Mark 8:31-38 "Get Behind Me"

This coming Friday is Saint Patrick’s Day. In celebration of this, city workers in Chicago spent the morning pouring drums of green dye into the Chicago River yesterday so that for the day the river would be green. There were also parades around the country in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Now, normally, when we think of St. Patrick’s Day, we think of it as a celebration of the Irish. We think of shamrocks and leprechauns and pots of gold. But if you visited Ireland and talked about St. Patrick’s Day, you would discover that it is not a civil holiday but rather a religious one. Moreover, it is something really exciting that they are celebrating. They are celebrating the introduction of Christianity to their land. Patrick was a missionary to Ireland who brought the gospel in the fifth century, and in his lifetime most of Ireland was converted from their pagan ways to Christianity. And on St. Patrick’s Day the Irish remember that once they did not know God but now they do, and this is something worth celebrating. Wouldn’t it be great if we had a similar holiday, or even as individuals celebrated our own coming to Jesus in such a way?

But Patrick was an interesting man. He wrote an autobiography towards the end of his life, telling of his life and the journey he took. He grew up in Britain and he had a grandfather who was a priest and who encouraged him toward God, but in his youth he was much more interested in having fun with his friends and in drinking. He even hints at some great sin that he committed in his youth, though he never tells exactly what it is. Theories range from adultery to murder of a servant, but the fact is that we just don’t know. Then tragedy struck him as his village was attacked by Irish marauders and he was carried off to Ireland as a slave. It was during his time in Ireland, working as a shepherd for his master, that he remembered the faith that his grandfather had taught him and he became serious about Jesus. He then escaped back to his home, running away from the land of his slavery. Patrick became a priest and then felt the call back to Ireland to share the gospel with those who had been responsible for his slavery. He journeyed back to Ireland and began to spread the gospel in a way that reached many and changed the island completely.

Patrick was a fully human person, with sin and trouble abounding. Yet he chose to deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus, back to the land of his own captivity. And here we are, 1500 years later, celebrating this man’s life by pouring green dye into the Chicago River.

Let us open in prayer.

I. Fully God / Fully Man

I’m going to begin today’s message by talking about a theological concept. It is worth talking about because it helps us to better understand how to read today’s scripture and understand what is going on with Jesus. It also helps us to allow ourselves to follow the example that Jesus puts before us.

This theological concept is the dual nature of Christ. You see, we believe some pretty amazing and strange things about this man who lived 2000 years ago in the land of Israel named Jesus. We believe that he was able to do miracles… pretty amazing ones: He calmed a storm while he was out on a lake. He walked on water. He caste out demons and healed the sick. He rose from the dead. But we believe that Jesus was more than just a miraclemaker. We believe that he spoke with authority the truth of God. We go as far as to say that Jesus was God, that he was divine. We, as Christians, believe in the Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we believe that Jesus is the God the Son. But again, there is more to our belief. We don’t believe that God came down and pretended to be human and went through a number of motions on his way to the cross. No, what we believe is that God came down and clothed himself in humanity. What we believe is that Jesus was fully God, but also fully human: the dual nature of Christ. It’s beyond our comprehension, but nothing is too great for God. So God became man and dwelt among us.

What does this mean to us today? It means that Jesus wasn’t just going through the motions. It means that when Jesus was in the desert fasting he actually found himself growing hungry. It means that when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, the temptations were real. It means that the journey to the cross was a difficult one for Jesus, one that he even feared. We see this fear in his time in the garden of Gethsemane as he prayed for God to take the burden from him. Jesus didn’t want to go through with what was ahead of him. He knew how painful and difficult it would be. But even so, he did follow through with it. Even so, he did sacrifice his own life for each of us.

And so, this helps us read the gospels in a different light. It helps us to realize that we aren’t just watching Jesus play act out examples for us about how to live the Christian life. Instead, we see a fully human Jesus face a difficult time ahead of him and remain faithful to his mission from his Father. It makes Jesus’ sacrifice all the more powerful to us that it was a hard sacrifice for him to make. And it also helps us understand a bit better the difficult passage that we read this morning where Jesus refers to one of his disciples, Peter, as Satan.

II. Peter / Satan

I find it absolutely amazing that Jesus refers to Peter, the rock on whom he will build his church, as Satan. I find this harsh and not in keeping with everything else we see from Jesus. Peter doesn’t understand what Jesus is about. Peter doesn’t understand the path that Jesus will be facing. Peter thinks that Jesus will be conquering Rome, not dying on a cross. How can Jesus expect any more from him, and how can Jesus treat him so harshly for his lack of knowledge. What is absolutely amazing about this story is that it is caught in the middle of a point where we get to see Jesus in all his divinity. It is in a part of scripture where we see that Jesus is God. If you look at what happens right before this, Peter has just proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior. Other gospels tell us that this is the point where Jesus tells Peter that he and his faith are the rock on which the church will be built. And then, immediately following this, Jesus heads up a mountain with Peter, James and John and is seen in all his majesty as he talks to Moses and Elijah.

If Jesus is fully God and just play-acting a drama as he heads to the cross, there is no reason for him to rebuke Peter as harshly as he does. But if he is also fully human, and dealing with his own doubts and fears about what it is that he has to face, he will rebuke Peter because Peter’s words hold temptation for him. Jesus, when he rebukes Peter, is resisting temptation.

When Peter tells Jesus that he doesn’t need to die on the cross, this is not something that Jesus needs to hear. It is not something that Jesus is going to listen to. So Jesus tells Peter to get behind him, he refers to him as Satan, which is a name for the devil but also means “tempter”. Jesus does not want to be tempted away from the path that God has put before him.

And then, after resisting this temptation, Jesus calls the crowd around him and gives them a message… one that he has been working through himself. He tells them not to live their lives in way that is trying to save their lives. He tells them not to hold on so closely to this life that they will miss God’s path for them. He tells them that “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

III. Following Jesus

Following Jesus means living the life that Jesus lived. It means making the sacrifices that Jesus made. It means following the path that Jesus followed. When we accept that Jesus was fully God and fully human we realize that Jesus knew the path he had to take, and we realize that even so, this path was difficult for him. So, when we follow the path of discipleship, we can know that as we face trial and temptation, we are in good company. Even Jesus had doubts. Even Jesus was tempted away from following God. But we also know that Jesus, being fully human, was able to put those temptations behind him, even when they came from the mouth of his most trusted disciple. Jesus knew the ways of God and stayed true to them.

Jesus gives us a great example to follow. But there are other examples of people who followed God’s way instead of giving in to temptation. I think of Patrick those many years ago, having to decide whether he should return to Ireland, which he had escaped from as a slave. His life was forfeit to the people of Ireland. He was an escaped slave. He was very probably going back to his doom. We know that his master was well known and would find out about him if he came to Ireland. And yet, he felt that God was calling him to Ireland to teach the people of Ireland about Jesus. He had to make a choice. Was he going to follow the path that God had set for him or was he going to let his fears tempt him to remain at home in comfort. He followed God’s path and great things happened.

What tempts you to stray from God’s path? What keeps you from following God with your whole heart? Is it fear of the unknown? Is it being uncomfortable with change? Is it the draw of comfort? Is it the council of friends who are not seeking God’s will in their lives?

You can respond to these temptations as Jesus did, “Get behind me, tempter. Get behind me, Satan! I choose to follow where God will lead me. I choose to give my life to God here and now, on this earth so that he will save it. I choose not to be ashamed of Jesus or his words, so that he might not be ashamed of me.”

Jesus gives us an example of what it means to resist temptation. Jesus gives us an example of what it means to remain faithful to God. And he calls for us to live and follow that example. Let us do that very thing. Amen.