Luke 9:18-24
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost  -  26 June 2016
Rev. John Derme

Sometimes you and I act like different people in public than in private. Here is an example: You are driving to church on Sunday morning. Somebody in the family woke up late and made everybody else run behind schedule. Somebody else didn't get enough sleep and is crabby. Somebody else is upset about being late to play music or sing or usher for the service. Nobody in the car is happy, and the ride is filled with complaining, arguing, and shouting. But as soon as the car is parked and everybody gets out, you act differently. Somebody greets you at the church door: "How are you doing?" You respond, "I'm doing great!

Why do we act differently in public than in private? If people saw how you sometimes act in private, they might think differently about you. That is why we try to keep our complaining, arguing, and shouting hidden. Is that also why we sometimes keep our faith in Jesus hidden? Are you afraid that if your faith were public, people might think differently about you? Today we confess our faith that Jesus is the Christ. What does your confession mean?

In our Gospel of the Day from Luke chapter 9, Jesus asked his disciples in private about their confession, and then he explained exactly what that confession meant.

First he asked them who the crowds said he was. These were the people who weren't Jesus' enemies, nor were they his devoted followers. They were interested in what he said and did, but they didn't know who he really was. Because of his teaching and miracle working, Jesus had gained the reputation among the crowds that he was a prophet. This is partially true. Jesus is the great Prophet whom Moses foretold in the Old Testament. But they didn't understand what all that meant. They were thinking of a merely human prophet. 

Then Jesus asked his disciples to confess their own faith: "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered on behalf of the group: "You are the Christ of God." This was a far more complete confession than that of the crowds. "Christ" is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word "Messiah." Peter's confession, which represented the faith of all the disciples, was that Jesus is not only a prophet. He is the Savior, who had been foretold in the Old Testament. 

Even though the disciples knew Jesus better than the crowds did, still they did not understand everything that their confession meant. So Jesus explained what it meant that he is the Christ. First, though, he strongly warned them not to tell anybody. Then he told them something that they should have understood from the Old Testament. He would suffer and die at the hands his enemies, and then he would rise. That was what the Christ had come to do.

Why do you think Jesus told them not to tell anybody about this? One reason is that they wouldn't understand what his suffering and death meant until after he had risen from the dead. The disciples wouldn't make very good messengers of news that they didn't understand themselves. Only after they saw him dead and raised, would their confession of Christ become public.

Another reason is that these disciples weren't ready for the effect that their public confession would have on their lives. After Jesus died and rose again, after he ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, they would boldly and confidently proclaim the truth. Because of their public confession, Jesus' enemies would cause them to suffer, and even kill them. That is what Jesus was talking about in the Gospel when he told them that they would have to bear their cross to follow him. The disciples weren't ready to do that, yet.

Are you ready to bear your cross? Are you ready to suffer for being a disciple of Jesus? Are you willing to lose everything for him? Some Christians lose their popularity with friends when they make their confession of faith public. Some Christians lose members of their families, who leave them. Some Christians lose their jobs. Some Christians lose their lives for following Jesus. Are you ready and willing to lose everything?

Some of you are thinking, "Yes! I am willing to go through anything for Jesus!" That is a wonderful attitude. Yet we should realize that it is easy for us to say that right here. This church building is a relatively safe place to confess your faith. You don't have to worry about too many of the other people at church looking down on you for saying that Jesus is the Christ. Our own nation has also historically been a relatively safe place to be a Christian. Our society may become more hostile to Jesus over time, but we've got it so much better than people in many other nations around this world. We're in a pretty safe place right now.

What happens when our society does become hostile to Christians? What happens when, out in the world, you meet face-to-face with people who don't like Jesus? There are people who think that anyone who believes in a suffering Savior is a fool. Are you okay with them thinking that about you? Will you be so eager to suffer for Jesus when it is real? We kind of like our lives. We also like all that we have. We like our relationships with family and friends. Are you ever tempted to keep your faith in Jesus a secret so that you don't lose any of these? When you keep your confession private, because you don't want to suffer in any way, doesn't that mean that you love something in your life, perhaps your life itself, more than you love Jesus?

Everything that Jesus said to his disciples in our Gospel of the Day he also says to us. That includes his warning that if we love anything, even life, more than we love Jesus, we will lose it. We will lose everything. In the end, we won't have Jesus or our lives, because we will suffer death in hell.

This is why our confession of faith is so important. We don't want to lose Jesus. We do love and trust in him. Why? Because of what he has done for us. The fact that he suffered physical and spiritual pain and that he died the most gruesome death imaginable on the cross means that he is our Savior. The reason that he died was to suffer the consequences of our sins, even our sins of letting anything in our lives become more important to us than he is. Because he suffered and died in our place, our fear and timidity, our lack of trust in him, has been forgiven. He has saved our lives!

Since Jesus has saved us and has given us life that will never end, we cannot keep this good news a secret. That is why we confess openly and publicly what he has done for us. Still, Jesus wants us to know that there are people in this world today who hate him. He wants us to be aware that when we speak openly about our faith in him, his enemies will cause us to suffer for it. 

Jesus calls this kind of suffering our "cross." Jesus carried his own literal wooden cross as part of his suffering; the cross was the instrument of his death. Since we follow Jesus, he says that we carry a cross, too. It isn't a literal wooden cross. Our cross is any suffering that we experience because we trust in Jesus. Our suffering doesn't pay for our sins, of course. Jesus already accomplished that on his cross. Our cross teaches us to trust in him more each day.

Jesus also tells us that we will have to carry our cross daily when we follow him. It is a part of our everyday lives. Sometimes we try to compartmentalize our lives. We think, "I'm a Christian on Sunday morning at church. Then I have my other responsibilities throughout the rest of the week." Actually, our faith in Jesus has an impact on everything we do every day. No matter where we are or what we are doing, you and I are living out our faith in Jesus through our words and actions. 

This means that suffering for Jesus will make it into our daily lives. At first, that sounds like a bad thing. We don't really enjoy the possibility of losing our lives. But it is actually it is a very good thing for us. That's what Jesus means when he tells us that whoever loses his life for him will find it. The temptation to keep our faith a secret comes when we get too attached to this life. But when we lose some of what makes this life comfortable, Jesus helps us to see what true life really is. Sometimes we have to lose some of what we think is important to find what Jesus says is important – the forgiveness and eternal life that he has given to us. We have life from Jesus that no one can take away from us. And the eternal life that he gives fills each day of this life with meaning as we use it to confess our faith in him. 

Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can be the same people in public and in private. In either place, you and I are sinners. Yet we confess that Jesus is the Christ, who suffered to save us. Because of what he has done, we are willing to suffer for him. And he works through our suffering to teach us to trust him more. That is what your confession means.