Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Readings – Proverbs 1: 20-33; Psalm 19; James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi and on the way, he asked…

When we read a section of one gospel on a Sunday and then another section the next Sunday, it is easy to overlook something.  Jesus was usually “on the way”, traveling from one place to the next, talking with the crowds, talking with the disciples.  “On the way” he talked, he healed, he asked questions like today – “Who do people say that I am?”  And it is these occasions, these stories, that his followers remembered, his followers retold, his followers eventually wrote down.

Conversation was a primary ministry of Jesus, connecting with people as they lived, as they moved, and as they had their being.  My first point today is the ministry of conversation, people verbally sharing their lives together as they are out and about.

Here at All Saints, we move seamlessly from worship to coffee hour conversation.  In so doing we are following the pattern of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  We engage as he engaged.  We don’t have his temple talks; we don’t have his synagogue sermons; we do have a few collections of his hill homilies, but we have many of his conversations with people “on the way”. 

Point #2  Jesus followed up his first question from today’s reading of “Who do people say that I am?” with the more demanding question – “Who do you say that I am?”  It is always easier to focus on general comments about others, but here Jesus drilled down deeper with “where is your heart?”  This question causes us to discern our center, our love.  I imagine all the disciples swallowing hard and looking down at their feet waiting until finally Peter declared, “You are the Messiah”, the one for whom the whole creation has been waiting.

Yet beyond that declaration, Jesus went even deeper.  As we all know, it is one thing to declare “You are the Messiah”, and it is quite another to live that declaration day after day after day.  As Jesus said- 

If any want to become my follower, let them deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me.

To follow Jesus, as our collect guides us, is to please God.

To follow Jesus, as Psalm 19 concludes, is to
      Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
      be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my
      redeemer.

To follow Jesus, to paraphrase the Gospel according to St. Mark, is to deny doing what is best for ourselves and putting others first. 

Twenty-three years ago, a picture was taken of the Twin Towers in New York City, still standing and spewing dark smoke on that cloudless day.  Almost missed in the photo is a fire truck speeding across the Brooklyn Bridge heading into Manhattan.  I think it was number 51.  Not one of those first responders arriving on the scene survived when the towers came down.  They raced across the bridge, toward the disaster, placing the lives of others ahead of their own. 

Fast forward twenty-three years.  I recently read in the Daily Item about a new school club being proposed for the Shikellamy High School – a First Responder-Firefighter Club.  There these teenagers will learn about CPR; there they will learn about basic first aid; there they will learn about putting their own lives on hold while seeking the safety of others. 

Bravo, I say.  Bravo!

Peter said, “You are the Messiah”.

And Jesus said, this is where I lead, will you follow?  My followers--
      Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and
      follow me. 

Amen