The Cross We Choose to Bear
James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38
Sixty-one years ago today, a bomb exploded under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in downtown Birmingham. Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11) were killed. Across the street from the church is Kelly Ingram Park. In the summer of 2020, after the death of George Floyd, I participated in a protest rally there. Historically, it was a powerful place to gather. Sculptures in the park commemorate the events of 1963, specifically when the police arrested protesters who had gathered there in response to the imprisonment of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King had been put in jail for protesting the police beatings of the Freedom Riders. Rallies and protests were happening all over the country in the summer of 2020. But it just meant more to be in Birmingham where we marched, chanted, and sang “We Shall Overcome” in the shadows of Dr. King, those four little girls and other civil rights heroes.
The geographic location of today’s story in Mark’s gospel is critical to the story-line. For the first time, we hear Jesus predict the dark road ahead of him. As he and the disciples walked the 25-mile stretch north from their base in Galilee, Jesus pondered when to tell his disciples what was coming. As the foothills of Mount Herman came into view, he realized this was the right place and time.
Jesus invites the disciples to look back across Galilee, reflecting on the ministry behind them, but then to turn. Turn and look ahead to where they are going. Not only to Caesarea Philippi, but even on ahead, all the way to Jerusalem where everything will be asked of him (and his true followers). [1]
Caesarea Philippi was a regional center of the Roman empire. The city was built beside a dramatic cliff face. A spring emerged from the base of the cliff. Before Roman occupation, the spring was known as Panias, because it was a center for worship of the Canaanite god Baal, and later for the Greek god Pan. Worshipers carved elaborate niches, still visible today, into the face of the cliff. They placed statues of Pan and other Greek deities all around. This had also been the site of a devastating military defeat. Invading armies affiliated with Alexander the Great took the whole region for the Greek empire. Eventually Rome replaced the Greeks, and when Herod the Great died, his son Herod Philip was given control of the region around Panias. He changed the name to Caesarea Philippi, honoring Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor, in the first name, and honoring himself in the second. The city was Philip’s little “Caesar-ville.”[2]
Imagine what it would be like to enter “Caesar-ville” with Jesus. It compares to a Jewish leader taking his people to Auschwitz, a group of Viet Nam vets to the Hanoi Hilton, a Native American leader to the Trail of Tears. In this historically painful place – in the shadow of the cliff with its idols set into the stone wall, “Jesus asks his disciples a carefully crafted question, Who do people say that I am?” [3] One imagines a likely hesitation and then a few answer:
“Some say you are John the Baptist back from the dead.”
“Others say Elijah, or one of the prophets.”
Then, Jesus asks one of the most powerful questions he ever asked, “What about you? Who do YOU say that I am?”[4] Peter answers with conviction, “You are the Christ.”
In Matthew’s version of the story, Simon Peter is praised for having this insight and the willingness to say it. Then and there he received his own beatitude. Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah.”
But in Mark’s telling, Jesus did that thing he does... He ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Why does he do that? Perhaps he meant, “don’t use that name (Christ) to identify me yet. It is a loaded word.” A title that will get him in trouble and cut even shorter his ministry and message when it becomes public.
So, let’s deal with three questions as we consider Peter’s response further:
What does it mean to believe that Jesus is the Christ?
What does it mean to be a Christian? (and)
Can I, can you be recognized as a follower of Jesus?
It sounds to us like Peter is making a theological claim by calling Jesus the Christ. But in this setting… Remember their geo-political location… Calling Jesus “the Christ” is as much a political statement as a theological one. In Hebrew the word would have been, Messiah. In Greek, it is Christ. And Messiah is understood as “the one anointed as liberating king.” Brian McLaren wrote, “to say ‘liberating king’ anywhere in the Roman empire is dangerous, even more so in a city bearing Caesar’s name.”
When Peter identified Jesus as “the Christ,” he was saying, You are the liberator promised by God long ago! The one for whom we have long awaited. You are King Jesus, who will free us from the rule of King Caesar.[5] Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
And yet, for Peter to name Jesus, the Christ, revealed his and the disciples’ flawed understanding of the kind of Messiah Jesus would be. They hoped for a leader who would overthrow the current government, take over and rule the empire.
Jesus knows they do not yet see clearly like the blind man in the verses just prior to these. Jesus touched him once, but his vision was still blurry. So, Jesus touched him again and his sight was fully restored. Jesus will have to nurture with more touches these disciples so their understanding will come into focus.[6]
Next, Jesus explains what being Christ will mean in no uncertain terms. He will be captured, imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the religious and political establishment. And after all this, he will be raised from the dead. Taking hold of Jesus, as if he could physically prevent this from happening, Peter said something like, “God forbid! Lord, this shall never happen!”[7]
And that’s when Jesus shut him down saying, “Get behind me, Satan.”
(We have jokingly used that phrase - so many times – like when someone hands us a cupcake in the middle of the afternoon!) I wonder if we can appreciate Jesus’ meaning… You see, in Peter’s plea for Jesus to avoid this path of destruction, Jesus recognizes in his own spirit, the temptation to avoid going through what God has willed him to do, to be - a suffering Savior, not a mighty and militant Messiah. He cannot entertain Peter’s plea. Jesus’ obedience to God’s will sets him on a collision course, headed into Jerusalem. There is no alternate route.
(The second question) What does it mean to be a Christian? What does it mean to be a disciple?
When Jesus rebukes Peter, he reminds Peter where disciples belong. They do not guide, or protect, or possess Jesus. They do not force his hand or distract him from his mission. They follow him.[8] Being a true disciple means following him all the way into Jerusalem - where they will all face the ultimate test.
Doesn’t it seem that the Christian nationalist movement is a way that modern disciples are trying to force Jesus to be the kind of Messiah that he never intended to be. The leaders of that movement seem to want Jesus riding in on a Harley and waving the American flag, not riding in on a donkey to ultimately face death. Chuck Poole wrote an article published in the most recent Nurturing Faith journal where he said, Christian nationalism’s yearning for power, privilege, and advantage is contrary to the spirit of Jesus, who, in all four gospels, said “No” more than once to the subtle temptations of popular power. Instead, Jesus is content to live a life of self-emptying love.
Jesus told his disciples that they would have to say no to self, take up their cross, and follow him. We are supposed to work on making our lives look more like Jesus. That’s what it means to be Christian. That is the opposite message we are hearing from far-right evangelical Christianity who does everything it can to make God seem more like them. “They have God on their side –sharing their values, their beliefs, their political views.” But Jesus said, “All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.” The great theologian and civil rights leader Howard Thurman said, “one who follows Jesus ‘will choose rather to do the thing that is to [them] the maximum exposure to the love and… approval of God, rather than the things that will save [their] own skin.”[9]
If we are going to follow Jesus, we have to have skin in the game. This leads to the last question: Would you be recognized as a follower of Jesus? Bear with me for one final thought – a comparison of players and fans. Fans are the folks in the stands. Cheering, yelling. Waving the foam finger that they’re #1! They may look like a player when they wear the jersey of their favorite athlete. But they’re not on the field. They’re in the stands, drinking beer and eating nachos. Doing the wave. They’re serious! They’re passionate. They’re faithful, but they’re not in the arena. It’s the players who are committed to the team. They have been through the workouts and run the drills. They have done the reps and run the stadiums. They know the plays backwards and forwards. They are banged up and bloodied from being on the field in the game. When the player jukes their opponent but is stopped just before scoring, they hope that their teammate is going to pick up the ball on the next play and score! Fans watch the juke and say, “That was amazing! I sure hope they can score!!!” But they don’t pick up the ball. They’re not in the game.
The Christian faith needs more players in the game. Jesus doesn’t need more fans – more people saying, “Wow. He’s good! Look how he carries that cross!” It’s not a ball, Jesus needs us to carry. He needs more of us bearing our cross. What does that look like? Good news Team Weatherly! It looks like serving our neighbor, loving our enemies, filling backpacks for school children, caring for the wounded, flinging open the doors and welcoming the stranger. You’ve got skin in the game, Weatherly! The cross we choose is a life of self-emptying love, but it’s the only life worth living. Thanks be to God.
[1] Williamson, Lamar Jr., Interpretation commentary, Mark
[2] McLaren, Brian We Make the Road by Walking, Ch 25 “Jesus, Violence, and Power”
[3] McLaren
[4] Keck, David Christian Century Sept 2021, “The cross we choose to bear reveals who we think Jesus is”
[5] McLaren
[6] Williamson
[7] Buechner
[8] Williamson
[9] Blount, Brian K., Cain Hope Felder, Clarice Jannette Martin, and Emerson B. Powery, eds. True to Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007.