Matthew 16. 21-28

What do you think is the essence of Christianity? The core teaching? Christ’s message that gives meaning to your life and the way you live it?

I have heard various answers: be kind; be a good person; do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Rarely have I heard anyone cite what Jesus says to Peter: “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” (Matthew 16. 24-5).

As a message, it goes against all persuasive writing techniques. Peter certainly didn’t want to hear it. And I don’t think we do either. Surely what God wants for everyone is life?

Well, he does. But the problem is not with the message, it is with how we hear it. For far too long some branches of Christianity have taken self-denial to mean that good Christians should simply put up with suffering, even seek out suffering, so that they may get a reward in the next world. Those in power love this message, because it allows them to stay in power and keep minorities, slaves and women in submission, quietly putting up with whatever is dished out to them.

But Jesus met those who were abused, oppressed and set them free. He gave up his life to save us. But somehow what he did doesn’t seem to work through in a healthy way to our own lives. How do we give up our lives to have more life?

 Jesus talks about people ‘losing their life for my sake’ and tells them to ‘take up their cross and follow me’. There are important caveats in these words.

When we look at why Jesus died, it wasn’t because God was just wanting him to suffer. Jesus confronted the power structures of his day, and they wanted to get rid of him. Jesus was the God-Human: and his God side, the Kingdom values side, conflicted greatly with the worldly values of power and corruption.  The world was created good, and has many good things in it, but it is infected by the forces of evil.

Jesus came to stand up for God against human power structures. More recently, there were people like Martin Luther King, Alexander Navalny, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who were imprisoned or lost their lives because they stood up against evil and for the rights of all God’s children to be treated with dignity.

God did not decree their suffering. They saw the evil, stood against it for the sake of others, for the sake of a better life for all, and for their own integrity. And by so doing, they have become the living stones that are building the eternal Jerusalem (1 Peter 2. 5).

Not everyone, fortunately, lives in a country where governments kill those who oppose them – although this is increasingly happening around the world. But in all our lives we are challenged to choose between the worldly ways of living, and God’s way.

The cultures we absorb as we grow up all have power structures in them, and laws and rules to follow. And these laws, unwritten, but real and oppressive, can crush the real life of a human.

For instance, in the West, many men believe that if they get a good job, earn money, support their family they will be successful. Their value and worth depends on this form of success. However, not all can possibly achieve this ‘success’. Recessions, wars, illness, toxic workplaces make employment impossible for many. Those who do cast aside family life for more hours at work, constant competition with others, and the fear of failure, find success does not bring contentment and happiness. See the article about men who did everything ‘right’. 

Influencers tell us our life will be fulfilled if we become a celebrity. The suicide and addiction rate or celebrities is incredibly high; denying oneself this form of life would seem to bring real life, even if we lose some ‘status’ along the way.

In previous generations, many talented and gifted women denied themselves the chance to pursue artistic or educational goals because they did not want to go against what parents and culture said was appropriate for a woman, who should simply marry and have children.

When we try to fit in, to be a ‘good’ person, we need to ask ourselves if we are simply fitting in with cultural laws or rules, or are we trying to follow Christ and let him create in us and therefore in those around us, new life and new possibilities?

Denying ourselves can mean denying the fear we have of standing up to family or peer pressure to stay in a conventional rut. Jesus confronted family pressure when he gave them no special status. He said those who follow my Father ‘s will are my mother, my brother, my sister he says (Matthew 12. 46-48).

Jesus is not calling us to suffer but to deny what is not life giving, and to follow him into something greater that is life giving. Do we follow custom, laws, peer pressure, or try to live out God’s call to share his spiritual fruits and gifts with others as we build his new kingdom?

Denying human beings, institutions or one’s own fears is not easy. It is easier to hang on with what is familiar.

And that is what Peter wants! Jesus says that he must go to Jerusalem and be put to death, Peter vehemently rejects this! And wouldn’t we? No, you must not die. You are the good one, you have promised us new life, freedom and joy! If you are not here then all is lost!

Except, of course, although Jesus was not there in the physical body any more he was still there. And there was new life. And that new life was not like the old one. There was not a second Jesus. There was a new world, where Jesus grew and lived in each of them, where their eyes were opened to see that this world is indeed flawed and full of the dark forces which break down institutions and individuals, and cause loss and unhappiness. But there is also the presence of the ever-renewing and ever-living God entering into the world as he draws new communities built on people who realise that the material things of this world are passing and not to be relied on, that the only purpose of our life is to share the spiritual gifts here, to encourage one another in the spiritual journey so that through our shared love we can make something of the kingdom here.

We deny the false life, the false idols for the sake of Jesus who wants to open our eyes and minds to the fact that this material existence is not all there is. The only real life is the Kingdom life, which we hope to live in hereafter but will arise only when we start building it here. And building the kingdom means, at times, recognising that what is good is not forever, but that if we walk in Christ’s path then we will find that there is something good or even better that God is making.  

In North Queensland people are seeing their beloved churches sold. Of course this is sad.  And we will instinctively want to hold on to what is.  But let us take heart from Jesus’ words.

We can accept death, because it is not meaningless. The power of the Cross is still operating now.  If we deny the desire to hang on to the physical, for the sake of Christ, and for God’s will for the healing of the world, then Christ comes into the death for the cleansing of the damage done by institutional power. Christ comes for the sake of the future and of bringing in a new Church where all dwell in safety and peace.

We are part of something far greater than ourselves, greater even that the wonderful good things we have known.  The power of God is here to work with us.  In your journey this week, in the struggles this week, may the light of God’s path guide you clearly to new life. Amen.