March 12, 2006

FINAL ANSWER

Psalm 22:23-31; Mark 8:31-38

            Lately Sue and I have been watching the reruns of the Regis Philbin show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire.  There is also a new daytime version where the questions are more difficult and the contestants, to be fair, not as prepared.

            Most of you probably know how Who Wants to be a Millionaire works, you are asked a question with four possible answers, you pick A, B. C or D, and Regis says “is that your final answer”?  If you are right, you win the money in increasing amounts, if you are wrong you lose all your money.  It takes 15 right answers to reach the million dollar mark and you can stop whenever you want, and you get help three times; you can phone a friend, ask the audience or eliminate two of the answers.

            Ready for a little church millionaire, how many ministers have there been in the history of this church, a) 12, b) 15, c) 18, or d) 21?  You can even ask a friend.  The answer is 18.  What year was the sanctuary built, a) 1893, b) 1912, c) 1927 or d) 1933?  The answer is 1927.  Now, where is the time capsule buried, a) behind the altar, b) under the church sign, c) in the furnace room or d) there is no church time capsule?  The answer is behind the altar.

            During its initial run Millionaire was by far the most popular show on television.  We all dreamed of getting on and winning the million dollars.  I mean, hey, I know a little about everything.

            In our country we are suffering from millionaire angst.  Many people know the, has ever been, last year there were over l million bankruptcy filings.  There are 10’s of thousands of schemes out there of people trying to make money legally or illegally.             

            But here in Mark, Jesus poses a tough question, for what good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul?  That’s a tough one!  Final answer, Jesus here, rather that making the Christian life easy, seems to make it hard.  “For those who want to save their life will lose it” he says, “and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” 

            Jesus knows what we know.  We know that we’re often too busy greeding each other instead of greeting each other.  In Proverbs 28:25, it says the greedy person stirs up strife, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be enriched.  We know this; we understand the selfish nature of the human condition.  We remember that the apostle Paul says that the greedy will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

            One of the most common questions for people in the world today is, what do I need to do to succeed in life?  When we think about success, images of power, social standing, money and security all cone to mind.  Many times this kind of success involves sacrifices in the short term so that long term goals can be achieved.

            The understanding of success that Jesus expresses in this passage also has to do with sacrifice, but now the goals themselves must be put aside.  Power, success and sacrifice are all redefined with a surprising addition, rejection, and are used to express the significance of faith in the life of a follower of Jesus. 

            While Jesus is explaining all this, Peter becomes increasingly unhappy.  Peter speaks up and is criticized by Jesus.  But what Jesus does in this interaction with Peter is begin to redefine power and success.  The success of Jesus’ messiahship; and ministry does not depend on some kind of abstract victory, but is found paradoxically in suffering, rejection, death and ultimately resurrection.

            The disciples in story after story in the gospels show that much like people today they desire power and success, not as abstract principles but for the security they can provide.  What Jesus has said here is that following Jesus can be very difficult when our definitions of power and success get in the way.

            The gospel of Mark is probably the most human of all the New Testament

 writings.  For Mark, faith is absolutely necessary, but also for Mark in his writings faith remains an elusive quality at times.

            In order to follow Jesus and sacrifice you must have faith that everything will turn out okay.  Success in our world is neutral in the Christian sense.  It can be good or bad. But for Christian worldly gain and success is not the ultimate goal, rather picking up Jesus’ cross and following him toward the open tomb is.  To these motifs continue to surround Jesus as he makes his way to the cross and open tomb on Easter morning.  But these motifs of sacrifice and suffering also surround the church and we who comprise it as we follow Jesus today!                                                                                                         In some ways we can take our cue from Who Wants to be a Millionaire, there may be times in our lives when as Christians we will have life conditions and circumstances come our way that we cannot answer, but God has also given us three life lines to use when we are not sure of the final answer.

            Lifeline one (50/50) is scripture.  When we want to have some wrong answers removed, scripture is where we start.  Let’s face it in our day and age most people get their scripture reading in church, about 90 % of people do not read scripture at home or attend Bible studies and the like.  But scripture is here for a reason, it is the Word of God and it gives us guidance.  Scripture is available to us not just to tell us what has happened, but to guide us, to help us avoid bad choices and make good ones.

            Lifeline two (poll the audience) is the church; we are not in this alone.  Jesus, Paul and the gospels are very clear that Christianity is both and individual and a collective experience.  When we need help and support we can poll the community of faith around us for support when we are failing the challenges of life.  The Christ body is there for precisely that reason, to warn when danger lurks and affirm when we are exercising our gifts

            Lifeline three (call a friend) is Jesus Christ our lifeline friend who models for us the right answers, and who on his way to the cross shows us how to live a correct Christian life.

            This a tough message by Jesus because it suggests that nothing less than complete devotion will do.  But the stakes are high as Jesus reminds the crowd and the consequences are eternal.

            The disciples are challenged to take up their crosses and follow.  Today we have inherited that challenge.  And so we come to our Lenten journey 2006, a journey that points not to human things but to the divine.                      

            For whoever will save his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.  And that’s the final answer.  Let us pray.