Do any of you like sports movies? What are some of your favorites? I played sports growing up and I like movies, so I’ve long been a fan of sports movies. I have favorites: The Longest Yard, The Bad News Bears, Major League, The Replacements. I even liked Angels in the Outfield. Well, I guess I should say I like football and baseball movies. But there are movies about almost every sport you can think of. Basketball, car racing, bicycle racing, golf, figure skating. Even dodge-ball!
Almost all of them have a similar plot. You can almost guess the story of a sports movie before you see the opening credits. You have a down-on-its-luck team, they lose, they get motivated, they start to win, they have a setback, but they still make it to the championship game. Then, of course, they win.
It’s almost like clockwork. But it’s not just sports movies. Most war movies follow a similar template. Heck even romantic comedies have a similar format. The commonality between all of them is the ‘happy ending.’ Hollywood loves a happy ending. The underdog team wins, the good-guys win the battle, the guy and girl end up living happily ever after. We’ve come to expect it.
Well, Jesus’ disciples expected one also. They had certain expectations of how their story would play out with Jesus leading them. Last week, we read the account of Peter affirming Jesus as “Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
That title came with certain expectations. Messiah was a conqueror, a liberator. Most Jews expected the Messiah to come and liberate Israel from their oppressors and reestablish the Davidic line of the kingship. This is likely the idea of Messiah that the disciples had. That is what they expected of Jesus.
In today’s reading, Jesus will burst their bubble. I’m going to read the passage from last week as a reminder of our context.
The first line of verse 21 is interesting to me. Jesus showed them, not told them or taught them, but showed them what he must do. “From that time on, Jesus began to show them that he must undergo suffering.” I wonder how Jesus showed them what he would endure. I wonder if they witnessed a crucifixion? I wonder if they saw a criminal scourged. Watched him carry the heavy horizontal beam of the cross to the execution site. I wonder if they were standing near a crucifixion site during this exchange. Maybe they were staring at an empty cross, or an occupied one, as Jesus told them, “That is what I must do. This will happen to me. All of this; the suffering and the death.” Imagine the gravity of Jesus’ words if they were witnessing an execution as 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 will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?” It changes the meaning of those statements, or at least the impact of them.
Regardless, if they witnessed an execution together or not, the disciples were familiar with the practice. Crucifixion was meant to be a public spectacle. It was a testament to the power of the Roman Empire. It was meant to deter others from opposing the empire. So it was public and it was violent. They knew what it meant to suffer. They knew what it meant to “carry a cross.” And this is the image that Jesus uses, either in person or by using their imaginations, as he tells his disciples what must occur. It adds new meaning to Peter’s words as well. Imagine that Peter is looking at a man hanging on a cross as he tells Jesus, “This must never happen to you.”
It’s too bad tone doesn’t translate into writing. I wonder how Peter said this to Jesus. Jesus had just told him that he was the bedrock of the church. Maybe the idea of that power went to his head a little. He got a little too big for his britches. So he lashes out at Jesus. Or maybe he said it with grave concern. Concern for Jesus, for the movement, for himself. Maybe he said it because he thought it was the appropriate, expected response. Maybe he thought this was what Jesus wanted to hear.
Whatever the reason, it upsets Jesus. Again, we don’t know his exact tone. Maybe it wasn’t anger. Maybe it was concern. Regardless, Jesus now calls Peter a stumbling block. He has gone from a foundation stone to a rock to trip on; from an essential part of building the church to an impediment to its development.
I want to point out something interesting here. Jesus tells Peter to “Get behind me!” We tend to see this as Jesus telling Peter that he is evil, or his response is. Sort of a “Get out of my sight” response. I think there might be more to it than that, maybe it’s not that simple. When a rabbi and his disciples traveled, the disciples walked behind the teacher. I wonder if Jesus was telling Peter to resume his role as a disciple. It’s almost as if in praising Peter’s acknowledgment of Jesus as Messiah, Jesus graduated him beyond the role of disciple. Now, as Peter demonstrates he still doesn’t quite get it, Jesus demotes him back to the role of Disciple. Telling him, in essence, to go back to school. “You haven’t learned as much as I thought you had.”
Because Peter, like the other disciples, is still looking for an earthly Messiah. An overthrower and a king. Jesus can’t go to Jerusalem and suffer and die, because he has to kick Rome out of Judah and assume his rightful place on David’s throne. That’s how the Hollywood movie would go. Jesus would stand on the brink of defeat, but finally defeat Rome and liberate Israel. Peter is looking for that Hollywood ending.
Jesus contradicts that idea. He introduces a new concept, a concept that the disciples cannot fathom. “The Suffering Messiah.” Then he continues with the contradictions.
If you want to save your life you will lose it. If you lose you life, you will find it.
Then he invites them to suffer with him.
Take up your cross. Deny yourself. Follow me.
I imagine at this point Peter didn’t respond anymore because he had no idea what to say. I expect all of the disciples were speechless and confused. I don’t know about you, but I am too.
What does it mean to take up our cross? What does it mean to deny ourselves? How exactly do we lose our life in order to find it?
Jesus said these things to his disciples, but they are informative for us as well. If we are trying to live as disciples of Jesus, then they are meant for us as well. I think we can ease the confusion a little if we look at the passage from Romans that we read earlier.
In this passage from Romans Paul gives us a glimpse at what it looks like to take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Jesus. What it means to lose our life for Jesus sake.
Take up our cross means we are willing to follow God, regardless. Regardless of the sacrifice required, regardless of the inconvenience, regardless of the cost. Author and professor Mitchell G. Reddish put it this way, “The disciple ‘who takes up the cross’ is one who is willing to surrender pride, ego, status, comfort, and even life for the sake of the kingdom of God. They must be willing to surrender their own self-centered ambitions, goals, and lifestyles for the ways of Jesus.” That’s what it looks like to deny ourselves. That is how we lose our life for Jesus’ sake.
Our life dissolves into God’s will, God’s will permeates our life. It means to open yourself fully to God’s call. To surrender your will to God’s will. “Not my will, but yours be done.”
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