“Great (False) Expectations”

Mark 8:27-38

Thirty or so odd years after the two events described in today’s text the Apostle Paul wrote this to the Church in Corinth: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

Peter wasn’t a Greek. He was very much a Jew. He looked for signs and wonders. He had also bought into the conventional, but false, wisdom of his time and place. He had great expectations. Unfortunately those expectations were diametrically opposed to the will of God. As Jesus said to him in Mark 8:33, “… you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Before moving on, let’s give credit where credit is due. Peter got it, up to a point. He knew for sure that Jesus was the Messiah, and he said so. And he said so in a very dangerous place. Caesarea Philippi was pagan country, Caesar’s country. There could be no king but Caesar. There could be no other lord. To say differently was to risk the wrath of the Roman Empire. Caesarea Philippi was also historically a stronghold of pagan gods. To proclaim Jesus as Lord in such a place was an extreme act of defiance against the established order, the powers and principalities. None of that stopped Peter from uttering the truth: Jesus was the Messiah.

So far so good. But the next time Peter opens his mouth he gets called on the carpet. Jesus even calls him Satan - ouch! How did Peter so quickly go from being Rabbi Jesus’ star pupil to being the class dunce? He rebuked Jesus for saying that he was going to suffer greatly, be rejected by those in charge, be murdered, and then rise again on the third day. What’s so shocking about that? It’s the foundation of the Christian faith. But we hear those words in the past tense. Peter heard them in the future tense. And they contradicted everything he believed about the promised Messiah. He believed, along with almost every other Jew of his day, a conventional wisdom that wasn’t even based on the Hebrew Scriptures.

Quoting from William Barclay’s commentary I’ll share some of that conventional but wrong wisdom: “The time which preceded the Messiah was to be a time when the world was torn to pieces and every bond relaxed. The physical and the moral order would collapse… Then there would enter the Messiah… Sometimes the Messiah was thought of as a king of David’s line, but more often he was thought of as a great, divine, super-human figure, crashing into history to remake the world and in the end vindicate God’s people… The nations would ally themselves and gather themselves together against the champion of God… The result would be the total destruction of these hostile powers… The Messiah will be the most destructive conqueror in history, smashing his enemies into utter extinction… Palestine would be the centre of the world and all the world will be subject to it. All the nations would be subdued… the fate of the Gentiles is utter destruction at which Israel will exult and rejoice… It is a grim picture. Israel will rejoice to see her enemies broken and in hell.”

That was the conventional wisdom that informed Peter’s messianic expectations. No wonder he rebuked Jesus. But as Paul would later write, “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” All of Peter’s great expectations were wrong. He had forgotten Isaiah’s prophecy of a Suffering Servant Messiah: “He was despised and rejected… and we held him of no account… He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth… By a perversion of justice he was taken away.” Or as the Apostles Creed says it, “… [he] suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell…”

Poor misguided Peter. And sometimes poor misguided us. We know what Scripture says about Jesus. We know the orthodox underpinnings of our faith. But we still get Jesus wrong. We still want him to be something he isn’t. We still look for one of those great, divine, superhuman figures to come and set things right; which really means setting them right on our terms instead of God’s.

Jesus was neither the political and nationalist Messiah expected by the Jews in Peter’s day nor the Jesus of our culture’s design. He is the Suffering Servant Jesus of Isaiah, the One who “was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed… and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus didn’t come brandishing a sword the first time. He will not come toting a gun the next time. He came, and is coming again, “not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” His Kingdom is not of this world. It is not to be confused with any one nation, tribe, or culture, past or present. It is a Kingdom in which “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

Jesus called Peter Satan because Peter was unwittingly tempting Jesus just as the Devil had in the wilderness: political and military power, rule over the kingdoms of this world, the ability to do amazing signs and wonders that would dazzle, amuse, and offer cheap salvation to the world. To which Jesus, over and over again, said, no! And at the same time he very openly and candidly taught his disciples that he “must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

He had come to obediently pick up his cross and do his Father’s will. And, again being very open and candid, he said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

The Suffering Servant Messiah calls us to follow in his footsteps even if they lead us to a cross; to possibly suffer and even die in his name. To practice the self-denial of totally surrendering our lives to God: our will, our ego, our ambitions, our prejudices, and often our dreams. To make sure that our priorities reflect those of God. To place our loyalty to him above any and every other loyalty.

And like Peter we are tempted to rebuke him for not being willing to be recreated in the image of what we want him to be. The sinful, defiant, prideful part of us that always wants to be in charge and have it our way rebels against all that servanthood and humility stuff; that stuff about being merciful, loving, and forgiving. That’s not who we want to be. That’s not what we want to do.

And all too often we prefer the Devil’s way of doing things to Jesus’ way of doing things. We don’t want to sacrifice. We want wealth, power, and fame. We want to be popular. We want to be cool. We want, though we don’t always admit it, to be citizens of a nation that can kick butt and take names, one that can shock and awe our friends and enemies alike. Speaking for myself and all my John Wayne fantasies, I kind of like the idea of a gun totin’, flag wavin’, butt kickin’ Jesus.

But that’s not what Jesus wants. That’s not who Jesus is. Or ever was. Or ever will be. He was the Suffering Servant. He was the One about whom his mother sang, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” He was the baby born in a stable, whose birth was first announced to shepherds, the lowest of the low in Judean society.

He is the Christ crucified we are called to preach – and teach – and model – and follow. He is the risen Christ who revealed himself not with great fanfare and special effects, but quietly and gently to some dumbfounded, frightened women, who people recognized in the simple act of breaking bread. He is the One who whose gentle invitation is, “Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

That is the real Messiah. That is the real Lord of Lords and King of Kings. That is the real Jesus, whom we are called follow and imitate every moment of every day. Amen.