You Don't Understand!

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND"

a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens

Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.

July 6, 2025

Mark 8:27-35  NRSV

²⁷ Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸ And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹ He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” ³⁰ And Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹ Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴ He 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. ³⁵ 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.’”

Let’s jump right in.  I gave you a “heads-up” on our “dialogue.”  What do you, or people in general experience as suffering?  [ Time for responses ].  What do you think, or do people in general, think “saves” us from suffering?

The Bible Study we are doing is called “Who is Jesus?”  It points out that our understanding of Jesus is shaped by the many different writings about Jesus.  Call these “lenses” with which we view him.  The Bible study uses the 4 Gospels, as well as writings by Paul.  It also uses some reflections from Judaism and Islam.  All of these are like different “lenses” through which we see different understandings of Jesus.  That suggests that there is more than one way to understand or believe in Jesus, which I think is consistent with our church’s theology.

This Gospel was written around 30 years or so after Jesus lived.  It is the earliest of the Gospels we have in our Bible.  It was written down around the time of the Jewish revolt against the Roman occupation which took place from 66-70 “AD.”  My point is this was a hard, chaotic time to live.  Maybe not so different from today?

Obviously, that violent revolt and the violent Roman response created even more suffering than usual.  Personal suffering was part of their experience just like ours today too. They suffered illness, poverty, family conflicts, spiritual challenges. What would salvation mean to them?

We know that the Jews of Jesus’ time were waiting for a Savior, a Messiah, to rescue them.  Many of them expected that Messiah to be a King like David, a warrior, who would defeat the Roman soldiers and win back Israel’s independence.  Others certainly had other expectations of this Messiah.  There were “conflicting expectations.”  People viewed their hopes for the Messiah through different lenses.

The conversation between Jesus and his disciples highlights these differences in relation to Jesus.  “Who do people say I am,” Jesus asks.  They respond, naming some of the prophets of Jewish history.  Then the hardest question: “Who do you say I am?”  Peter says Jesus is the Messiah.  Then Jesus tells them the Messiah must suffer and die. This upsets Peter’s expectations.  He protests.  And Jesus shuts down that protest, telling them they are thinking from the wrong point of view.  Then he adds this:

‘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.’”

That doesn’t sound like following Jesus is going to save us from suffering, does it?  Now I know we have all heard people say something like, my cross is my bad back, or my family problems, or putting up with my noisy, nosy neighbor.  I don’t think that’s exactly what Jesus meant, but maybe I’m wrong. Many of those first disciples experienced a literal cross and were crucified like Jesus. So we need to be careful when we think some minor challenge we face qualifies as a cross. I remind myself my constant whining about whatever physical pains I may have doesn’t qualify as a cross.

For centuries we have heard salvation defined as Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sins so that God would forgive us and let us into heaven.  I believe there is more to it than that.  Without saying that is totally wrong, if we limit our faith to this, too often, that seems to give people permission to do anything they want because God forgives us.  For those who have enough privilege, “salvation” becomes a “get out of jail free card” for oppressing others, starting wars, taking bribes from lobbyists, and worse. I look at salvation through a different “lens.”

I believe Mark is telling his people at that time that this Messiah wasn’t there to be a conquering hero.  He wasn’t going to bring back the glory days of Israel.  He was there to stand up to the powers that caused the suffering.  But he didn’t sanction violence.  I think Jesus offered the way to salvation from the oppression of religious, economic and government systems and the spiritual suffering of life.  He called it the Kingdom of God and said it was here now, even inside of us.  He was crucified, at least in part, because he dared to envision and preach a different “Kingdom,” one where everyone understood love was the greatest power, and the real source of salvation.  He was willing to suffer for that vision.

Suffering “with” is all fine and good.  But if nothing ever changes the causes of suffering how is that salvation?  Are we just supposed to wait until we get to heaven, suffering patiently?  That’s what a lot of people in pulpits and politics want us to believe.  Mark gives us a clue at the end of his Gospel. He gives us two signs that when Jesus is crucified on the cross that God isn’t ignoring our suffering here. 

In Mark’s gospel, as Jesus suffers on the cross and dies we learn that the veil of the Temple is torn.  This veil symbolized the separation between God and people. The claim that it was torn is a symbolic way to say that there is nothing separating us from God.  At the same time a Roman soldier, who witnesses Jesus’ death, proclaims: “surely this man is the Son of God!”  Mark invites us to “see” that even those who were not Jewish could come to see Jesus as Savior.  Mark is saying God is with us all and intends to be with us in transforming what is, into what God intends for us.  I see Jesus’ life, death, and ultimately his resurrection, as God’s promise to be with us in our suffering, and is working to bring a new reality now as well as what we call “eternal life.”

Can we be saved from suffering? Can our suffering be transformed?  What does it mean to take up our cross to follow the way of transformation?  These are the questions Jesus asks when he asks us, “Who do you say I am?”  How do you see him?  Let’s look for his presence with us at this table we are about to come to, shall we?  AMEN.