."(1)

This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise be to You O Christ.

This portion of scripture is where Jesus first tells the disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and that He would suffer and die at the hands of the leaders, priests and teachers of the law. Also that He would be killed and then would be raised again on the third day. Can you imagine what must have gone through their minds? The Messiah that they had waited so long for had finally come. In their minds He was to be a leader for them here on earth. He was to make things better for the children of God. How could He even think about saying that He was going to be killed by the religious leaders of that day? And what did He mean in saying that He would be raised again on the third day?

Peter makes a natural and concerned comment when he says to Jesus that this just couldn't happen to Him. But Jesus' reply is shocking, He says: "Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's." This was Satan speaking to Jesus through Peter and trying to tempt Jesus to turn away from what God has sent Him to earth to do. Just as Satan had tempted Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, Satan is still trying to make Jesus stumble.

Jesus went on to tell the disciples that they also needed to pick up their crosses and follow Him. That they needed to follow His teaching and to reach out to others in their needs and put aside their own selfish ambitions, and that in giving of themselves they would find so much more. God's view of the cross is very different than ours. We can see it as a burden holding us down, but in reality, when we reach out and take on the burden of others, we not only help them but we benefit as well. God blesses us for our willingness to reach out to others. It's like the old saying "It's more blessed to give than to receive."

The time period just after WWII was a time when Americans turned more to the church, churches were being built, and the attendance kept growing. It was a time when things were difficult for everyone. Those that were in the battles had struggles in what they saw, heard and felt, and those at home had problems that they were dealing with like the loss of a loved one, finances, and stress from taking on additional tasks. This brought all of them closer to God and the church. They needed a place to join together to survive their difficulties.

Then as the crisis passed and people didn't feel as if they needed as much support the numbers started to drop off. Some churches even closed. We saw the numbers go up briefly after the attack on 9/11, but then people quickly went back to their old ways again. It's a shame it take a crisis to bring some people to God.

In the 23rd Psalm we hear the words "even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." These can be words of comfort to all of us in our times of trial. They tell us that no matter what, God is always there to watch over us and hold us through all of our needs. There are times, though, that we need to hit bottom before we can reach out and let God help us. We think we can take care of it ourselves. Once we have hit bottom we can finally see the light of God reaching out to help us and we then can reach out and grab on to the hand He is extending to us.

Christ comes to each of us in our storms. Sometimes He comes through a friend, a neighbor, or even a Stephen Minister. There are many ways Christ reaches out to help us in our time of need. I have mentioned before that we are to take everything to God in prayer, even the little things. Here are some examples of things I pray for: I pray for the safety and health of my family several times a day. When someone's name pops into my mind I say a quick prayer for that person asking that God would watch over them and if there is a difficulty that He would care for them and comfort them. When I hear about storms or other problems caused by nature I pray for those affected by them. I lift up in prayer our troops and ask God to keep them safe. I pray as I am doing a task that is a little strenuous for me, such as carrying the heavy laundry hamper down the stairs that I will not stumble as I go down the stairs. I even pray for guidance as to which route I should take as I drive to church. Now I would like to hear from you, what are some of the things you pray for?

[Answers from the congregation]

Sometimes the best way we can help ourselves is to reach out in prayer and ask God how we can help those around us. We can forget our own troubles if we are busy taking care of the needs of others. When we are in our struggles or when we are helping someone else we will be comforted by God as we walk through that valley of the shadow of death.

Reaching out to others should be done in small steps such as this story called "Small Steps:"

By Dr. Michael A. Halleen

"Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?'" (John 6:8, 9)

In Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," Huck and his good friend, Tom Sawyer, are plotting to free old Jim, a runaway slave Tom's uncle has imprisoned in a cabin. Tom makes a long list of all the equipment they will need for the rescue. The plan is discussed, reviewed and redone, becoming more and more elaborate. It might take years, the boys agree, to pull it off, but when they do, it will surely be one of the great rescues in history. Meanwhile, Jim lies chained to his bunk in a dark cabin, with no food or water. He has become only a prop in Tom's wonderful plan. Details of the rescue operation have become more important than its goal.

Details got in Andrew's way when he found a young person willing to share his lunch with others. The disciples had been stymied by the problem of what to do about growling stomachs in the big crowd that had come to their meeting. They could not just run to town for Happy Meals or send out for pizza. A boy had volunteered his help, but what he offered seemed so inadequate. "How far can THIS go?" Andrew wondered. As in the story of Tom and Huck, concern for a perfect solution kept well-meaning people from doing anything.

I worked with a man who refused a 25-cent an hour raise because he wanted a dollar. He accomplished nothing. I had a client who spent half his day paralyzed by the fifty emails waiting for him every morning. Which ones to answer? Forward? Delete? The size of the task caused him to lose sight of his purpose. A woman in my office admitted to being so ashamed at the realization that she had not lived up to her potential that she spent hours each day making lists of what she ought to have done. Each day, each list, just added to her sense of failure.

What matters is to keep one's eyes on the goal and to take those steps - even one or two small ones - that are possible TODAY to move toward it. It is not necessary to have everything at hand in order to make progress. If you must feed 5,000 hungry souls, start with the one who offers to help. More will be done through that one than through a thousand others who throw up their hands in despair.

Even the little things that we do for others can mean so much more than we anticipate. We need to remember to reach out in the love of God and be His hands and feet and the vehicle He needs us to be. Sometimes the cross we are asked to pick up seems to be too heavy but with the help and grace of God we too can do wondrous things. It's funny, we usually pray for things to go well for everyone, yet isn't it in the times of trouble that we draw closer to God. Maybe our prayers should be not that we will always have everything we need but, that we will be content with what we have and find the good in our difficult times. Like my friend, Sharen that lost her daughter not long ago. She misses Tanya terribly, but feels blessed to have had her in her life as long as she did.

In the last verse of our Gospel reading it says: "And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom." You could take this to mean that His second coming would come in the disciple's lifetime. But what Jesus is referring to is His transfiguration and that Peter, James and John would be witnesses to this event.

Jesus always knew that His mission was to share the love of God and teach the people how to follow Him. He knew that He would have to suffer and die and then would be raised again on the third day. In this act He would defeat the devil and make it possible for all of us to be able to come to God and receive the gift of eternal life. It wasn't an easy choice for Jesus, He had to choose suffering in order to save us but He said "I must go." His love for us was stronger than His fears for Himself. I don't know when our home will sell, but I know that when it does that God will have a call for me to somehow continue my work for Him, it may be as a volunteer or another position at a church, but I must go and follow His call.

Amen.

1. Holy Bible, New Living Translation, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.) 1996.

©Jann Martin 2008