“Losing Ourselves in Jesus” Second Sunday of Lent March 8, 2009

(First, read the passage for this sermon: Mark 8:31-38)

In last week’s reading from Mark, this was Jesus’ announcement: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." (Mark 1:14-15)

Does the word, “repent” put you off? I would not be surprised if it does! Many associate repentance with fundamentalist pulpit pounders who cause people to be afraid of God!

But repentance is a positive movement. To repent means to turn, or to return. To turn towards the God who made us and who loves us. Repentance means to turn away from what is self-destructive that which causes despair. Repentance means to turn towards the hope and joy of the good news, the good news of our salvation that has been won for us by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

So, what is the movement called for? It is to turn, or to return.

This morning in Mark, we are eight chapters later in the story. This morning, we read that Jesus rebukes his most prominent follower. (“Rebuke” is the translation of a very strong Greek word!) Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

What is Jesus saying to Peter? He is telling Peter to turn – and to return! “Turn away from human things,” Jesus is telling Peter. “Turn towards divine things.” It’s the same theme as in last week’s reading.

The theme is developed in this morning’s story from Mark. And we encounter more teaching that might cause you heartburn! [Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to 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, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves …” Are those words off-putting to you? These words remind us why many people think of the season of Lent as a real downer: that it is to be a dreary season of deadly devotional practices; of having to give up what you would really like to be doing. Is there any joy in that? And so, by extension, is there any joy in the Christian life, with all this talk of self denial and losing our lives?

The next thing I’m going to say is counterintuitive – which is not unusual, because most of the Christian gospel is counterintuitive! Let me suggest that, in fact, all this talk of self denial and losing our lives is the path to joy, a joy that is deep and abiding!

Here’s why. “For those who want to save their life will lose it” means that we are to lose ourselves in Jesus. This is a promise of the good news of Jesus the Christ: that you and I discover our true selves by losing ourselves in Jesus. Let’s think about how this works.

Some of you may remember that, from last Sunday’s reading in Mark, I raised the theme of wilderness – which all of us have experienced. The wilderness is where we find ourselves to be when things have fallen apart. The wilderness is where it’s hard to figure things out. It’s hard to rediscover the path. The wilderness is where we encounter our demons. The wilderness is where we are when our defenses fall apart, and our protective pretences and facades crumble.

Here’s how that relates to today. Those protective pretences and facades are what prop up our false selves. When we are protecting our false selves, then we’re afraid of discovering who we are. And something else: we cannot begin to know, or to be comfortable with our true selves.

But Jesus is calling us into honesty. When Jesus calls his followers to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me, it is those false selves that we are called to deny. That false self is the you who does things because of artificial motivation, because someone has told you that you should, rather than acting out of who you are, the person God has created you to be. Your false self is stuck on what the law tells you: “You’re no good. You’re certainly not good enough!” Your false self worries about what others think of you. Your false self cannot believe the good news – that our salvation has been won through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ – because your false self is trying to justify yourself, to save yourself, to make yourself good enough!

Can you even do that?

Of course not! The Order for Confession and Forgiveness speaks the truth with the words that we said a few minutes ago: “we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Is that not true?

So why do you and I try to free ourselves? (See how pervasive sin is? We are in its grip.) When God the Holy Spirit moves within you, and you turn away from that self-help mentality; when you repent, when you deny your grasping, false self; then the Holy Spirit has room to work! Then God has the chance to liberate your true self from its captivity to sin!

Do you think the Holy Spirit could have room to work, through your Lenten faith practices? What joy could result, especially during this time of high anxiety. When you deny your false self, you find yourself free from every illusory security. For instance, a pastor named Kathy Beach-Verhey recently prayed, “Lord God, this financial crisis highlights our love of and dependence on money, and as people of faith, this helps us to call into question our values and priorities…Loosen our bonds to our money and our material possessions we pray, Lord God, at the same time that we pray for you to calm our anxious hearts and minds.”

In this morning’s story from Mark we read this: [Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to 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, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

What joy results, when we receive power from the Holy Spirit to deny our false selves. Then God can break down those protective pretences and facades that we have erected. Then God can liberate our true selves – the people God has created us to be! Then you and I are free to take up our crosses – which means we are free to do the work God gives us to do, in service to others.

Will carrying our crosses entail suffering? Maybe. Will the work God has given us to do, our ministry, our servanthood, entail suffering? It could. It is much more likely that carrying our crosses will lead to deep fulfillment.

Here’s why. Losing ourselves in Jesus means letting go. It means freedom from our false selves, stuck in our condemnation by the law. We lose ourselves in the salvation that Jesus the Christ has won for us, through his death and resurrection. Losing ourselves in Jesus means that we become free to do our ministries, the good works that God gives us to do!

We lose ourselves in Jesus, then, on behalf of others. God liberates our true selves. God creates in us lives of joyful servanthood.

Thanks be to God who creates us, and who saves us, and who makes us holy. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia