8-30-20 Sermon for Central UMC by John Addison

August 30,2020
Central Untied Methodist
John Addison

For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53
Today’s Gospel reading comes from Matthew 16: verses 21-28
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on
the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far
be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on
the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the
whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For
the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he
will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are
some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in
his kingdom.”
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

We are picking up the story where we left off last week. Last week Jesus asked his
disciples “who do you say I am?” and peter responded “you are the Christ, the son of
the living God!” And Jesus then said you are right to be called peter, and on this rock I
will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Does everyone
remember that?
And with today’s passage Jesus continues to give the disciples some insight into what
was going to happen as they make their way to Jerusalem. It seems Jesus focused
mainly on the suffering and dying parts of the trip. Because upon hearing the news of
Jesus’ future suffering and death, peter pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him saying “Far
be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” And Jesus responds to peter
with everyone’s favorite quote “Get behind me, Satan!……..Get behind me, Satan! You
are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on
the things of man.”
In mere minutes Peter went from being handed the keys to kingdom, to “Get behind
me Satan!” Or as Michael Wilkins put it in his Matthew Commentary, Peter went from
being a rock in God’s plan, to a stumbling block in just a few verses.
How did Peter fall so fast. And why was Jesus so stern? Peter’s response to hearing
of Jesus’ suffering and death, seems very, very, very understandable to a modern day
reader. This doesn’t seem like a lack of faith, or even lack of obedience to God, but it
sounds like actual concern for the well being of this Man he knows so well.
We too would cry out and question Jesus if we were in Peter’s shoes. I think we would
cry out and question Jesus even if we were not in Peter’s shoes. If we knew everything
about Jesus’ plan. About Jerusalem. About the pharisees. About his suffering and
death. If Jesus gathered us all around, and said, hey as we make our way to
Jerusalem, there are some things you should probably know. You should be aware that
I am going to be arrested, beaten, and crucified almost immediately after we get there.
Very few of us would say, thanks for letting us know Jesus, i guess we will miss you,
and we will now budget for the trip accordingly. If confronted with the same scenario,
we too would cry out “No, Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you.”
Peter is probably willing at this point to lay down is own life to save Jesus’….. And
Jesus hearing Peters rebuke replies…… “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to
me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
How is not wanting Jesus to die, a thing of man, and not a thing of God. How is not
wanting Jesus to die aligning ourselves with satan?
Jesus use of the phrase “get behind me satan, you are a hinderance” should cause us
as readers and listeners to remember Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness earlier in the
book of Matthew. Immediately after Jesus’ baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness,
fasted for 40 days, and was then visited by the satan who tempted Jesus with food,
power, and glory and riches. Jesus rebuked satan with each temptation and turned                                                                                                    each of them down, one by one, with scripture proving that these things, these good
things, were not from God, and therefore he could not partake in them.
In our story today. Immediately after Jesus was verbally ordained as the Christ, Jesus
was again “tempted” (and for you radio listeners out there, I am using quotation marks
around the word “tempted”) because I am using the word in a symbolic way, not
necessarily in a literal way. In today’s story Jesus was “tempted” by peter, by peter
showing concern and love for Jesus saying to Jesus, no, you don’t have to do this, we
don’t want you to do this, be it not so. And Jesus says to peter. Get behind me satan,
you are a hinderance to me.
Jesus then goes on to say that Peter should set his mind on the things of God, not the
things of man. Which is fascinating because peter’s mind is on Jesus not suffering and
dying. Can you get any more God-like than to not want someone to suffer and die?
But in the wilderness a lot of good things were being rejected by Jesus for not being
things of God. To eat bread is a good thing when you are hungry. Jesus was hungry.
But when God wants you to be hungry, hunger is a good thing and food is wrong.
Hunger can be a thing of God. And food can be a thing of man. And when tempted by
food Jesus said…. Get behind me satan.
To seek God’s protection. To seek his love. Is a Good thing. But to test God’s
protection, to test his love, when God is looking for faith, is wrong. Get behind me
satan.
Comfort, retirement, success also can be good things. But to seek for yourself power,
and glory, and riches, at the expense of what God is trying to do in your life Is wrong.
Get behind me satan.
When Adriana wants me vacuum the floors, and clean the house, but I am pretty sure
God wants me to watch 8 out of 10 cats on youtube. I am pretty sure cleaning the
house would be wrong. Get behind me satan.
For Jesus to seek for himself comfort and a long life, to seek only for the joys of this
world, when God was requiring suffering and crucifixion, would have been wrong. And
Jesus knew this, and to the one who said otherwise Jesus said Get behind me satan.
The things of men are wrong, when they are not the things of God.
Bread by itself is bread. You can quote me on that. When Jesus was being tempted in
the wilderness. After he had fasted for 40days, and was hungry, the first thing he was
tempted with was bread, but in this situation bread was a thing of man, his hunger was
a thing of God, and he turned the bread away. On the night before he was betrayed,
when Jesus was with his disciples, he took the bread and broke it, and gave it to his
disciples, saying this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance of me, and
now bread was a thing of God.

And I think I am on solid ground when I say the next statement, if not, I sincerely
apologize to everyone who hears these next words…..that the cross was not given to
Jesus by man, the cross was given to Jesus by God. And Jesus knowing this, knowing
it was from the father, could not turn it down.
You can still hear his words in Gethsemane echo through time as he prays alone in the
garden…… if this cup can be taken from me………but if not, not my will, but your will
be done.
Now if that doesn’t change how you make your daily decisions, I do not know what
will. Happiness is good if given by God, not Good, if sought after for it’s own sake.
Suffering is good if given by God, not Good if sought after for its own sake.
Happiness, joy, love, comfort, feelings, when given by God are some of the best most
valuable blessed things we can experience in this life……but without God, on their
own, if sought after only for their own enjoyment are in the end vapor, wind, nothing.
Suffering, denial, persecution, loneliness can be good if given by God, but without God
these things are empty, dark, and devastating.
And after rebuking Peter for questioning God’s plan for him, Jesus told his disciples, “If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
will find it.
Now if we stay with the idea that the cross that Jesus carried was given to him by God,
should we also assume that the crosses Jesus is referring to in this verse, the crosses
that we are being asked to carry, are these also given to us by God. Are these crosses
things of man, or things of God?
Should this change how we carry them? A cross given to us to carry by God is not a
burden too heavy when it is placed in our hands by our makers hands. It is a burden,
but it is a burden that carries with it, life, and love, and glory.
And though I believe this verse applies to us as individuals. We all have crosses in our
life that we are asked to carry. In the context of the passage, in the context of Matthew
16, in the context of “on this rock I will build my church”…..What Crosses do we bring
to this place, and what crosses can we then carry together?
As individuals we all have burdens given to us by God that we carry from time to time.
But from the one who suffered the most, we are given a place, the church, that place
that stands on a rock, that place that stands high on a hill, that place stands in such a
way that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. And though that burden we carry is
still heavy, and though at times we find ourselves tired and weary under its strain, we

need to remind each other, that the hands that heave that burden high, are not ours
alone…..
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Let us pray:
Beautiful savior. You taught us to pray so long ago, your kingdom come, your will be
done. Help us know that will. Help us understand the difference between those things
that come from this world, and those things that come from your hand. And if it is your
burdens that we carry in this life, we ask that you also give us the strength, and the
love, and the community, to carry those burdens well…….as we ask that you guard us
as we learn to follow your son, who carried those burdens for us all.
And in his name we pray. Amen.