They say there’s a line in the United States, called the continental divide that cuts down along the Rocky Mountains along its highest peaks. All the water that falls west of it finds its way to the Pacific Ocean and all the water that falls east of it eventually flows to the Atlantic Ocean, and its subsidiaries.

Imagine that we’ve hiked up and located one of the high points of the continental divide, and found our way to the top of a high peak, to the very tip of the top. As we stand there, it begins to rain. Here it comes. Imagine looking up as the first drops begin to fall from the rain clouds. Focus in on just one raindrop. Can you see it as it begins to fall? Down, down it comes, right towards us, falling thousands of feet. Here it comes, now within plain sight, we can see it, here it comes, right down and lands on the very tip of the peak. It lands so precisely, that half of that one raindrop falls west and begins its journey to the Pacific Ocean. The other half falls right and starts for the Atlantic.

There is another Continental Divide that cuts through the Gospel of Mark. On that line, half of the Gospel falls one way, the other half the other way. All the way up one side of the Continental Divide in Mark, a question has been forming, taking shape, bit by bit. The question begins in the very first chapter. Look with me at Mark 1:27. Jesus enters a synagogue, teaches in such a way that the congregation says, “What is this? A new teaching – and with authority!” Then, speaking of his power to cast out demons, they say, “He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.”  In chapter 2:8, the question gains momentum as the religious leaders react to Jesus’ words: “He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” Who indeed! In response, Jesus says, “Is it easier to say to a paralyzed man, ‘you are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up on your paralyzed legs and walk?’ And, Jesus says this to the paralyzed man, he gets up and walks! Look at the crowd’s reaction in verse 12: “We have never seen anything like this!” The question keeps forming, keeps building, and keeps pushing upwards. Those who hear Jesus teaching, 6:2, express amazement: “Where did this man get these things? They asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!” The question pushes up towards the peak, 4:41, after Jesus commanded the winds and waves to stop, “Who then is this man, that even the winds and the waves obey him?” The question rolls up almost to the very top in Mark, chapter 8, beginning with verse 27, our passage for today. (Read 27 – 38) [Now, in verse 29, the question is fully formed and it sits right on the very edge of Mark’s Continental Divide. Read v. 29, 30]

Page 1

There it is. The question that has been forming, moving, pushing up all the way through the first half of Mark’s Gospel, until it comes to balance on the very edge of the half way point of Mark. It’s teetering there, as Jesus says, “But, who do you say that I am? And Peter replies, “You are the Christ.”

He means, the one anointed by God, chosen to carry out a particular task. With the task comes the Holy Spirit and the power to complete it. Think Samson, and the strength that came to him from God to defeat the Philistines who had over-run Israel. Think Moses, and the Spirit of leadership that came to him from God to lead the Israelites to the Promised Land. Think David, King of Israel. Many in Jesus’ day had a high opinion of him. “Who do people say that I am?” asked Jesus. Well, some say John the Baptist, and that’s saying a mouthful. John came just before Jesus, announcing his arrival. “None born of a woman,” said Jesus, “are greater.” “Who do people say that I am?” asked Jesus. Some say Elijah, the great prophet of God. It was Elijah who called upon God to send fire from heaven upon the altar. And, God answered him with fire, proving the reality of God against the pagan, false gods the people were worshiping.

Then, the question gets personal. “But you, who do you say that I am?” What the disciples came to understand, we know. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and Lord of all; the demonstration that God so loves us that He sent his Son, Jesus, into our lives. As John in his gospel says, Jesus is the way. He doesn’t just show us how to live. He is the way. We can’t stand far off and observe what Jesus said and try to follow his teachings. We could do that if John said Jesus showed us the way. Instead, Jesus said, “I am the way.” The way to live is through Jesus. Our connection to Jesus is the way. We find the way in an intimate connection to Jesus. Jesus is the truth. He doesn’t just teach truth. He is truth. As we choose to live in personal connection to Him, we discover truth, about us, about others, about our world. Following Him, we live what is true and right. And, Jesus is life itself. When I know Jesus, I experience life as it should be – often just a taste, but the taste is genuine life. Here’s another astounding reality. God has a major part in bringing us to faith. Notice that Jesus is the one who asks the question, “Who am I?” It is Jesus who leads Peter towards his confession. Jesus chooses us!

I don’t think Peter ever overcame the reality that Jesus chose him. Peter’s out there fishing, and Jesus points to him and says, “Come.” Jesus chose him. And, if Jesus can choose Peter, who sweats fear while he denies even knowing Jesus, once, twice, three times, he can choose us, too; yes, even us. I don’t think Peter ever overcame the marvelous reality that Jesus chose him. That’s the reality of all who follow Jesus. He calls us. We follow. He chose us. Charles Wesley wrote of this unbelievable reality, “And can it be that I should gain, a share in the Savior’s blood? Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me; for him to death pursue? Amazing love, how can it be? That thy my God did die for me?”

Page 2

We are accustomed to mention the blessings God has given us this season of Thanksgiving. Before we get to thanking God for the roof over our heads and the steaming food on the table, how about starting by giving thanks for Jesus Christ, who has drawn us to him, who is the way to life, the truth of life, and life itself. Peter’s confession is personal. It’s our confession, too.

But, that’s not the end. Mark’s Gospel pushes up to the Continental Divide and on its very edge, Peter confesses Jesus for us all, “You are the Christ.” You are my Lord and God. And, from that tipping point, the second half of the Gospel falls forward. The “and” of verse 31 tips the Gospel into the second half, with its double question: what does it mean that Jesus is the Messiah and what does it mean for us to follow him?

What does it mean for Jesus to be the Messiah? Peter’s understanding of Messiah reaches back into the past, into the history of his country and pulls out King David as the example. King David was chosen by God, anointed to fulfill God’s task of ruling the country on behalf of God. Messiah, to the Jew of Peter’s day, would be a political king like David who ruled on behalf of God. He would kick out the Romans and take on the political and spiritual leadership of a renewed and prosperous nation. No wonder James and John asked to be seated to the right and left of him when he came into office. They wanted a share of the spoils, like a modern day New Jersey politician!

Jesus’ response is no, no, no. Three times, Jesus explains what it means to be the Christ of God. Let’s read verse 31. The disciples don’t get it. Jesus explains again, Mark 9:31. (read) The disciples don’t get it. Jesus explains again, mark 10:33. The disciples and Peter have not a clue what he is talking about. To say that the anointed one, the chosen one of God will suffer and die makes no sense. It’s like saying that someone is a short giant. What’s that? It’s like waking up July 14 to the weather report for the day: snow likely! What that? Last week’s Time magazine reported that “scientists at the University of Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute successfully teleported data from one atom to another in a container one meter away.” It was “a landmark in the brain-bending field known as quantum information processing.” How can a bit of information move from an atom to another atom sealed away 3 feet away? It doesn’t make sense. That’s what the disciples were thinking, too. It doesn’t make sense. Christ can’t suffer because he’ll be a king and kings don’t suffer. Kings aren’t rejected and they aren’t killed, at least not the ones who have God’s protection and approval. And yet, Jesus said he “must” suffer. It was part of God’s plan.

Jesus turns to Peter and rebukes him for suggesting that Jesus will not suffer. Jesus sees that behind Peter’s misunderstanding lies Satan, the great tempter, who once again seeks to divert Jesus from the Heavenly Father’s path. The word “rebuke” is the same word used when Jesus rebukes the evil, satanic spirits that afflict humans. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (8:33)

Page 3

Jesus has been speaking only to the disciples up to this point. Now, he gathers the crowd to him with the disciples and says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” No parade here. No easy life of following Christ. Instead, Jesus projects a horrifying picture of a cross – not a cross necklace we tuck into our shirt, or a larger cross we wear on our front, or a clergy robe with crosses stitched into embroidery, but a wooden cross, stained with blood where nails have been driven into the hands and feet and the wood indented by a rib cage gasping and grasping for air as the oxygen is slowly squeezed out of it. Jesus will go the way of the cross, but it is not a solitary journey. Every one of his immediate disciples would also go the way of the cross, killed for their trust in Jesus. Now, in gathering the crowd to him and pronouncing the way of the cross, Jesus teaches us that his suffering and death, shared by the leaders of the Christian faith, would be a way of life that was also shared by anyone who chooses to follow Jesus.

While most of us will not die for our faith, nevertheless, commentator William Lane says, “Those who wish to follow Jesus must be prepared to shift the center of gravity in their lives from a concern for self to reckless abandon to the will of God…. This demand is reinforced and intensified by the horrifying image of a death march.”

For those with second thoughts, who consider this kind of life too hard, Jesus presents the alternative; verse 35. “For those who want to save their lives, will lose them, but those who lose their lives for me and for the gospel will save it.” Then, he concludes with two questions that still ring today. Question: “What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, yet forfeit the soul?” Question: “Or what can a person give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in their adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of her when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (8:36 – 38)

These were powerful words when Jesus first spoke them. They still were powerful when Mark wrote them in his Gospel and mailed them to Christians in Rome who were forced to make a choice, deny Jesus as Lord and live, or confess Jesus as Christ and die. For those who exchange faith in Jesus for life, they will find they have exchanged life for death. But, for those who hold fast and trust, they will receive life. The reality of Jesus is that triumph comes through death. Jesus obeyed the Father and went the way of the cross. Only through suffering did he gain the victory. What is true of Jesus is true of the early disciples and is still true today. First the cross, then the crown.

This is not an easy Thanksgiving for us. The unchecked way in which we lived – and spent – is gone. It has been replaced by a sober reality. We have been personally affected. It may be the economy, or our health, or jobs, or how we view ourselves, or the inter-relations between us and others. It has not been an easy year.

Page 4

For all who face difficulty, even suffering, the question is whether there is a God worth giving our lives to. Is there a God powerful enough to redeem our lives, who loves us enough to stand with us when tough times come? The reality of the Christian faith is that there is a Savior and God, who has gone the way of suffering and death, and yet emerged victorious. First the cross, then the crown.

May our thanksgiving begin with Jesus Christ, who has proved himself able to meet us in our deepest need, and whose power claims us and pulls us through suffering and evil to the other side. First the cross, then the crown. Amen.

 

All praise to You, Jesus Christ. Through your own crucifixion and death, you invite us to take up our cross and deny ourselves and follow you. Lead us. Pull us through to triumph in You, we pray. Amen.

Page 5