Ashamed? (Mark 8:27-38)
Written by Pastor Fausel   
Grace, mercy and peace be to you …

Let me take you back some years to the early days of my ministry.  I had the privilege to get to know a man by the name of David (Hauenstein) … David was 52, and had worked all his life for Ford Motor Company as a toolmaker.   But David had a bad heart … And his heart got so bad that he had to live in a critical care unit in a hospital attached to an external heart machine.

And after many, many months a heart became available so that David could receive a transplant. 

It was quite a day for David … you see … his favorite singer was the country star, Crystal Gayle … And guess what?   Crystal’s brother was in that very same hospital for surgery.   And Crystal and her sister Tammy were both hiding out incognito thanks to the clever work of the nurses.

And so, an hour before David’s transplant … who walks into His room to wish him a successful outcome? … Crystal Gayle herself. 

The transplant surgery was a success!   More on this story later.

Now, David was just an ordinary Joe, with a wife and two daughters.  He loved books, especially his Bible.   And He knew his Bible well.

Story goes that one day a neighbor of David’s drove by and saw one of David’s daughters wearing slacks. 
(Now this was in the 70’s, not pre-World War II.)  And the neighbor asked David how he and his family were going to like spending eternity in hell.

And when David asked the neighbor why he would ask such a question, the neighbor quoted a passage from the Book of Deuteronomy talking about God’s judgment on women wearing men’s clothing.

David nodded and simply asked the man when he was going to finish his house.  “What do you mean, finish it?  It is finished, it’s been finished for over three years now!” the neighbor insisted.

“Not according to that same chapter in Deuteronomy,” David replied.  “You’ve failed to install the necessary parapet required by Scripture to save you from the blood-guilt of anyone who should fall from your roof!”
 
Point, set, match.  David knew that he and his family were saved by their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, not by any outward observance of the law.

David knew his Lord and he loved His Word.  Very simply, David was not ashamed of his Lord.  And we might imagine, if we were to take a poll this morning, we’d all line up with David on that score, too, … Ashamed of Jesus?   Not Hardly!

But in our reading from Mark’s Gospel this morning, we see Peter, who we might imagine would claim the first spot in that line … blowing it … and lining up with Satan instead.

Are we, too, guilty of Peter’s sin?   Would Jesus have to say to us, “Get behind me Satan!”?  What does it really mean to be ashamed of our Lord?

Teenagers are apt to drop this line on their parents, “Please, please, mom and dad, don’t do anything or say anything that will embarrass me in front of my friends!”  Why do you think teenagers feel they have to make that plea?   Because it’s happened, hasn’t it?

But other times, you can’t help wondering who had reason to be ashamed of whom … Which is the case in our reading for this morning.

We heard Peter make His great confession about Jesus, “You are the Christ!”   And upon that confession, Jesus then goes on to explain what “being the Christ” really means.   It means that he will have to suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes … and even die …and yet, three days later, rise again.

And at these words, Peter was embarrassed and ashamed.  So much so, we see that Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him for this ill-timed and not-so-fitting words from the Son of the Living God. 

But by this act … Jesus was now embarrassed and ashamed of Peter.  Peter, who had been with Him well over two years now … still had in mind the things of man … not the things of God.

Now. Peter’s words to Jesus were just like Satan’s temptations in the Wilderness … Temptations to take the easy way to glory … to avoid the Cross and the Tomb …

Jesus had rejected Satan and his temptations, But now the Temptations were coming from someone Jesus loved: Peter.

So, Jesus’ rebukes Peter … calling him Satan.   Peter earned that name by association.  A name that applies to him or to anyone else who would take away from, or minimize, the absolute scandal of the Gospel.

What’s the Scandal of the Gospel?  St. Paul tells us in our Epistle reading for today … He says there:  “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person  -- though perhaps for a  good person one would dare even to die -- but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, (enemies of God) Christ died for us.”

Christ died for us … the innocent for the guilty … that’s the scandal.

Peter was daring to question God’s need to carry that cross on our behalf.  But in so doing, Peter was reflecting the popular opinion of the day of who the Messiah (the Christ) would be, and what He would accomplish.

Humanly speaking … Peter was looking forward to basking in glory… as he would be at the right hand of a triumphant Messiah King.  Not the disgrace of being a disciple of a poor, beggarly, rejected and crucified prophet.

Peter meant well … he wished to spare his master (and himself) the shame and humiliation of which Jesus had spoken.

So then … what about us?  Do we today find ourselves embarrassed by Jesus’ words?  Do we have a hard time accepting the idea of having to deny ourselves and taking up our own cross to follow Him?

There are plenty of reasons why those are not the first things any of us want to do.  And so … knowing that, Jesus addresses them all in our text.

First, Jesus says, “For whoever would save His life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”  What does He mean about losing our life?

Here’s a good passage to remember and it’s easy to find.  Just remember Luke 1-2-3-4. … Luke 12:34 --- There we hear these words that we also heard on Ash Wednesday:  “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Martin Luther wrote of this passage, “What ever you love most …
 is your god.”

We often try to deflect this message by thinking of others.  “Oh yeah … Uncle Joe … money is certainly his god.”  Or that current rock star … “We know what his or her god is!”

But what about our god?   Come on, get honest; the enemy is us!  We are our own god.  And as a result … our lives become more about getting … than giving.

That’s what Jesus means about loving our lives:  He says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

So life, in a Christian sense, is more about giving than getting.  But, what and how we give is important too.  We could give away everything … become 21st century martyrs … but still be worshipping ourselves … by doing our giving in order to honor ourselves before God.

Are we willing to give control of our life over to God … or will we insist on setting the way we will serve Him?   Our way, God;  take it or leave it?  Whose life then is it, in the end?

The Pharisees fell into that trap.  They gave more than a tithe of their income, more than 10 percent.  They gave their lives, too … but out of a sense of meriting God’s favor … and the favor of the people as well.  Their treasure was themselves.

Living for Christ means just the opposite.  Living with ridicule, living with not being politically correct.  Calling sin … sin …in what ever form it may take … and whatever the consequences may be.

But living for Christ also means being ready to point to the hope that we have in God’s mercy and grace through the Gospel.

Are we ashamed of God’s forgiveness? – Is that a commodity we reserve only for those who deserve it in our own eyes?  Many people have not found it.

“What can a person give in exchange for his soul?” Jesus asks. 


There are a whole lot of people out there asking themselves that question because they think that what they’ve done in life has caused them to forfeit their soul. 

People who feel that way … feel that they are justly and rightly condemned under God’s righteous wrath.  Those people may never find that reconciliation of which St. Paul speaks in our Epistle reading this morning.

So, what about our side of that?   Are we more inclined to jump on the devil’s bandwagon and accuse others rather than forgive?  To speak, rather than listen, to hurt rather than heal?

The encouragement we have from Scripture as a child of God is to say,
“I am only an unworthy servant – if I had done everything perfectly … loved You, Lord, and even my fellow man perfectly … that would have only been my duty, and no more.   But as it is … I haven’t even gotten close to doing that!  And I deserve your rebuke, even as you rebuked Peter.”

And so like Peter, I too must look to my Lord for His grace and forgiveness … the same grace and forgiveness which God blessed Peter with. 

Because honestly, I cannot perfectly deny myself, no more than I can perfectly accept and carry my cross through this life.  You and I can’t, any more than the disciples … or Peter himself.

None of us are pure saints in this world.  But that was Jesus’ cross … His cross was to heal us, make us pure… give us His Holy Spirit…
Reconcile us to God.   And for all that, then, it becomes our desire, deepest desire, worshipful desire … to live for Him the best we can until He calls us home.

And now, in honor of a great man (Paul Harvey) whom Lord called home this past week, we will now hear “The rest of the story.”

Today, I know where my heart-transplant friend David is.  He had to endure a suffering in the flesh I hope and pray none of us ever has to know … An infection that David contracted was more than his body could endure.  And the Lord did call David home.

But God had given him a faith which allowed him not only to bear that cross … but in the process, to touch many souls by his witness.

Just an ordinary man in the world’s eyes.  Not even on the order of “Joe the Plumber.”  But he was a redeemed sinner in God’s eyes … and the faith God gave him made him a blessing to this world both in life … and in death. 

As a matter of fact, I’m looking forward to introducing him to you someday.   But until then, I pray that the Lord will fill us all with His love … and a measure of faith … that we might never be ashamed of Him … nor He of us.  

In Him.  Amen.
 

Copyright 2006-2010, Our Savior Lutheran Church