Lent 4 - Thursday - Here Begins The Terrors, Here Begins The Miracles

Text: Mark 8:27-9:1 (see below)

With the journey to Caesarea Philippi, the reader of Mark’s Gospel begins the second half of the narrative. The book began with the heralding of a “Way” (1:2) and the first half of the Gospel story ended with Jesus asking the disciples a question: “Do you not yet understand?”

The parallels with the second half of Mark’s account are remarkable. Again we are on our “way” with Jesus to Caesarea Philippi and the Master asks his disciples yet another question: “Who do you say that I am?”

As always when reading these stories, it is important to remember our location for that adds particular drama to the text. We are deep inside the territory under the rule of Philip the Tetrarch, son of Herod the Great. Caesarea Philippi was a major Hellenistic city, a seat of the Roman government, and the leaders of that city were even allowed to make their own coinage. In ancient times the area was called Paneas, after the Greek god Pan. Philip’s father, Herod, built a Temple in honor of Augustus near the grotto that was dedicated to Pan. The city was rebuilt by Philip in the year 14 CE and dedicated to the Caesar. The point of this brief history lesson is to make the case that Peter’s declaration that Jesus was the Messiah was loaded with dangerous political undertones.

“Who do you say that I am,” Jesus asks.

Can you, or I, give a comprehensive answer to the question that Jesus poses? Who is Jesus? What is he all about? What did his actions tell us about God? What did he believe? It seems to me that if you want to follow someone, be their disciple, you better know what they believe and why they believe it. Yes?

Peter has a moment of inspiration! “You are the Christ, the Messiah,” he boldly declares. Now, when we hear the term, “Messiah”, in today’s setting it kind of runs in one ear and out the other. Or perhaps you begin to hum a few bars of Handel’s oratorio. But back in the day of Jesus, this word had explosive meaning. Peter is not saying that Jesus was simply a prophet like Elijah or his cousin, John the Baptist. Jesus is for Peter a royal figure – greater than any earthly king - who would restore the fortunes of Israel. It was, in effect, time for the revolution to begin!

The next action in the scene has always puzzled me. Jesus tells Peter to be quiet. The Greek verb attributed to Jesus is the word epitimao which means “to rebuke.” It is the same verb that Mark uses when Jesus silences the demons or when he calms the sea. Peter is right in his declaration but it appears from Jesus’ reaction his timing is all off! Peter still has much to learn about “this” Messiah who will engage the principalities and powers of this world in a very different way.

“Jesus then began explaining things to them: ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.’ He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it.”

The Master gets down to business and very simply tells his disciples about what is to happen to him. Notice the change in vocabulary. Jesus does not use the term ‘Messiah”; instead he refers to himself as the “Son of Man”. This title derives from the ancient prophecies found in the Book of Daniel. Again, it has tremendous political overtones associated with it. Chad Meyers in his commentary on Mark writes: “Mark is invoking Daniel, written under the pogroms of Antiochus Epiphanies IV two centuries earlier, as a manifesto of Jewish political resistance to imperial oppression of Hellenistic rulers” (Binding the Strong Man, page 243).

And notice that in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is not going to go up against the likes of Herod Antipas or his brother Philip. The coalition of oppression is in fact the establishment in Jerusalem, the religious leaders – the elders, the high priests and the religious scholars. The real battle is not so much about the politics of an empire as it is about the politics of a religion.

Peter has heard enough! He cannot believe that the “Messiah” is going to have to suffer. This new understanding is beyond Peter’s grasp and perhaps something that he did not sign on for. Peter grabs Jesus, takes him aside and rebukes him in front of the others. Major no-no! Anyone who grew up in that society and came across this moment would know that a disciple never took such a tone with his Master. Jesus is swift in his response. For a second time in just a few moments, Peter is strongly admonished this time even being called, “Satan.”

Marie Dennis in her commentary on Mark states it this way: “What has poor Peter done to deserve such denunciation? The problem is that Peter remains loyal to the traditional Messianic script that affirms the ‘myth of redemptive violence,’ in which the hero prevails over the enemy through superior and ‘righteous’ force (see Wink, 1992; Bailie, 1995, Beck, 1996). With this oldest lie Satan rules history, as nations and peoples invoke God while they destroy their enemies through ‘just wars’ and crusades. Against this is pitted the Son of Man’s strategy of non-violence, which understands that the enemy is violence itself” (Say To This Mountain, page 102).

This bitter exchange between the two men exposes the great conflict that each one of us as disciples must face. Will we follow divine authority or will we follow human authority? There really is no middle ground here. It is one way or the other. This is why this passage is so radical and volatile. We have come, as the Phantom of the Opera, sings in the Act II of Lloyd Webber’s musical, “To the point of no return.” Each one of us must decide whose authority we shall stand under.

There is one more point I wish to make about this passage. It struck me when reading the translation from The Message – something I had never seen before. The text reads:

"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.”

Don’t run from suffering, embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.

I am currently reading Elizabeth Lesser’s Broken Open ~ How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow. Published in 2005, Lesser shares with her readers the experiences she went through in overcoming a very painful divorce. She offers tools to help folks make the choice that everyone faces in times of challenge: Will we be broken down and defeated, or broken open and transformed? Lesser draws on the writings of the great spiritual masters and the psychological traditions in order to provide a base of support for the reader so that they may blossom into who they were meant to be.

In one chapter entitled, “Here Begins the Terrors, Here Begins the Miracles”, Lesser shares the story of a friend whose second child was born with brain damage and a life threatening epilepsy. This event was coupled with the mother being diagnosed with MS and her mother dying suddenly shortly thereafter. The suffering that this family went through was severe.

Yet, this young mother embraced her suffering. Yes, she raged when she needed to but she also shared in her story something else. She spoke about transforming the nightmare of her life into a “Phoenix Process” (a phrase Lesser likes to use often). Out of the ashes of great suffering and pain came new life, new transformations, and new thanksgivings for what was. She stated: “I am learning to hold health and sickness, weakness and strength, and even life and death side by side – two sides of the same coin. In fact, it is the acceptance of death that has finally allowed me to choose life. I am learning that it is never either or, but both, and more. Not life or death, but life and death, health and sickness, good and bad. Both, and something more. I am learning to love the human condition, to say a full and rousing yes to it all, to work with it, to choose it, just as it is, every day” (Broken Open, page 72).

It is in the suffering and in the ashes of the pain where the true miracles lie. In the last two years as I have experienced tremendous anguish and been put through a process that no one, or their family, should be allowed to have to go through – a true nightmare – I have found that as I have turned and faced the suffering, embracing it, learning from it, I have been transformed by the experience. Out of the ashes of past experiences and failures is rising a new and transformed being that I believe is the person I am truly meant to be.

The woman in the story was correct it is not about either/or but it is about embracing both good and bad, health and sickness, weakness and strength, life and death. Out of the ashes of Jesus’ suffering at the hands of the religious establishment has come a miracle that the world stills marvels at today. New life, resurrection, is available to all of us each and every day. Jesus said, “Follow me and I will show you how.”

Love One Another – Brian

Terrors and Miracles

The Grail Legend

Here is the Book of thy Descent,

Here begins the Book of the Holy Grail,

Here begins the terrors,

Here begins the miracles.

Source: Broken Open ~ How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

 

Mark 8:27-9:1

Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, "Who do the people say I am?" "Some say 'John the Baptizer,'" they said. "Others say 'Elijah.' Still others say 'one of the prophets.'" He then asked, "And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?"

Peter gave the answer: "You are the Christ, the Messiah." Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it.

But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. "Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works." Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for? If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."

Then he drove it home by saying, "This isn't pie in the sky by and by. Some of you who are standing here are going to see it happen, see the kingdom of God arrive in full force."

Translation: The Message