Called to Action
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 17 (Year A)
Exodus 3.1-15; Matthew 16.21-28
St. Gregory’s, Long Beach
Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 15:15)
Today’s Gospel reading is a pivot
point in the life and ministry of Jesus. And in the life and ministry of those
who follow him. Jesus reveals to his disciples for the first time what will
ultimately happen to him. “That he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great
suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised” (Mt 16.21). Upon hearing this, Peter
freaks out and rebukes Jesus, because surely these things could not possibly
happen to the Messiah. To which Jesus responds “Get behind me Satan! You are a
stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but
on human things” (Mt 16.23).
Jesus’ words seem a little harsh. But,
at the same time, appropriate. Telling Peter “Get behind me Satan” was not so
much condemning him as correcting him. Even commissioning him. Commissioning
him for action. In calling Peter Satan, Jesus was not implying that Peter was
evil. His use of the term “stumbling block” really says it all. It is likely
that Jesus was calling to mind a more ancient understanding of satan as
a generic term for an adversary. As one who places a stumbling block before
another. An image that, over time, would take on additional meaning and become
a common name for the personification of evil. But not here. I think Jesus was
merely pointing out that Peter, in raising objections stemming from his limited
understanding of who Jesus was, was serving as an adversary, getting in the way
of what Jesus had to do. “Get behind me Satan” would have really been a
statement that Peter needed to not just get out of Jesus’ way, but that he
needed to get behind Jesus. As in, support Jesus. As in, get behind him so he
could follow wherever Jesus would lead. This makes more sense considering what
comes next.
Jesus uses the uncomfortable
altercation with Peter as a springboard for conveying marching orders to Peter
and all the disciples. Jesus tells 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
will find it” (Mt 16.24-25). This is not the first time Jesus has talked about
the need for those who follow him to take up their cross. He used this same
phraseology when he first gathered the Twelve together, commissioned them as
apostles, and then warned them about what it means to follow him (Mt 10.38). I
preached on that passage a couple months ago, but it’s probably worth
reiterating the point about taking up the cross, since it seems to be a running
theme in Jesus’ education of his followers.
Despite popular conceptions, when
Jesus talks about his followers taking up their cross, it has nothing to do with the little burdens or inconveniences that we
encounter in our daily lives. When Jesus asks us to take up our cross, he is
implying something far greater. And while here he is revealing that he himself
will die, there is no reason to believe that he is talking about the necessity
for his followers to die in the service of the Gospel. While reference to the
cross may have been an indication of the type of death he would die, we cannot
be sure. We don’t know what details Jesus knew about his impending death.
Rather, here his reference to the cross is likely meant to invoke a very
particular image that would have been well understood by those living under
Roman oppression. The cross was a means of execution reserved for those who
were perceived as a threat to the Roman Empire. Jesus is saying that those who
follow him are to identify with those who threaten the Empire. With those who
threaten the status quo. That truly living the Gospel is a threat to the status
quo. That they—we—are to be those who threaten the status quo.
Jesus’ statement that those who follow
him must take up their cross is nothing short of a call to action. That those
who follow Jesus can’t just say they are his followers. They must demonstrate
it through their actions. They must be willing to follow, despite not knowing
where the journey will lead. That following Jesus is not about playing it safe.
“Those who want to save their lives will lose it, [but] those who lose their
life for [Jesus’] sake will find it.” Following Jesus is about embracing an
alternative way of life. Following Jesus is about embracing alternative
practices that are consistent with God’s purposes. Following Jesus is about
embracing an alternative community that is the embodiment of God’s kingdom.
Following Jesus is about stepping out in faith, despite the uncertainty that
lies ahead. It is about stepping out in faith that Jesus will lead us where we
need to go. And that he will be with us throughout the journey, guiding us,
supporting us, and sustaining us.
In actuality, what Jesus was asking—what
he was telling his disciples—was nothing new. Stepping out into the unknown,
following God into the unknown, has been part of what it means to be God’s
people from the beginning. Abraham and Sarah stepped out in faith to travel to
a foreign land because God asked them to. A land that would become their
Promised Land. Their descendants followed God into the unknown in Egypt. And in
our Old Testament reading for today, we hear the beginning of a new journey of
faith. Of God, speaking through a burning bush, calling Moses to lead his
people out of Egypt and back to the Promised Land.
There are certainly parallels between
the Old Testament and Gospel readings. Both are stories of calling and
commissioning. But there is something in the calling of Moses that we often overlook.
Something that is critical to who we are as those who follow God. As those who
are made in the image and likeness of God. When Moses
encounters God in the burning bush and asks his name, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM
WHO I AM’” (Ex 3.14a). Other translations include “I AM WHAT I AM” or “I WILL
BE WHAT I WILL BE.” A bit cryptic, to be sure. Yet also very revealing. As one
commentary explains:
The
revelation of the divine name is an early form of the Hebrew verb “to be” (hwh,
hawah) and not a noun, as one would expect. The expression “I am” or “I
will be who I am” places the focus of God’s name on actions for Israel, and not
on God’s independent being or essence. The name YHWH, translated as “Lord” in the NRSV, is the third-person
masculine singular form of the verb. It translates “he is” or “he will be.”
Speaking the name YHWH actually poses a question: He will be what? The answer
to the question requires further reading in the book of Exodus, where the
future actions of God for Israel are recorded, providing the content of the
divine verbal name: YHWH will be savior, healer, revealer, covenant maker, etc.
The everlasting quality of the name signifies the faithfulness of God’s actions
toward Israel into the future.[i]
In other words, what we have taken to
be God’s name is not really a name at all, but is more akin to a description of
God’s purpose. A purpose that unfolds over time. Who God really is, is revealed
in action. Revealed in God’s actions among humanity, and revealed in humanity’s
response to God’s actions.
This divine commissioning of Moses
invokes God’s very being and purpose as the foundation for the work that Moses
would embark upon. It would be through the Exodus, the forty years wandering in
the wilderness, that God would more fully reveal himself to his people. It
would be during this wilderness experience that the people would truly come to
know who God is. That they would come to experience God in tangible ways.
The entire Old Testament is about how
God makes himself known to his people through his actions, and how they
respond. And there is one action, or series of actions, that makes God even
more fully known. That is the incarnation: God coming to be with us in the
flesh in the form of Jesus Christ. But the story does not end there. As our
Gospel reading for today shows, Jesus commissions those who follow him—ALL who
follow him—with the words, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” This is a call to action.
This is our call to action. That just as God’s actions reveal the
essence of who he is; just as Jesus’ actions reveal who he is as God incarnate,
and thereby further reveals who God is; so too do our actions continue to
reveal who God is. As those who follow Christ, as those who are made in the
image and likeness of God, who we are is only revealed through action. And if
we truly follow him, our actions serve to reveal not only who we are, but also
something of who God is.
God’s call to action is generally
shrouded in uncertainty, in the unknown. As we see in Exodus with the calling
of Moses, Moses had a lot of questions. But God assured him that he would be
with him every step of the way. Moses’ job was not to know the endgame. His job
was to be faithful and obedient and to play his part when called upon to do so.
He had faith and went along. As we see in Matthew with Peter’s reaction to
Jesus’ revelation of how things are going to play out, and with the
commissioning of the disciples and all who seek to follow Jesus, there are
unknowns when it comes to following Jesus. None of the disciples knew where the
path would lead them. Their job was to be faithful and obedient and to play
their parts when called upon to do so. They had faith and went along.
Despite the uncertainty that comes
with God’s call to action, what Scripture does show, time and again, is the
divine assurance of the faithfulness of God. That even in times of uncertainty,
God is with his people. As those who are called into action on behalf of God’s name,
as those who are called to live into the purpose of God’s name, we are called
to step out in faith. We don’t know where we are going. The only way we will
find out is to go through it. All we know is that we have our part to play in
revealing who God is to the world. And the promise is that losing our lives for
the sake of Christ—being willing to step into action to proclaim the
Gospel—carries the promise that we will find an even more fulfilling life in
him.
[i] The New Interpreter’s Study Bible: New Revised
Standard Version with Apocrypha
(Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2003), 90-91.
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