" Follow Me" Matthew 16:21-28

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen

Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

In the Name of Jesus

Jesus was about to enter into the toughest stretch of his earthly ministry.  Remember in the reading last week how our Lord made mention of the war against hell and the church?  He said, while affirming Peter’s confession I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  The disciples were soon going to witness this.  Jesus explained to the disciples, in clear words, that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed.  This was not a metaphor Jesus was trying to tell the disciples.  This was not a hypothetical scenario which Jesus was giving the disciples to see how they would respond.  This was not a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  This was a real life prediction. 

Peter was not a big fan of this idea.  After hearing the prediction he pulled Jesus aside and rebuked him.  Peter, who all too often spoke from the hip and did not think about what he was saying, tells Jesus, the Son of God who had never been wrong to that point, and of course would never be wrong after that, far be it from you Lord! This shall never happen to you.  Why would anyone subject themselves to that kind of ridicule and torture, especially Jesus?  Didn’t Peter understand anything about Jesus?  He just made the great confession and now he is telling Jesus everything is going to be fine? 

They say that hindsight is 20/20.  It is easy for us to look back at Peter and shake our heads and look down at him for what he did.  Did he not understand that Jesus came just for this reason?  But, think about it this way.  Your best friend, your sibling, your spouse looks at you in all seriousness and says that he is about to go through a lot of ridicule and torment and is going to die.  How easy would be that to swallow?  Instantly, there we are in Peter’s position.  Our thoughts begin to swirl and try to find any way to keep these events from happening.  We become fixated on the moment and can’t focus on anything else.

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?  We like to fix our eyes, our minds, on earthly things.  Just as when it comes to election time and we support the candidate who will stand for what is important to us, we follow religions that suit our desires.  And following a religion is a big thing.  Look at Jesus’ words.  If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow.  It isn’t a walk in the park.  It is a confession, a dedication, a commitment.  As much as we like to try we can’t sit on the fence.  We can’t serve, praise, worship, confess God in once breath and then curse him and follow the ways of the world the next.  Making the confession we talked about last week means taking up the cross appointed.  This is not a pleasant task, either; it is exactly what it sounds like.  The cross is a means of death. Are you ready to endure death and stand up for your faith?  Or would you rather gain the world all while forfeiting your soul?

If you listen to the Old Testament reading for today, Jeremiah also is very focused on earthly repercussions for following the Lord’s will.  He is upset with God over the crosses he has to bare.  O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my presecuters.  In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.  Your words were found and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.  I did not sit in the company of the revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.  Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?  Will you be to me like a deceitful brook like waters that fall? 

With the words if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow.   Jesus was telling the disciples that they too would have to undergo the same things he would.  They would suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes.  Maybe this was Jesus giving them fair warning and a chance to back out if they wanted.  But this is Jesus we are talking about.  Would he really let these things happen to himself and to those around him?   

If it was our friend, our brother or sister, or our spouse, we might wonder what trouble they would have gotten themselves into that is leading to such a situation.  Or we might wonder what they have up their sleeve.  But with Peter and Jesus, Peter became so fixate on the first half of the prediction Jesus gave, he completely ignored the second half of the promise.  Yes Jesus must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed.  But what about what follows this statement?  What seems to be the worst statement the Christ could make, that he would die, turns into the most beautiful Gospel by the next seven words he utters, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus rebukes Peter saying Get behind me Satan!  You are a hindrance to me.  For you are not setting your mind on things of God, but on things of Man.  Jesus is clearly stating the purpose for his ministry here.  Through the tender mercy of our Father, he sent his son to endure many things and lose his life.  St Paul writes to the Corinthians For our sake he God made him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God in him. 

The disciples were ready when Jesus told them to pick up their cross and follow him, until it meant bearing that cross and suffering the same way Jesus did on the cross then they began to deny him, just as Jesus predicted.  But the Gospel was shown to them, explicitly to Peter whom Jesus asked three times if he loved him.  They repented of their ways and received the forgiveness won for them on the cross.  It is that same forgiveness and grace shown the disciples that is shown to us today.  Even though we have sinned against our Lord and Savior we are continually forgiven and brought back into the fold.  What a blessed hope and assurance we have that our Lord is ready to forgive.

It is this same forgiveness that was shown to Jeremiah.  After he lamented to God about his pain, his persecution in spite of doing what God asked, the Lord said If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me.  If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth.  They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.  And I will make you to this people a forfeited all of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.  I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.

Because of the confession made in baptism and in the Lord’s Supper, we are urged to take up our cross and follow the path of our Savior, the path of ridicule, suffering, and death.  Yet our confession is made on the promise that was made in the Gospel reading, those who lose their life for my sake will gain it.  God promises us, just as he promised Jeremiah, that he will deliver us out of the hands of the wicked and he will redeem us.  So do not take up your crosses grudgingly or out of fear for what might happen.  For as Martin Luther says in the explanation to the First Article of the Apostles creed “he defends me against all danger guards and protects me against all evil.”  And again in his explanation to the seventh petition of the Lord’s prayers “But deliver us from evil, what does this mean?  We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrows to himself in heaven.”    

May God grant this to us for His name sake.