September 14, 2003
By Jack Price

Series: Life's Detours

Victor Hugo's Les Miserables is the story of two men in search of their identity.  The first, the story's protagonist Jean, is befriended and saved by an old priest.  While for years in prison where he had been a faceless number, in that moment of salvation and self-rediscovery he finds himself.  He is redeemed and his subsequent life is rich and blesses many people.

            The second character, a policeman named Javer, lives in a world shaped by the harsh realities of unforgiving justice.   Believing that criminals can never be redeemed, and after pursuing Valjean across the years, finds himself ironically saved by this man he had always believed to be unchangingly evil.  In his own moment of truth, when forced to face that the values by which he had lived his life were false, he chose to take his own life.  The question "Who am I" faced by of these characters, and their responses, certainly shaped the paths they walked.  Who of us does not want to know more clearly, "Who am I?"  That basic and the responses to it shape today's lesson from Mark's Gospel.

            The disciples were on a road trip with Jesus.  The region of Caesarea Philippi was a resort area in northern Galilee near the border with Syria and the head waters of the Jordan River.  This area had been developed by Herod the Great and named in honor of the Roman Caeser and also for Herod's son Philip.  Jesus and his disciples were walking along between villages in that area when Jesus asked them their "take" on people's perceptions of him.  "Who do people say that I am?"  

            Jesus was taking a public opinion pole, seeking to learn his identity among the populace, among the everyday "man on the street."  "Who do people say I am?"  That's a good strategy for determining your identity.  Ask people outside your group.   Ask your friends and neighbors, those outside your group, how they perceive you? 

The disciples respond with, "Oh, you know, the usual.  Some think you're John the Baptist come back to life; others think Elijah returning to herald the coming of the Messiah, or maybe one of the prophets."  Then, Jesus turns to ask his pollsters their opinion.  "What about you?  Who do you say I am?"  A confessional is requested of those closest to Jesus.  "With what conceptions are you working?"

This question is important for two reasons.  One, it is reminiscent of questions Moses asked of God back in the Old Testament.  Two, the timing of this conversation is crucial to the flow of Mark's gospel. 

Moses asked YAHWEH two questions while standing at the burning bush, in  Exodus, chapter three.  First, Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"  This was really a question designed to get Moses out of the mission he believed God was sending him to do.  Later, Moses asked God, "If they ask me who you are -- 'What is his name?' -- what shall I say to them?"  God replied to Moses, "I Am Who  I Am." 

            This time "God," represented by Jesus, asks "Moses," represented by the disciples, "Who am I?"  This was not an attempt by Jesus to learn his own identity.    Mark's gospel begins with a simple proclamation, "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."  "Gospel" means "good news."  "Christ" is the English form of the Greek christos which in Hebrew means Messiah.  Mark proclaims "the Gospel of Jesus Messiah, the Son of God."  Again, Jesus' question is not placed here so Jesus can find out who he is.  The writer of Mark's Gospel already knows, already believes that Jesus is the Messiah.  This exchange, rather, was an attempt to clarify the disciples' perceptions and understanding before a long and difficult journey. 

Jesus asked the question and the response, placed on the lips of Simon Peter whose name means "rock," was firmly anchored in tradition of the Hebrew scripture.  Peter said, "You are the Messiah."  In terms of what was Peter's likely understanding of "Messiah," he might well have said, "You are the 'great warrior who will restore the political fortunes of Israel.'"  And Jesus told Peter and the others, "Don't tell anyone."  This knowledge is for you alone.  Why was that?  That was because deep knowledge requires committed discipleship.  This passage marks the beginning of the road to Jerusalem for Jesus, the road that would end with his own death.  Soon to follow this conversation, in Mark's Gospel, are the events of the transfiguration, Jesus experience with Moses and Elijah when God declares to the disciples, "This is my Son."  For these reasons, Jesus needs to know what his followers are thinking.

He speaks about the dangers awaiting him:  suffering, rejection, and death.  Then the "prince of the disciples" Peter pulls him aside to tell him, "You've got it all wrong, Jesus.  Messiah is about victory, success."  And Jesus says to Peter in front of everyone, "Get back from me, Satan."  Epetimésen!  "Shut up!"  He uses the word employed for  silencing demons.

Jesus' suffering was absolutely necessary according to Mark. The events facing Jesus on his road to Jerusalem were part of the apocalyptic reality unfolding in his life.  Mark's words are directed to those suffering persecution and fear in the time of Mark's gospel.  These are words for the persecuted, fearful, and hopeless in our time as well.  A sense of powerlessness is pervasive is our culture today.  We seem to have little ability to make significant change.  There is an inundation of mass media and increased population.  There are too many options for us and so many suffer from burnout and fatigue.  The writer of Isaiah 40: 30 spoke for our time as well as his own:  "Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted."

Peter did not want to hear that.  His mind was set on human things, not divine.  He had a very human understanding of Messiah, of wanting Jesus to be successful.  His thoughts were of what will make the mission successful and he does not stop to question what the mission is. 

            Jesus understood the mission.  He knew it was inappropriate to seek to avoid this path.  He knew that following God meant abandoning himself to God's purposes.  His words reflected this knowledge that following means disowning self, seeking to preserve self means losing self, and allowing self to be lost is the only true way to safety.  Winning the whole world risks losing your true self.  What is enough price to buy back one's true self. 

What is the message for our generation?  We see the message in the life of young Harry Emerson Fosdick who, at the turn of the twentieth century, was student of philosophy and theology Columbia University.   A brilliant young scholar, he had great plans to do inner city mission work and to save many who lived on "skid row."  His detour in life came in the form of a nervous breakdown.  He wrote of this experience:

This whole horrid experience was one of the most important factors in my preparation for the ministry.  For the first time in my life, I faced, at my wit's end, a situation too much for me to handle.  I went down into the depths where self-confidence becomes ludicrous.  .The harder I struggled, the worse I was.  .I who had thought myself strong, found myself beaten, unable to cope not only with outward circumstances but even with myself.

Through "defeat" Fosdick found a deeper calling.  He entered the pastoral ministry and became pastor of Riverside Church in New York where for many years e was a champion for social action and social justice.  He also authored the beloved a well-known hymn "God of Grace and God of Glory."  The final words take on a deeper significance when heard against the story of his suffering and struggle:  "Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing of this hour; for the living of this days."

This is the second in a series of sermons titled Life's Detours.  Dr. Wayne Oates', whose book by that same title has inspired this series, developed five "laws of Life's Detours."  Over the new few weeks, we will examine the laws of "realism, perspective, resurrection, and fellowship."  The first law of Life's Detours, however, is the "Law of Compensation."  This idea is based on Alfred Adler's concept of "psychical compensation."  For example, we know that when one part of the body is lost or removed, other parts tend to take over its functioning.  They compensate.  When one kidney or lung is removed, the other takes up the slack.  When one of the body's senses is lost the others become more heightened.

Author Ralph Waldo Emerson illustrates the Law of Compensation as it applies to our life's journey:

Our strength grows out of weakness.  Not until we are pricked and stung and sorely shot, awakens the indignation which arms itself with secret forces.  A great [person] is always willing to be little.  Whilst he sits on the cushion of advantage, he goes to sleep.  When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit.  .In general, every evil to which we do not succumb, is a benefactor.

Peter successfully identifies Jesus, but what he thinks is success immediately turns into failure.  He did not understand the nature of Messiah as Jesus did.  He thought getting it right was enough and that Jesus would reveal himself according to Peter's expectation.  He thought he could change world without changing himself, without releasing cherished notions of what his faith was all about.  Peter eventually lost himself, that is he lost his concept of himself as Jesus' most faithful disciple.  He rebuked Jesus and later denied him, but through these "losses," Peter eventually found himself.  He lost his cherished idea of Messiah and found his life's meaning, his faith, and his God.

In my own life experience, just when I think I am losing all that I thought I based my life on - family, home, work, and friends - I find an extended family, another home, new work to do, and a richer network of relationships.  Crossroads lost a church community when you left Broadway, yet you have found an opportunity to build a new faith community, a new work to do, and a richer network of ministry, mission, and love.

                  The task of faith is to trust that God is working for our growth even when our successes tell us we are good enough doing things our own way.  The task of faith is to trust that God is working for our good even when our life's work crashes around us in failure.  God paves the rocky road for us.  In all things, Christ goes before us and beside us, above us, below, behind, and within us.  Thanks be to God who in all things gives us reason to live.