Saving and Losing: Gaining and Giving Away

Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  11:27
0 ratings
· 12 views
Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →
September 12, 2021 The Rev. Mark Pendleton Christ Church, Exeter Saving and Losing: Gaining and Giving Away Mark 8:27-38 27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" 28And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." 29He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." 30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. 31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." 34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." This week I learned of a French soccer player who died at the age of 73. His name was Jean-Pierre Adams. Born in the former French colony of Senegal, he was a larger-than-life player back in the 1970's for a number of French teams. What is remarkable about his story is that Adams died after 39 years in a coma. In 1982 the soccer star was admitted the hospital for knee surgery and never regained consciousness after an error with his supply of anesthesia. Adams suffered cardiac arrest and brain damage. In turns out that the day of the surgery, many of the hospital staff were on strike and the head anesthesiologist was overseeing eight procedures at one time - clearly a nightmare scenario. I share this story not to frighten those who go in for joint replacement surgery, which are routine these days, but to share what happened when Adams was released from the hospital after 15 months. Bernadette took her husband home. There was never an apology from the hospital. Bernadette Adams by all accounts is a gentle and remarkable woman, who never once considered turning off her husband's life support machine despite his unconscious state. For four decades, she has spent nearly every day caring for Jean-Pierre, changing his clothes, preparing his food, never forgetting to give him presents and often talking to him. The response was silence, yet nurses reported slight mood changes on the rare occasions Bernadette went away for a night or two. It is a mystery: when one clings to the edge of life and death. By most standards, the sacrifice that Bernadette Adams made made little rational sense. Many of us know the toll on caregivers who care for a loved one for many years knowing the costs to their own lives. Yes, when I learned of this story this past week, I thought her story gave flesh and blood to a verse in the Gospels that is easy to recite and memorize but much harder to live out: Mark 8:35. Jesus tells his disciples, for those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? This teaching came at a real breakthrough moment for Peter when he confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. Yet much harder news followed: Jesus told his followers about the difficult days ahead - suffering, rejection, and death - and that a true disciple we would have to deny themselves and pick up their cross and follow him. Many a churchgoer has heard this turn of phrase: pick 'up your cross and follow Christ,' yet we struggle to understand what it means. Is it that 'cross to bear' what weighs upon us over the course of our lives? Is it hardship, bad fortune, imposed upon us by others or does it come deep within? Jesus tries to explain what he means by paradox: to save one's life, we will lose it; and to gain the world could lead us down a road where we will forfeit what is most valuable to us. Notice that even with in these "listen up" and hard reality words that were so hard for Peter to hear and accept, the hope of resurrection is planted: the Son of Man would rise again after three days. How do Jesus' words stand up to the test of time - in our day, in our experiences. Can they speak to us now as we settle into the months of uncertainty ahead? Students and teachers returning to school, many others returning to offices, juggling protocols and requirements yet again. Do they speak to us a nation as we remember the events that changed so much of our world twenty years ago on 9/11? What is God trying to tell us still today through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? Deny ourselves. Take up our cross and follow Christ. O.K.: Where do we start? There are many times in my life when I simply want to turn to someone and ask: "What can I do to help." "Tell me what to do." "Give me a job." Anything. I can do that. Clean up the kitchen after a party. Visit someone who is lonely. Offer to watch the young children of a stress-out parent. How do we begin the hard work of reconciliation and peace? - repairing our broken world. 20 years ago yesterday, and in the months that followed 9/11, what stands out to me after the initial shock and trauma of the event, was what I believe I heard as the response for what many of us were asking: what can we do? Give us a job. What I heard was: start spending money -- kick-start the economy that was sputtering in the weeks after attacks. And that may have been sound monetary policy. I remember getting a check in the mail from the government. And I remember putting new carpet in our family room in suburban Maryland with the money: dutifully marching down to Home Depot. Yet it the action felt short-sighted and hallow. Where was the call for sacrifice that followed the call for national unity? I had heard of peace gardens and recycling drives in World War II from history books. Why were we being asked to give so little - borrowed treasure -- when a small percentage of our fellow citizens would give their sweat and blood serving in two wars. We have the spiritual tools at our disposal to write a follow-up to this sermon and to begin again to live it out. What are we clinging to to save that we should let go of? What sacrifice can we make for the common good? 2
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more