Complicated

Pentecost 16B, 9/13/15
Mark 8:27-38

God of Peter and Andrew, Mary and Martha, guide us as you guided the first disciples. Help us to know you better, and give us the strength and courage to follow where you lead. Show us the best way to be your followers in this day and age. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.  

People are complicated. Aren’t they? It’s impossible to describe any human being with just a single adjective. We all have endearing qualities and we all do things that drive people crazy.

If you don’t believe that, just ask your loved ones – they’ll tell you.

People are complicated.

Take Bill Cosby, for example.

He broke countless stereotypes and was a great role model for a generation of young Americans. He made people’s lives better by making them laugh.

But according to recent allegations, he was also apparently an adulterer. He may have assaulted and even raped a few dozen women.

People are complicated.

If you were in worship about a month and a half ago, you heard me preach on the apostle Paul. In my opinion, Paul was both the best thing and the worst thing to happen to Christianity.

Because of the writings of Paul, Christians over the years have been able to justify slavery and sexism and homophobia.

But without Paul, Christianity would never have expanded past a small handful of followers of Jesus gathered in Jerusalem.

People are complicated.

Take Peter in today’s reading from Mark.

When Jesus asks, “who do you say that I am?” Peter responds enthusiastically, in faith, with a strong answer about the power of Jesus.

“You are the Messiah!” he boldly proclaims.

Peter recognizes Jesus as God’s chosen one, the person who will restore wholeness to the people of God.

Peter is right.

But Peter doesn’t completely understand what being the Messiah will entail.

Jesus starts to tell the disciples what the role of the Messiah actually will be. Jesus says he’ll have to suffer and die, and Peter doesn’t like it. He pulls Jesus aside and says “dude, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Those things will never happen to you.”

And Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind on human things, not on divine things.”

From faithful follower to the tool of the devil in a few short verses. What happened? How could Peter be both so right, and so wrong?

Peter is complicated, and so is his relationship with Jesus.

Peter went on to become the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He is the one who stood in front of huge crowds on the day of Pentecost and announced the arrival of the Holy Spirit among God’s people.

Peter also denied knowing Jesus immediately before the crucifixion. He tried to talk Jesus out of dying for our sins – tried to thwart the very purpose for which Jesus had come to earth.

Peter was a faithful follower, but he wasn’t perfect.

Faithful, but not perfect.

Do you know the feeling?

There can be a lot of pressure in society to behave or believe in certain ways.

How should a person of faith respond to current events, to stress, to the needs of loved ones, to job changes, to the media?

What would Jesus do?

We want to do the right thing, we might feel a need to be perfect, because if we aren’t, then we get accused of hypocrisy.

We try to be faithful in our actions. But it’s hard to get everything right.

Here’s something to consider.

Jesus is complicated, too.

Jesus is human and divine,         son of God and son of man,       alpha and omega,      beginning and end.

Jesus isn’t this monolithic unchanging person whose every action can be predicted and anticipated.

In last week’s Gospel lesson, we heard Jesus change his mind.

A woman came to Jesus asking for healing. He said no.

And she said, come on, you can do better than that. I know that there’s enough grace to go around.

And he said, wow, you’re right.

The woman’s request made Jesus change his mind, and he did end up performing the healing she had asked for.

Jesus is complicated.

Peter’s mistake came in thinking that he knew Jesus completely.

He got part of the question right – who do you say that I am?
You are the Messiah.

And so Peter assumed that he knew everything about Jesus, because he knew this one big important thing.

But Peter was wrong.

Peter thought – as did most Jews around the turn of the millennium – that the Messiah would be a political hero who would take over Israel, throw out the occupying military forces, and restore a united kingdom like the one that had existed under king David.

         Jesus had other ideas.

Jesus knew that the true, deep need of people wasn’t for a military hero.

Our need was for a spiritual hero, someone who could reach into the very essence of our beings and say, “you matter. You are worthy. You were created in the image of God. You are not perfect, but God loves you anyway. So keep on trying to be the person who God created you to be.”

Jesus is the kind of Messiah who can save us not just from the powers and principalities of the world around us, but from the powers and voices within ourselves that hold us back from living full, rich, abundant lives.

Because people are complicated.

You are complicated.

And Jesus gets it.

So Jesus is the kind of Messiah who can respond to every level of need and insecurity and doubt that we carry with us.

         Jesus can help us be faithful, even when we aren’t perfect.

When Peter said to Jesus, “you don’t need to suffer and die,” Jesus scolded him, because Peter had stopped getting to know Jesus.

Peter had learned just enough about Jesus to think that he knew him, and then he didn’t try to grow the relationship any further.

But there’s always more to learn about another person.

There’s always more to learn about Jesus.

And so Peter had to be put in his place, so that he would go back and try to build up the relationship again. Peter needed to be told, “you don’t understand it all. Keep on learning.”

There’s a quote that I like – I can’t remember where I first heard it – but it goes like this:

A god you could understand would be less than yourself.

In other words, God will never be fully understood by humans. And that’s a good thing. Because if we ever understood all there was to know about God, well then, we would be greater than God. And if that happened, then in essence, there would be no God at all.

A god you could understand would be less than yourself.

Jesus was fully human.

He was complicated and complex, he had personality quirks and endearing traits, just like everyone here.

Jesus was fully divine.

Jesus was the embodiment of God. There are some things about Jesus that no human will ever completely comprehend.

So the best that we can do is to keep following Jesus.

We can engage in relationship with this strange human-divine Messiah and try to grow closer to God in the process.

Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow.

In practical terms, this means we leave our assumptions behind.

Unlike Peter, we don’t tell Jesus what to do, and we don’t tell God where to go.

         Our job is to follow, not to lead.

If we step out ahead of Jesus, we might hear those words, get behind me, Satan!

They are words of caution. Don’t get ahead of Jesus.

Instead, learn how to follow.

Learn how to trust that God will lead us along the right pathways.

It isn’t simple.

And it isn’t easy.

And we are bound to make mistakes along the way.

But that’s OK. You know, God was able to use Peter for some pretty amazing things, even after today’s argument with Jesus.

Peter learned how to follow.

People are complicated.

Jesus is complicated.

And following Jesus is complicated.

The life of discipleship is not a straight trajectory but a windy path.

By listening to Jesus, by building up our relationship with God, and by continually seeking to learn more about faith, we can stay on that path even on the hairpin curves. That is the life of faith to which Jesus calls Peter today, and that is the life of faith that Jesus will lead us down.

May God, who has given us ears to hear this call, give us the will to follow. Amen.