When the church talks about people being “transformed” by
the gospel, the change envisioned is one that, I wager, has to do with this
business of carrying a cross. Faith as given by the one who was crucified,
died, buried, risen, and ascended is not a safe and comfortable sofa but a bed
of turmoil over how best to live.
One’s cross might be the very questions that compel us to a
life of steadfast and difficult love for our neighbors. One’s cross might be
physical pain and suffering. It could be an insurmountable family relationship.
Whatever the crosses we bear or might “take up,” we can be assured that Jesus
calls us to take them seriously, to see them as sacred and honorable, and to
know we are not alone in this world.
Mark’s Gospel gives us that poignant scene of mutual
rebuking between Jesus and Peter that sets the stage for the command to lose
our lives to save them. We might see ourselves in Peter’s shoes.
Mark 8:27-38
This passage is both dramatically
and structurally the center of Mark's gospel; we are halfway through the story
and we are at the story's climax, too. When Jesus asks, “Who do people say that
I am?” traditional exegesis suggests that this is a rhetorical question—he knows
the answer and is checking up on his students. Since we have just seen Jesus
learn from the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7, I'm not sure that he's not
trying to keep learning here. Peter's answer is surely the best answer, but it
may not be the full answer. (God has told Jesus that he's Son of God and will
say so again in chapter 9.)
. . . Here [Peter] seems to get it
but then as soon as Jesus predicts his own passion Peter quickly backs off.
In part Peter is no doubt
appropriately concerned for Jesus. But in part we suspect that Peter is
concerned for Peter. He knows full well what the consequence of Jesus'
martyrdom will be for him, and Jesus picks it up immediately: “If any want to
become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow me”(8:34).
I know why the NRSV places this in
the plural, to avoid any sense that it's a word for males only, but this is one
of those places where the singular does make a difference. Each of us chooses
individually for or against the cross; nobody else can do it for us. In a day
where churches seem to be increasingly enthralled by the prosperity gospel, we
are taken aback by the “austerity” gospel, the sacrifice gospel. Oh, yes, we
remember now—the cross. – David Bartlett
Isaiah 50:4-9a
The Revised Common Lectionary gives us as complementary to
the Gospel story, the prophet’s song of the suffering servant, showing us that
throughout the centuries, the one who hears the word of God does not avoid
hardship.
Some have thought that the prophet
referred to Israel as God's servant in these songs; some have thought that the
prophet refers to himself. Christian exegesis from very early on has seen . . .
a foreshadowing of Jesus' own ministry and passion. What is clear in our
passage is that the servant does great good and suffers great wrong, and that
the doing and the suffering are inextricably intertwined.
The whole passage reminds us that
sometimes good news simply raises opposition. It seems odd that words that
sustain the weary can annoy the powerful—yet we all can bear testimony that it
is true. The servant's ability to keep on learning, teaching, and comforting,
rests on one assurance—that God is his helper. – David Bartlett
James 3:1-12
. . . James uses a number of analogies from nature
to give us a warning about human nature. The horse's small bit yet rules the
horse, a ship's rudder the ship. . . .
There is a particularly sharp—and
more theological—reminder in 3:9. “With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and
Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.” . . . For
James those who bless God with their tongue and curse their brothers and
sisters with the same tongue are hypocrites. – David Bartlett
For this Sunday, as we approach All Saints Day and the
celebration of the Reign of Christ, we contemplate our gratitude for all the
saints who have led the way and given us a faith to share with them and
gratitude for the one who reigns over all creation.
David Bartlett, an
ordained American Baptist minister, is Professor Emeritus of New Testament at
Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and Lantz Professor Emeritus
of Christian Communication at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut.
Homily Service 39, no.10 (2006): 24-34.
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