THOSE VOICES OF DOUBT IN OUR HEADS

SATURDAY AFTER FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT 2015

So I figured out Bishop Wright’s pattern. Monday through Friday we work our way through Mark’s Gospel, and then on Saturday he comments on the Gospel you will hear read on Sunday…and then on Sunday he comments on the Sunday Psalm. I am taking Sunday off. So today Bishop Wright looks at Mark 8:31-38 which you will hear Sunday at Church. It is the moment that Jesus lays out his plan…the Son of Man must suffer and die, and then on the third day rise again—Peter objects—Jesus tells Peter, Satan, to get behind him—and then Jesus tells us that if we want to follow then we need to take up our cross. You may know the story.

As has become the norm, Bishop Wright does a wonderful job unpacking the Scripture. Could you imagine if Jesus listened to Peter? Might Jesus live a full life, a life where all sorts of people were cured, where he developed a large following, and where he simply died in bed of old age? That could have been the outcome if he followed the advice of Satan. The question I am asking myself is what is God inviting us to do? I am not suggesting that our lives rival Jesus’, I am merely suggesting that we have God-inspired hopes, dreams, and goals—and we have voices in our heads telling us we can’t, or we shouldn’t. I recently had a conversation with someone who spoke to me of their dreams…and all the risks and fears they had about stretching for them. They asked me what I thought they should do. My answer was pray. After we prayed, I asked them what they thought God was leading them to do…their answer was to take the risk…BUT and it is the BUT that so often dissuades from taking up our cross to follow Jesus.

Please understand, my message is not some, “go follow your dreams” message. My message is, “go and follow God’s dreams for you.” There is a key difference. And know, when you seek to follow God’s dreams for you…there will be all sorts of voices seeking to keep you off that path. Finally, this reality, of being pulled or dissuaded from God’s path for us plays out in big and small ways in our lives every day—at least some of them may seem small to us. Consider simply talking to someone about Jesus or befriending someone. Consider whether you should help someone and share Christ’s love…what might God want…but we come up with all sorts of reasons. We don’t want to impose on people, we don’t want people to think we are a pushy Christian. And there is this reality of being the overzealous Jesus-nut. There is also the reality of being embarrassed about the message of the Cross—especially in the West. Jesus tells us today, to listen to what God is calling us to do…and then take up our crosses, and do it.