God’s grace, peace and mercy be with
you. … My focus is on Matthew 16:24 and Romans 12:10. From Matthew, “Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’”
From Romans, “Love one another with
brotherly affection.”
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the
Lord.’”[1]
Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we
listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply
as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
The
cartoon depicts Jesus clarifying his statement to a would-be disciple, “No, I am not talking about Twitter. I
literally want you to follow me.” The cartoon illustrates a lesson about
language. Words change meaning overnight, over decades, centuries, and millennia.
So, let me begin by examining a few words from our texts - from Matthew, follow,
and from Paul, fraternal or brotherly affection. Then I will tell you how two war-torn
enemies became brothers, setting an example for us.
First,
follow. The cartoon quote is funny because one can misconstrue our Lord’s words
as social media chatter. The word follow comes from the Old English folġian or fylgan.[2]
Follow has several meanings today. It means to come after in a sequence,
such as B follows A in the alphabet. It
means to go after, pursue or move behind in the same path or direction. Follow that car!
When
you operate a new power tool, follow the instructions. Fans follow an event (World
Cup), a team (Steelers), or an activity (You following me, camera guy?). As
Jesus used the term, He was not reciting the alphabet or selling Sham Wows. He used follow to urge devotion
to Him, His Way and His teaching.
People
quit their careers and families to follow Jesus. His closest disciples sat at
His feet.[3]
They travelled by boat and foot to hear Him teach and witness Him heal. During
His darkest moment, some followed at a distance and stood at the Foot of the
Cross. A group followed His Body to the tomb and returned to anoint Him. After
His Resurrection, the apostles followed Him to Bethany and stared into the sky
as He ascended.[4]
Today’s
passage, however, made it difficult for some to follow Jesus any further. It was
the first time Jesus predicted His passion.
The
passage also marks the turning point into the final section of Matthew, who
wrote his Gospel for believers who knew the outcome of the story. Here, Matthew
illustrated the reaction people had to Jesus’ revolutionary and unexpected
teaching.
In
its larger context, we see that Jesus’ original followers were common, ordinary
men and women, but they knew and understood God’s plan for Israel and the
world. They accepted Jesus’ teaching and witnessed the power of God working
through Him. They saw His teaching and work evoked faith from the crowds and
provoked persecution from religious and political authorities. With these
parties plotting His demise, Jesus and His disciples retreated to a remote spot
off the Sea of Galilee where He asked them who they believed Him to be.
Hearing
the answer, Jesus showed His enlightened disciples what was required of Him –
depart to Jerusalem to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests and
scribes, be killed and raised on the third day.
Is
it no wonder why – in this peaceful spot – Peter and the disciples reacted as
they did? Why confront your enemies? Why provoke politicians? Why suffer? Why
go to Jerusalem to be killed? These normal human theological questions arose
from their sinful human minds. “If God’s
mercy is to be found in Jerusalem’s Temple, then mercy and not murder awaits
you there. That is how God works, Jesus!” said Peter, the man who declared
Him the Messiah, the Son of the living God.
Peter
was not simply confused, but took a firm stand against the Lord. Peter articulated
God’s activity in the world in a satanic way, expressing the ‘things of men.’[5]
When reprimanded, the only thing Peter could do was get out of Jesus’ way and
not cause Him to stumble into disobedience that would have led to disaster for
Israel’s lost sheep and the world. By getting out of the way, he learned what
it meant to follow this
Christ, this Son of God.[6]
Because
His disciples misunderstood how God works in the world, verse 24 is the heart
and summary of Jesus’ teaching. “If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.” … Only
by yielding to His Father’s will and His opponents, and accepting suffering and
death by crucifixion could people and creation be saved from sin and death. That
is how God works in the world.
The
primary obstacle to following Jesus was not in the world, but deep within the
heart of every disciple. They had to reject the tendency of insisting God
conform to their ways and deal with evil according to their expectations. They
had to reject the tendency that if in charge, they would make things right. They
had to learn that criticism, competition or quiet, prideful comparison
disguised as sinful human ambition embraced and exalted not the Cross of
Christ, but them. “If
anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.”
The
first disciples who followed Jesus learned they could not pre-determine the
type of difficulty, suffering or martyrdom they would face. As early Christians
who worshipped the Trinity and renounced Greek and Roman gods, their neighbors
hated and rejected them. Ultimately, some Christians found their way to
crucifixion or some other gruesome form of death.
Peter
deemed himself unworthy to die the same way as His Lord, and requested to be
crucified upside-down. Others, like James, died by the sword,[7]
Of
course, not all Christians were martyred. Christianity spread throughout the
world, and to Rome, the setting for my second point, “Love one another with brotherly
affection.”
Love
one another with brotherly affection. Paul’s advice begs the question, “What
was Paul trying to accomplish in these final chapters of Romans?” Paul was teaching
Christians how to conduct their daily lives through the power and structure of
grace.
Romans
reveals God’s relationship to rebellious creation; how Christ reversed what
Adam did; and how His death broke the power of sin. As human beings freed from
the domination of sin and the law, we are now dominated by the Spirit. In
chapter 9, Paul pointed towards the future and explained how from the beginning
God’s plan of gracious election was at work, culminating in Christ who brought
the law to an end by incorporating its goal in Him.
In
chapter 12, Paul wrote about grace, which triumphed over human rebellion. Grace
does not mean that anything goes. Rather, there is a structure to living the
Christian life as individuals and communities. There is a structure to denying yourself,
picking up your cross and following Christ.
If
the Christian community responds appropriately to the structuring grace at work
in it, it will display unity. Unity, however, is not uniformity, as Paul
emphasized the necessity of diversity based on the abundance of God’s grace. Diversity
is not simply a few people with special skills contributing to the community.
All church members have spiritual gifts, and are responsible for discovering
what gifts they have and use them to glorify God.[8]
In
Rome, people mixed ego with grace. Some saw their gifts as more important than
others’ gifts. That same problem arose in communities through 21 centuries
across the globe. The solution to the problem of pride and over-inflated egos
is love.[9]
Love
one another with brotherly affection. That
includes your enemies and those who displease you. Why? Because while we were
enemies with God, we were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son.[10]
The point of heaping burning coals on your enemy’s head is not to get back at
him. Rather, you feed and refresh those who displease you because it is how Christians
effect reconciliation with their enemies. A small gesture compared to how God
effected reconciliation with us, His rebellious enemies.
Paul’s
advice was not to withdraw from the world into seclusion as an individual or Christian
enclave. Instead, Paul encouraged Christians in 1st century Rome to
live among others, but with a different set of values. Attempting to reconcile
and win over your enemies through kindness, compassion and brotherly love was
not an action people embraced, but Christians did.
Christians
of 1st century Rome believed Jesus Christ died for their sins and
rose from the dead. They believed that they, once rebellious enemies of God,
were reconciled through Christ’s death and resurrection. When the Paschal
Mystery is embedded in your heart, mind and soul, you do what God asks or
commands. You even deny yourself, take up your cross and follow
Christ by loving your enemies with brotherly affection.
All well and good, but what do the
readings have to do with life today? How do we deny ourselves, pick up our
cross and follow Jesus? How do we love enemies with brotherly love?
Let me tell you a story of two men,
intent on killing one another in war, who became as close as brothers. While
serving as pastor in Oakmont, PA, I met Howard Hamilton in the spring of 1998.
By December, he died from a long illness, but he should have died in 1943.
Instead, he and his wife, Gerri, had three sons and a daughter, and Howard,
after a distinguished career in manufacturing, became professor of electrical
engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.
You see, during World War II, on his 19th
mission as a bombardier in the Army Air Corps, Howard’s B-17 was hit by enemy
fire on October 10th. It punctured his lung. He lost consciousness
and regained it only to have his parachute pack strap catch on the door handle.
He dangled as the plane spiraled. He did not have enough strength to free
himself. His co-pilot risked his life to set him free.
Howard landed in a tree. The Germans
captured him and took him to a hospital where he lay on a stretcher for 12
hours until an officer in charge of prisoners of war begged the one lone
surgeon to treat him because he would die before morning.
In captivity for 19 months, initially in
a hospital and then in Stalag Luft on
the Baltic Sea, he was liberated by the Russians on May 1, 1945. After the war,
Howard went to college on the GI bill, began his career and family.
Howard lived a successful life professionally
and personally, but that is not why I tell you this story. You see, Howard and the
German officer who begged that he be treated did not forget each other. The
officer looked him up after reading a book about the raid. The Hamilton’s
visited him in Germany, and he visited them in Pittsburgh.[11]
If
two men, intent on killing one another, can reconcile and treat one another
with brotherly love, who of us cannot reconcile with people we dislike and love
them, as Christians should?
Friends,
we may never fly as bombardiers, encounter our enemy on a gurney, or spend years
as a P.O.W., but we have relatives and neighbors, co-workers and colleagues,
who wronged us. Some owe us money because they rent space in our heads. And although
sin keeps me from reconciling, I bear the cross of reconciliation behind Christ.
Because of Him and His grace, we can reconcile with people we dislike because
God reconciled with us when we were enemies.
This
week, treat one person you dislike with brotherly love, and when you do, may the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Psalm 122
[3]
Luke 10:39.
[4]
Luke 24:50-51
[5]
Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 11:2- 20:34. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House
(2010), 840.
[6]
Ibid.
[7]
Acts 12:2
[8]
Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans. Louisville: John Knox Press (1985), 196f.
[9]
Ibid, 198.
[10]
Romans 5:9-10
[11]
Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Education Writer. Obituary: Howard Britton Hamilton. Wednesday,
December 02, 1998. http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19981202hamilton9.asp
