The Right Oreos

Sermon-2Lent-March 8, 2009

The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Amen. (from the Cloud of the Unknowing)
Hank who had always lived on a farm decided to ride the commuter train that passed by his community into the big city of St. Paul one day. At the first stop, the conductor announced that everyone would be able to get off at the station for a short while. Hank wandered into the station and found the vending machines where he purchased a carton of milk and a six-pack of Oreo cookies. He then sat down at a small table in the waiting room next to a gentleman who was obviously not from the country--nice suit, overcoat, and he was reading The Wall Street Journal. Hank thought to himself, "This fellow looks like Ward Cleaver. He probably thinks he’s better than me." Hank opened the Oreos and took a cookie. As he put it into his mouth, he noticed that Ward Cleaver reached over and took an Oreo for himself and continued reading! Now Hank knew that no one in his little town would just reach over and take an Oreo without saying anything. This was different from the country! After a moment, Hank took a swig of milk to wash his cookie down, and Ward reached over for a second Oreo! Hank took his second cookie, and not knowing what the stranger would do, he took a third Oreo at the same time and began to eat them quickly. Lo and behold, Ward Cleaver grabbed the last cookie, got up and folded his paper in a huff and walked off! “City folks”, thought Hank, “always thinking they’re better than us”. He finished his milk and got up to get back on the train. As he did, he reached into his pocket for his ticket, and he found his pack of Oreos.
We don't always know everything we think we know about what's going on. We can be so wrong when we think we're so right!”
I tell you this story because Jesus asks, who do you say that I am? And Peter gets it right, and then he gets it wrong. Remember all those times that Jesus told demons and lepers and disciples not to tell folks who he was? Well, this is why-they were eating the wrong Oreos. Peter knows Jesus is a savior, but he wants a messiah that never fails, never suffers, never loses. That’s not who I am, Jesus says. To be my disciple is going to be hard. It’s going to require a lot. It’s going to cost you. It will demand everything of me, and to be a follower, it will demand everything of you.
But all these years I have been preaching on this gospel, I have been troubled by something. So many Christians I know, you, daily sacrifice, daily give up, daily deny yourselves for the gospel. Listen to Presbyterian pastor, Rev. William Carter: The Rev. William Carter is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Clarks Summit, PA
Jesus says, "Deny yourselves." You know, it's difficult for some people to even hear that word when they've had so much taken away. How can people who have lost so much believe it is a virtue to give up what little dignity they bear? How can the downtrodden ever hear this obligation of the gospel?
Sometimes we need to claim the love and dignity of God, and then see what happens. Like the woman who made an appointment to talk about troubles at home. At one point in the conversation she said, "When my opinion of myself improved, my marriage got worse."
For those who struggle to feel empowered, for those who believe for the first time in their lives they are worthy of love and appreciation, it can be harsh to hear Jesus say, "Deny yourself." It's particularly true if you have recently discovered that you have a self….Mark tells us how Jesus comes to give worth and value, not take it away….The point is, Jesus never says, "Go out into the world and get yourself beaten up!" But he does say, "Follow me." … We are invited to follow Jesus. We are called for and called upon to follow him.
As one New Testament scholar reminds us, the members of Mark's community are not called to suffer. They are called to preach the Gospel. Because of the confrontational nature of that calling, the world they confront will persecute them in order to stop them. Suffering is the result of the call, not the call itself. What happened to Jesus, for the same reason it happened to him, will happen to those acting and preaching in his name.
Friends, we don't wake up every morning and say, "How am I going to let the world beat me up today?" But we are called upon to get out of bed to ask, "How can I let the whole world know the life of Jesus is the hope of the world?"(Rev. William Carter-Sermon-Revising the Agenda-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Clarks Summit, PA March 19, 2000)
Years ago, I was talking with a woman who struggled so much with this passage. She desperately wanted to be faithful, to be a follower of Jesus, but her self-image, her understanding of herself was so low, that she was constantly fighting discouragement and sadness. All she heard was that she needed to suffer more and more. Finally she went to a priest who said to her, “You know, if you met Jesus walking down the street and he asked you to carry a cross-you’d ask for a bigger, heavier one.” She told me that story years later, and marked that day as the day she finally started being a follower of Christ.
The Jesus of Mark’s gospel goes towards danger. He demands everything of those who love him. He minces no words about the nature of discipleship-it is to serve and to share in the world’s hurts. But the Jesus in this gospel never tells his disciple to suffer more. He never tells them to ask for a bigger cross. He never teaches them to seek pain or to hurt more. Jesus does say that if we are true, if we are faithful, the world will confront us, and we will probably see more than we want to see, feel more than we want to feel.. It is inconvenient to be a Christian, it is embarrassing, annoying, and sometimes it really hurts. Jesus doesn’t bid us to suffer-but he does say that we may face the same things he did. It’s what happens when we find the right Oreos-We realize that being right may cost us a lot. Amen.
Mark 8:31-38
8:31 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.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 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."
8:34 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.
8:35 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.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."