2nd Sunday of Lent 2024
Preacher: The Very Rev'd Dr Paul Shackerley
Date: Sunday 18th February 2024
Service: Cathedral Eucharist
Readings: Mark 8. 31 – 38 [1]
Lent - the Eve of Something Better and Greater
Lent has been described as the eve of something better and greater. That something better we know as Easter.[2] Lent is an austere time of reflection on our lives, who we are and how we can follow Christ better. It is no easy pathway living in a consumer, post-Christian society that encourages self-indulgence rather than self-denial. Denying self as a Lenten discipline isn’t always easy as disciples/Christians. Following Jesus in an eve of something better and greater requires we draw on our resilience in resisting temptations of consumerism and advertising. And the crosses and wounds we carry from our past have brought with them the gift of resilience if we are fortunate of course.
The disciples were on a threshold of witnessing Christ’s death, although they didn’t understand, they were in the eve of something better and greater. When Christ says, ‘follow me’, or when Jesus said to Peter ‘Get behind me… Satan…’ he meant, keep following me when hard times and adversity comes. I’m the Shepherd that protects. When the disciples left everything and followed Jesus, I’m sure they didn’t bargain on suffering, rejection and the cross. Yet, that was the clear message and reality that Jesus told them.
In the gospel reading, instead of Jesus saying to his disciples, you are on the eve of something better and greater, he tells them, he knew they couldn’t get to Easter celebration, without the walk to Jerusalem and the cross. Well, it’s going to get much worse before it got better and greater. On the one hand we have God saying we are on the eve of something better and greater, that is Easter, new life and resurrection, and on the other hand Jesus says, ‘it’s going to get harder’. This is the reality of human beings. Those truthful and real words of Jesus ‘deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me’, drew attention to the weight of the crosses we carry that may threaten or erase our faith, or it may wax and wane. In this, our calling is to keep on the path of faithfully following within the Body of Christ, the Church. The second verse of our first hymn poetically ‘take up they cross’, assures us:
Take up thy cross; let not its weight
fill thy weak spirit with alarm;
his strength shall bear thy spirit up,
and brace thy heart, and nerve thine arm.
Hymns are also prayers, and helpful when we can’t find the words ourselves to pray. It has been said s/he who sings prays twice. Lent is not only a call to repentance then, but also a call to be resilient and resist the many things that are sometimes thrown at us, with many crosses along the way. I’m sure most if not all of us are familiar with the expression “having a cross to bear”, or something similar, meaning “a heavy burden of responsibility or a problem that they alone must cope with.” We have all been companions of others who have carried crosses. Taking up the cross, and following Jesus isn’t going to get us any ‘likes on Facebook’, but it is a path that can bring compassion, empathy, wisdom, resilience, and honesty into dark places. In this conversation with Jesus, Peter lacked honesty, truthfulness, or reality. Taking up the cross, not only our own, but the crosses of others, is a solidarity with those we know who go through adversity and sorrow. Denying self and taking up crosses, not only our own, but walking with others who carry crosses, can only come when we lay aside self-interest to bring about good for others.
Peter had good intentions, doing what most human do to protect friends and family. When Peter was told Jesus must suffer, ‘God forbid it Lord. That must never happen to you’ was Peter’s impulsive response. He didn’t accept that a Messiah would encounter suffering and death. He was close to Jesus and spent a lot of time with him. He still got it wrong in rebuking Jesus. Imagine going to Jesus to tell him he was wrong. After all, Peter knows what messiahs should do. Messiahs rule! They don't die! After all that time with Jesus, he didn’t realise what Jesus’ mission was all about. Of course, Peter cared about Jesus and didn’t want him to suffer and die. He wanted to help prevent anything bad happening to Him, as we would all do for someone we loved. It is natural to want to protect those we care about. To see loved ones in pain or sad is a very hard cross to bear. We know from experience that neither success or love can prevent tragedy, suffering and adversity happening, and if we pretend they can, we become less able to face it when it happens. ‘Get behind me Satan’, must have been difficult words for Peter to hear from the man he came to love and follow. But as he was teaching Peter, Jesus wants us to be truthful and authentic and real, to be supportive when we are powerless to prevent suffering and bad things happening, and not pretend bad things won’t happen. Peter was a man who wanted great faith, yet often failed and faltered. Peter thought he was protecting and being kind to Jesus, ‘oh don’t worry. I’m sure you won’t suffer and die’. That wasn’t the reality.
I recall the day my mother died. I was in my small room in theological college and three months away from ordination. Another student answered the phone (no mobiles then, only public phone box on the corridor). He came to my room and said it was for me. One of my mother’s neighbours said, ‘Paul, your mother has just died’. No ‘hello’, no easing in conversation. Within minutes the principle of theological college and other friends were in my small room. He said, ‘this will make you a better priest’. I felt like committing grievous bodily harm at that point. It was not the right thing to say. The truth and reality of ‘now this cross has landed on me’, I didn’t want platitudes of how the pain and grief would shape my future ministry. It was the last thing I was thinking about. I just wanted to make the six hour journey home to Wales to see my dead mother one last time. The reality of now must be truthful and honest if it’s to be compassion and wise and help others become resilient. You all have stories, and hopefully resilience.
Peter eventually became more of a rock and less of a stumbling block, in the end. Be encouraged. His faith and healing didn’t come instantly, but through suffering and pain. He carried his own crosses that made a difference to others after the resurrection, even though he got things so terribly wrong. Like Peter, we don’t learn the lessons of following Jesus all at once. We get things wrong sometimes. Yet, our faithfulness to follow Christ will prepare us to be good news for others, and a warm invitation to that great banquet in heaven. We continue to learn and grow and respond to Christ’s invitation to follow him over time, and those experiences, if we are fortunate enough, can makes us resilient. Perhaps Lent is a time for us to reflect on the crosses we have carried, and where we have grown in our resilience to cope and be kind, truthful and compassionate for others. I wonder if we focused on resilience more than repentance in Lent we would discover our own personal journey and tell our stories of how we have followed Christ, who has walked the journey with us every step of the way, even when we get things wrong, because our faith must be rooted in the reality of our human nature, as it was in the human Christ.
[1] Justine Allain Chapman, The Resilient Disciple: A Lenten Journey from Adversity to Maturity, (London: SPCK, 2018).
[2] Mariama Ifode-Blease, On the Eve of Something Better (Norfolk, Norwich: Ancient and Modern, 2024), pp 70-72.
