Trinity 16

Opening Verse of Scripture 

Jesus said - 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'  Mark 8:34

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Lord of creation, whose glory is around and within us: open our eyes to your wonders, that we may serve you with reverence and know your peace at our lives’ end, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Bible Reading Isaiah 50.4–9a

The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious,  I did not turn backwards. I gave my back to those who struck me,  and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who indicates me is near. Who will contend with me?  Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries?  Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps me;  who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment;  the moth will eat them up.

Second Reading James 3.1–12

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Gospel Reading Mark 8.27–38

Jesus 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?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then 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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But 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.’

He 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. 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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will 

Post Communion Prayer

Almighty God, you have taught us through your Son that love is the fulfilling of the law: grant that we may love you with our whole heart and our neighbours as ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

For the first human admission of who Jesus is, Mark shows Jesus travel from Lake Galilee to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi had originally been called Baalinas. It was the place where the worship of Baal was centered. Then it was called Paneas, a place where the Greek god Pan had been worshipped. Finally it was known as Caesar’s city, because Philip had built there a tremendous white temple to the godhead of Caesar. It was also known as the source of the Jordan, Jesus is in the shadow of this great city, upon him look down the gods of Palestine and Greece, the history of Israel and the might of imperial Rome. In this shadow of greatness, Jesus the poor Galilean carpenter, asks his sorry bunch of disciples who they think he is.

Peter shows that God has been at work in his heart and he is able to recognises that Jesus was ‘The Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ Jesus tells Peter that God has revealed this to him, and he calls him a ‘rock’ on which the church will be built. This means that Peter is the first person to discover who Jesus is and everyone who follows and makes that same discovery is another stone built on this foundation. Jesus does not want this message to be published at large at this time, in the 70 years before Jesus there had been 17 rebellions in which 57,000 Jews were killed. This was not time for another blood bath, and Jesus had a different plan. However Jesus at this point has reached a watershed, there was at this point that moment of no return. Jesus from here makes an inevitable journey to the cross.

There are two types of bravery, there is bravery when you do something almost without thinking, indeed if you thought about it you might not do it. People throw themselves into swollen rivers to save people and animals, often drowning as a consequence, they just see the need and jump. However there are other situations when people have time to consider what they are doing, they face the danger and sacrifice, they could escape, but they do not. I have a great deal of respect for these people. A young man who offers his own bone marrow to help somebody who he has never seen, who goes through the hospital tests, arranges time off work, faces the operation—these types of things I admire greatly. In Homer’s Illiad, Achilles is told by his mother Thetis that if he goes out to battle he will certainly die, and his answer is ‘Nevertheless I am going on.’

William Tyndale gave the Bible in English to the English people. The church of the day did not want the common people to have the scriptures and they burned his Bible. Tyndale said, ‘no doubt they will burn me too, if it be God’s will.’ It was eight years before they did eventually burn him, and he waited those eight years for his death. Jesus was in this mould. He knew the danger and what lay ahead and he refused to be put off course. This was not a particular gift of fore knowledge, anybody in their mind would know that if Jesus went to Jerusalem and continued to say the things which he was saying then it would end in his death. The Roman Empire was strong and powerful, the Jewish leaders were intent on his murder, yet Jesus was completely lacking in awe of worldly power or values. Jesus created his own values.

This morning is not a day in which we simply admire Jesus. He has a call to each one of us also and he makes it in this passage. He tells us that we must be like him, "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." Today we seek to model ourselves on Jesus - When surrounded by the power of influences which surround us. Are we able to live independently by God’s values and not conform to the world around us? Would we be prepared to do so if it brought us directly into situations of conflict? Are we prepared to consider and think through our ideas and values, to make sure that we are being transformed to live more like Jesus wishes us, rather than conforming to the prevalent opinions of our day?

This is so difficult in our time because we are surrounded by powerful influences which tempt us to have a distorted view of life which is not according to the teaching of Jesus . We do not live in the shadow of Caesarea Philippi but there is substantial pressure from powers about us. We are called to be in the world, not to retreat into solitude like the pillar saints, but to be in the midst of the chaos of our society. In the shadow of the malevolent forces which seeks to corrupt us and our society are we prepared to stand against the tide? Are we prepared to say like Jesus that if we seek self fulfilment we will never be fulfilled. Jesus

tells us that it is only as we serve and give to others that we are truly filled. Is it any wonder that our society is so lacking in fulfilment?

You might think that the message of the sermon today is that we must be brave like Jesus. Well no, it’s not. Jesus was able to continue resolute in his ministry because he depended upon God’s strength. If we are to dare to stand out as lights in the dark places of our world and demand kingdom values and witness to the Gospel of Christ, then we do not need to be strong or courageous, we need to be faithful. God will give to us the strength that we need to carry out his will for our lives. Charles Royden

Meditation

Charles was born in East Lane, Walworth (London), to music hall performers Charles and Hannah Chaplin. His parents split up and he had a hard upbringing at a school for orphans and destitute children. His father died and his mother ended up in an asylum. Hoewever Charles became a star of the silent screen because he had odd little tricks of behaviour and he walked in a funny way. In 1975 Charles was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and he died in 1977 at his home in Switzerland. He was so popular that Charlie Chaplin look-alike-competitions were held. One day Charles himself entered one and he came third!  As Christians we are called to imitation, to copy the example of Jesus, his life of love and compassion. We are challenged to think what changes in our behaviour would make us more like Jesus. No matter how humble our beginnings, or what difficulties life might throw at us, God encourages us all to achieve to the likeness of Christ.

Hymns

• I have decided to follow Jesus
• If any man will follow
• Will you come and follow me
• Tell out my soul
• Through all the changing scenes of life
• Healing God Almighty Father

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Lord Jesus we pray that your Spirit would lead us and guide us as we seek to follow you and place you at the centre of our lives. Your love urges us to have confidence in your promise that we are a new creation. May we know in our hearts the reassurance of sins forgiven and our future safe in your merciful keeping. King of love we praise you that no matter what circumstances may come upon us we are always in your presence and that you walk with us wherever we go. Help us to trust you in all things and through all things and may we be an optimistic people dwelling in the comfort and knowledge that we can entrust all of our future to your safe keeping.

We pray that our lives would be lived as witnesses to your kingdom. May your seeds planted in our lives bear witness to your saving grace. Help us to make our souls places which are fertile for the growth of your word. Through us may your kingdom be demonstrated to your glory as we share your grace and love. We pray that you would direct and govern your Church, that we might be your living presence in our community. May your kingdom grow and your love be known that justice and peace may reign. We pray that you would inspire our church leaders that they might speak your words to our generation and lead us in truth.

We pray for our government and all in political office as they exercise government. Especially we pray for all of those in the decision making process over how to respond to the mass movement of people across the Middle East and into Europe. Give them compassion and understanding to tackle those underlying issues which have caused so many people to flee their own countries. Forgive us our part in the destructive violence seen in dysfunctional countries in the Middle East and northern Africa. You have called us to welcome the stranger and love them as ourselves, so may your church show leadership to respond with love and care to the humanitarian crisis. Help us also to prepare for the long term commitment and the implications of the responses we which offer.

Look with compassion Lord Jesus of the anguish of our troubled world. We pray today for those facing adversity and all who are in need of your love and grace. We think of those facing financial hardship and an uncertain future. Those who are weak and frail and troubled by physical weakness. May all who are insufficient in their own strength find their strength in you. Lord Jesus your touch changed the lives of all who turned to you, so now hear the cry of all who cast their anxiety onto your loving care.

Heavenly Father your glory unites earth and heaven. Gather to yourself those who have died and grant eternal life to all your children, bring us through the waters of death to life eternal. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, a light which no darkness can quench. We comment to your merciful keeping ..... May the souls of the faithful deprated rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.

 

Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for having made us all different. What I don’t know about you I need to learn from others because they reflect your image and likeness in a different way. I ask you to lead me to seek to understand the many people of good will who are different from me. Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. I am grateful for all that is good in my life. I know that you look on me with tender love, and invite me to assess and renew my attitude and direction in life. Be with me in my determination to live in a positive way. Amen.

Wonderful God, Almighty Redeemer - you have declared your love for us not only in words, but in deeds. We thank you for the love you have revealed through Christ Jesus, our Lord and for how you have granted us by his death and resurrection victory over the sin that is in us and in the world. We praise you for inviting us to be a part of your family and for reaching out to us when we have wandered from the path. Be with us this day as we worship you and listen to your word. Grant that we may be renewed in body and spirit that we might more worthily serve and adore you. We ask it in Jesus' name.

Additional Material

Commentary (There are some pictures at the bottom of the page to go with this commentary)

Before we think of the response which Peter gave we should just reflect upon where all of this happened, Caesarea Philippi at the base of Mount Hermon. There is perhaps no other place in the Gospels which has such a profound geographical importance to our understanding of the text. 

 

First of all the geology of Mount Hermon is important because it is a huge limestone mountain over 9,000 feet between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. It has great rainfall and in winter it can be seen for miles covered in snow. The rain and melted snow goes thorough the limestone and creates vast underground reservoirs and water comes out of the mountain in springs. The historian Josephus, who wrote in the first century, spoke of the huge cavern at the base of the mountain containing water which plunged down so deep no depth line had ever reached the bottom. Earthquakes since have moved the water but it still flows to create the Jordan River and on down into Lake Galilee. It was this abundance of water which attracted people to the place. There were important periods when this was a place of worship

 

Before this place was called Caesarea Philippi it had a significant history

1. It was a sacred worship place to the Caananites. It was once called Baal Hermon because the fertility gods, the Baals were thought to live there
2. Then the Israelite king Jereboam 922-901 set up a worship centre to the god Baal there and put up a golden calf
3. Then came Alexander the Great and in the third century before Jesus Greek gods and goddesses became important at the site. The place was named Paneas after the Greek god Pan, whose name means ‘pasture.’ He was god of land, crops and procreation and his worship often involved sexual fertility rites. He was half human half goat. There was the usual cultic prostitution but significantly also interaction between humans and goats and Pan is often shown playing a pipe. Goats were sold for sacrifice to Pan and an orchestra near the temple provided music, and worshipers would “dance” with the goats before leading them for sacrifice.

 

You can visit the site today. You can see the ruins of the temples and altars where these activities took place. It is not now called Caesarea Philippi or even Panias. It was taken by the Arabs and because the letter P does         not exist in Arabic its substitute is B and it is called Banias. it is mostly a deserted ruin. You can see the ruins of the temples to Augustus and Nemesis and the worship of Pan. Of most importance you can see the large cave of Pan. Worshippers took their sacrifice inside the cave, this grotto temple to Pan. This was believed to be the gate through which gods entered and departed this world. They were thrown into the bottomless pool inside the cave which Josephus wrote about. This was believed to be the entrance to the Gates of Hades.

 

When Herod was given the city of Paneas in 20BC he built a temple of white marble and dedicated to Caesar Augustus, remember Caesar was a god, and he placed it directly in front of the cave of Pan from which the water gushed forth. When Herod’s son Philip took over he enlarged the temple and renamed the place Caesarea Philippi. Today as a result of earthquakes ands seismic activity the water has changed and it is quite serene However a little further downstream the waterfall at Banias shows how the water can flow.

 

At the cave there are niches in the mountain rock beside the cave face where statues to other gods were placed like Zeus and Hermes and Nemesis.

Homer described the threefold division of all things among the three sons of Cronos, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. Poseidon was granted the sea, Zeus the heavens and Hades was given the murky darkness of the dead below and was the most hateful god to humans. This was how Hades came to refer to the place of the dead as well as the god of the dead. When Jesus says 'the gates of Hades will not prevail', he is using the picture of this Greek myth. It very important to understand this historical background if we want to understand Jesus. The dark images of the Gates of Hades recur throughout the Illiad and Odyssey by Homer and they represent not a real place, not a biblical place, but rather the universal human dread of death. The cave at Pan represented the entrance to the threshold of death.

 

It was in this place of pagan worship that Jesus speaks with his disciples about who people, think he is. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the episode and the response from Peter which identifies Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. In making this statement in this place Peter was denying all of the authority of Rome and the history of worship of pagan gods. There is a lot of debate about what Jesus meant when he said 

You are Peter (Petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church. The words can be interchangeable. Put the debate as to whether Peter was the first Pope etc to one side. I think it is of much more significance to imagine Jesus

• standing in front of this mountain
• with the gods looking out from those niches
• with the cave of Pan
• with the huge temples and the cult of the Emperor.

 

Then think how significant it was when Jesus responded to a statement of faith in him by saying

Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 

 

The Gates of Hades were not some imaginary hell, this was the cave entrance visible in the background. Mount Hermon, Baal Hermon as it had once been called, this huge rock represented all of the false pagan gods in which people had placed their trust.  This was a place where life and death had been foremost in the minds of the visitors. According to Canaanite myths the god Baal died in the summer months and then rose again in the winter rains which brough life back to the land. Worship of Baal were about fertility which came back to the land. This was a place of abomination, death and false hope. As Jesus sets off from this mountain towards Jerusalem he proclaims that it will not be the false gods of Mount Hermon but his death and his resurrection that will bring true life and real hope.       

 

Commentary

The passage from Mark today is all about recognising who Jesus really and what that means for his followers. There are three ways we can look at the passage, what it means for Jesus, what it meant for the disciples and what it means for us.

1. What it meant for Jesus  Jesus is nearing the end of his ministry, he is about to be killed and there is an evaluation of how well he has communicated his teaching. Jesus asks directly what people are saying about him, and he is told that some see him as John the Baptist others as Elijah or a prophet. Then Jesus asks them directly what they think. Peter was always quick to respond and in the words of our reading today he calls Jesus the ‘Christ’ The word "Christ" is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word "messiah." The expectation of a "messiah" in first century Israel was that the messiah would sweep in and bring about the promised Golden Age. The messiah would be like King David, and would destroy Israel's enemies and bring peace and prosperity to the land. We could understand Peter stating this very traditional Jewish teaching. The Messiah was one who would usher in a climactic day of God’s deliverance as a mighty warrior. One capable of returning Israel to independence, free from Roman oppression. He would understandably be shocked that Jesus interpreted Messiah as meaning somebody who would instead see the role as meaning one who suffered. Jesus speaks of himself as the "Son of Man" one who would suffer and be killed. Peter will have nothing of it and reprimanded Jesus for having said it. Peter wants to hear nothing about the Son of Man being rejected and killed. He is still fixed on the idea of a triumphant and strong Messiah who would overpower the authorities; not suffer and die. It didn’t fit his view of how God would save the world. Peter rebukes Jesus for not being the kind of saviour that he wanted. In return Jesus uses the strongest language and calls Peter “Satan.” The disciples had failed miserably to understand Jesus teaching. God’s presence would not be found in powerful deeds and military might. The power of Jesus would be revealed in his risen life, but this only came through a life lived in weakness, suffering and death.

2. What it meant for the disciples. Note that Jesus calls the disciples and the crowds to gather round and makes clear that he is giving instructions which are for everyone. If they wish to live his risen life then they must follow his life of service. They must learn to copy him and deny their own selves, take up crosses, and follow. The words at the time would have had stark meaning. Having seen hundreds and thousands who had received the death sentence the crowd knew well the sight of individuals walking the roads carrying their own wooden crosses upon which they would be nailed and killed. The message at the time would have been chilling, there were no cute songs ‘the old rugged cross,’ if you followed Jesus you should expect to go to the same fate as the condemned Jesus, literally carrying their cross for their own crucifixion.

3. What it means for us. We won’t most likely be asked to carry a cross, or to literally die for our faith. However we are called to be radically different in our lifestyles, to live in a counter intuitive ways to the norms of society. Like Jesus, like the disciples, we are requires to deny our own needs and desires. To put ourselves aside for the sake of greater values. It is giving up ourselves for others, in the way of sacrifice and unselfishness. It is giving up particular interests or time or possessions when the purposes of God require it. It is letting the will of God take the place of our own will. It is putting God, not ourselves, at the centre of life.

There were those who like the rich man had understood the cost of following Jesus and the sacrifices which needed to be made, and who decided that they were not prepared to pay that sort of price. It is interesting that Jesus finishes this teaching by using monetary terms of profit and loss. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Jesus is using the language of economics to boil it down to very materialistic terms which we all understand. Following ourselves and our own desires is a path leading to ruin, following Jesus is the only good investment. Charles Royden

Commentary

The people who listened to Jesus were right to recognise him as the Messiah, the Christ. He was not a forerunner, somebody sent to prepare the way, he was the way. He was the fulfilment of all the hopes and dreams of the Jewish people. God had kept his promise, he had sent in Jesus not a prophet, not a person to speak about what God was like, it was God himself in human form. It was most wonderfuI. The Jews who heard Jesus and who recognised who he was could have been forgiven for assuming that this meant that as Messiah Jesus would be the one who would raise Israel up from under Roman occupation and restore her fortunes as a nation. The role of Messiah had military and political expectations which they could justifiably expect Jesus to carry out.

The air would have been filled with excitement at being in the presence of one who was about to reverse the fortunes of the downtrodden Israelites. Peter and disciples must have had in their minds episodes from the history of Israel, such as when Moses freed the people from Pharaoh. Once more God was about to do a great thing and the opportunity to be a part of it must have been elating. Imagine the disappointment then when Jesus acknowledges the fact that he is the Messiah, but then says he is going to be captured and put to death. How on earth could they convince anybody to follow a leader who was already predicting his own failure and demise! Jesus insists on honesty, they must not lead anybody into false expectations or misguided hopes. Anybody who wanted to follow would be a part of a movement which was destined to suffering and hardship.

The disciples found it almost impossible to understand Jesus. Later we read that Jesus gathered his disciples together and made his teaching really explicit. He broke bread as a visual aid, to help them understand that his body was going to be broken. His blood was going to be poured out, just as he gave them wine to drink. The disciples found such ideas beyond comprehension, they wanted the inauguration of the Kingdom of God, the new Golden Age.

This is an important to lesson to learn, for many are deceived in their faith by imagining that faith in Christ acts like a barrier against trial and tribulation. Some are wrongly advised that the trusting soul is not occasioned by adversity to the same degree as those who live without the Christian religion. How easy it would be to stand in the pulpit and declare that the act of faith works to bring health and wealth and immunity from the dangers which trouble others. How easy and yet how false. Thomas a Kempis wrote of those who have taken up the cross of Jesus Christ

'They are proved by tolerance of injuries, and the removal of internal consolations; by the death of friends, and by the loss of property; by pains in the head, and injuries in the limbs; by abstinence from food, and roughness of garments; by the hardness of their bed, and the coldness of their feet; by the long watches of the night, and the labours of the day; by silence of the mouth, and reproofs of superiors; by worms that gnaw, and tongues that detract. In their sufferings, however, they are consoled by the devout meditation of the Lord's Passion.'

Nobody could accuse him of trying to pull the wool over the eyes of potential converts! We must not expect special favours from God because of our faith. Christian commitment does not grant us immunity from the pains of life associated with our mortal bodies and a fragile planet. A most cursory glance at the misfortunes which afflict the lives of people across the world from Ukraine to Gaza, must convince anybody with half a brain, that God is not in the business of sparing people from even the most dreadful atrocities. The idea that we worship a God who will through our prayers reward us with new jobs or girlfriends, whilst being seemingly oblivious to the plight of millions who seek only enough food and water to remain alive, is simply ridiculous. Such belief turns God into a monster from whom we would do better to run away than to fall down and worship. 

The life of the Christian is not for those seeking an escape, it is just another way of walking the same path of life, with its many adversities and dangers. The difference is that as we walk we are accompanied along the path by one who has walked this path before and who promises to be with us as we pass over to the other side. Charles Royden

Commentary

Today we remember the occasion when Jesus asked the disciples who people thought he was.  In our reading the place is called Caesarea Philippi, it is now known as Banias in the Golan Heights. The location is very symbolic if we want to understand why Jesus went there and why he asks who they think he is. It is located in the shadow of Mount Hermon where there is a huge underground spring that gushes out of the ground. This is the start of the Jordan River in which Jesus was baptised. It was an important location, a place of religious pilgrimage for hundreds of years.

• The Canaanites worshipped Baal there, giving thanks for the water from the ground that brought life. They built a temple to Baal right at the site of the spring and the place was used to worship Baal for centuries.
• Then came the Greeks and they worshipped their gods, especially Pan. They built a temple to Pan and you can still see the huge cave of Pan surrounded by giant niches carved in the cliff face for statues. Worshippers took their sacrifice inside the cave this was believed to be the gate through which gods entered and departed this world. They were thrown into what the historian Josephus described as a bottomless pool inside the cave. Importantly it was this that was believed to be the entrance to the Gates of Hades.
• And the Romans came, they weren’t going to let a holy site be dominated by other gods. Herod the Great built a temple to Caesar Augustus here, and his son Philip named the town that had grown up around this place after Caesar and himself, Caesarea Philippi. 

 

When Jesus travelled there with his disciples they would have been surrounded by people travelling to worship these gods, leading the animals that they were going to sacrifice, prepared for excessive rites of sexual fertility. There was no shrine here to Israel’s God…this was an entirely pagan place of worship, any self respecting Jew wouldn’t go near the place.  It is here in Caesarea Philippi, surrounded by all the people worshipping different gods that Jesus asks the question, “Who do people say that I am?” And this is where Peter says, “You are the Messiah.”

 In making this statement in this place Peter was denying all of the authority of Rome and the history of worship of pagan gods.

When Jesus said that the Gates of Hades will not prevail he was laying down a challenge in this place of abomination, where death and false hopes were in the minds of all the visitors who worshiped their gods there. 

 

There was probably some reluctance to tell the truth to Jesus about what people really thought of him. Clearly there were some, including members of his own family who thought that he was mentally deranged. There were others who took him much more seriously as a threat, including King Herod who thought he was the reincarnation of John the Baptist. Others thought that he was one of the prophets like Elijah back from the dead. When he asked the disciples who they thought he was, Peter said that he knew Jesus was the Messiah. So far so good but when Jesus told the disciples what he thought being the Messiah meant things went very wrong. Peter was stuck on an old belief; he thought a messiah would be a conquering hero, overthrowing Rome to put a king like David back on the throne. Jesus knew his path was quite the opposite, it was one of self sacrifice, suffering and death. The two positions are at opposite ends of the spectrum, as different as chalk and cheese.

 

Jesus wants his disciples to know what they are getting into if they choose to follow him. Not only will he be walking the road to Jerusalem to certain death, if they followed him then they might as well all be carrying their own cross. It was as straightforward as that.

Except that for Jesus the suffering of the cross was not the sign of defeat which people expected but rather one of victory. Jesus did not see himself as a victim or a loser, he saw the cross as the ultimate triumph over sin, death and that was wrong in the world. Ever since the crucifixion of Jesus the cross has been for Christian the ultimate symbol of God’s love and forgiveness and the conquering of evil.

 

Yesterday September 14 was a special feast celebrated across the world as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. This feast began in the 4th century when St Helena the mother of the Emperor Constantine was said to have discovered the true cross in Jerusalem. She had converted to Christianity and she went to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage and to recover relics of Jesus. You will remember that Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to become a Christian and with that came the conversion of the Roman Empire. On 14 September in 335 the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was dedicated in Jerusalem by Constantine on the spot where Jesus was thought to have been crucified and buried. If you go to Jerusalem, and I would wait a bit, and you travel the Via Dolorosa it ends at this point. 

 

I am sure people were able to tell St Helena where Jesus had been crucified, I don’t know if what she found to be the cross was the real cross. However pieces of what were believed then to be the true cross were sent back to Rome and then around the world as sacred relics. I remember some years ago travelling to the basilica at Caravaca de la Cruz in Spain to see the relic of the true cross kept there. The Knights Templar, who were guardians of the castle there are said to have brought back a piece of the cross. I remember having travelled a long way waiting patiently in a small chapel until it was revealed and in truth I could hardly see it. I suppose on reflection this is what I should have expected because there are so many relics of the true cross if they were any bigger the cross would have had to be huge.

 

I went on a mini pilgrimage recently to the shrine at Walsingham in Norfolk they too have another relic of the true cross, but theirs is a piece of wood which has just been touched by wood of the true cross, so it is classed as a tertiary relic. I wonder if you can think where else in this country you have probably all seen fragments of the true cross? Fragments said to be from the true cross on which Jesus was crucified were gifted to King Charles by Pope Francis, as a coronation gift. Those pieces of the true cross were made into a cross and included in a newly made Cross of Wales which was carried at the head of the coronation procession in Westminster Abbey.

 

So why is the cross so important ?

Peter was upset because he didn’t want to think of Jesus being defeated, what he didn’t realise was that the cross doesn’t represent the defeat of Jesus by those jealous and afraid of him. Rather it shows the triumph of Jesus in bringing God’s love and mercy to all people.  On the cross that Jesus pronounced  ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do’   Luke 23:34  His death was the moment when God spoke words of forgiveness to the entire world from the cross.  When we look at the cross, we see how much God is willing to forgive us, no matter what we have done. Even forgiving those very people who drove the nails into his tortured body.

 

Throughout his ministry Jesus fell out spectacularly with the religious leaders, the Pharisees who want him dead and had him killed. The word Pharisee in Hebrew means ‘separated ones’. That is exactly what they were, religious leaders who placed themselves apart and above the people. The cross shows us that Jesus was exactly the opposite, he was not separate, he was God descended, made flesh, one of us, with us, standing alongside us, sharing our pain and suffering, knowing what it is to suffer and to die. So it is that the cross gives us hope. Even though it was a tool of suffering and death, Jesus turned it into a sign of victory by bringing God’s love and forgiveness and showing that by his resurrection that death is not the end. 

 

So how do we take up our crosses?

The cross becomes for us a different way of looking at life. Peter and those first disciples had to understand that Jesus was not offering a way out of the suffering and pain of this world, he was not offering his followers magical power or worldly wealth.  When we say that we carry our cross it means that we like Jesus are willing to bear the suffering and pains of this world and trust in God that through in doing so all will be well and not even death can separate us from the love of God.  The cross is the guarantee to us that Jesus shares with us as we bear the agonies of this mortal life and we can trust that as Christ triumphed over death so he brings to us that same promise of life everlasting.

 

The example of self sacrifice for others set by Jesus on the cross is an example for each one of us. As we look at the love and forgiveness of God poured out on the cross so we are also to show that example in the way that we live, that is how we carry our cross. We will not be required to give our lives as martyrs but each day we will be challenged to show that same love and forgiveness and that can be extremely challenging.

 

When that Coronation cross was given to Wales after the coronation Archbishop Mark O’Toole of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff encouraged Christians to model their lives on the love given by our Savior, Jesus Christ. He reminded Christians that on the cross are inscribed the words of St. David, patron saint of Wales in his last sermon “Be joyful. Keep the faith. Do the little things.”  It’s a good sermon, it reminds us that for most of us carrying the cross is not something evidenced by martyrdom or dramatic displays of discipleship.  Carrying the cross is something which we are called to do each day as

1. We share the joy of Christ

2. As we share the faith of Christ

3. And as we do those little things which evidence the incredible, love of Jesus