Jesus was talking about his own life.
“The human one must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed…”
Peter didn’t understand.
Suffer many things? Be rejected? Be killed?
No, no, no, Jesus. What about the movement? What about the kingdom?...
Peter joined the movement because he believed they were about to do something big. Jesus said, “Follow me,” and Peter did. Peter accepted Jesus’ invitation because Peter believed they were about to change the world. He committed himself to being a disciple because he believed that they were going to replace Roman rule with the rule of God!
How could any of that happen if Jesus, their leader, was rejected and killed?
Peter knew that if they were going to accomplish all they hoped to accomplish, then what Jesus said could not be. It was impossible that their movement could succeed if Jesus was rejected and killed.
Jesus must not have meant what he said.
But he did mean it.
And… there was more...
Jesus said, “it’s not just me who must lose his life. All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.”
Say no to yourself. Deny yourself. Take up your cross… All who want to save their lives will lose them.
That’s asking quite a lot, don’t you think?
This is a hard, hard teaching for Peter.
This is a hard, hard teaching for all disciples.
This is a hard, hard teaching for any today who seek to follow Jesus.
Deny yourself. Take up your cross. Be willing to lose your life in order to save it.
Preachers don’t want to preach this message. Preachers want to preach messages that draw people in. This isn’t a message that draws people in.
Two preachers were once talking about their churches, asking each other how things were going, and the first preacher said “things are going pretty well… the church has grown and we’re up to 1,000 members!”
The second preacher replied, “Well, things are going pretty well for me, too. We started with 1,000 members, but I’ve preached that congregation down to about ten…”
And it’s true… churches that have 1,000 members or 10,000 members often preach about how God will bless them if they are faithful, that God will give them riches and prosperity if they just lift God’s name up in praise and prayer.
And a lot of churches that grow will preach about how we sinned, but Jesus paid the price for us, Jesus took our place on the cross, paid our debt, so that we can be free to live the life God desires for us.
However, in what we heard today, there is no “dying on the cross in our place.” Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we don’t have to.
Jesus tells us to take up our own cross. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves. Jesus tells us to be willing to lose our life for his sake and for the sake of the gospel.
The idea of Jesus “taking our place” doesn’t come from the Bible. It first originated about 1,000 years after Jesus. It began with Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk and archbishop, who said: Instead of losing our life, instead of carrying our cross, instead of being crucified with Christ (as Paul puts it), let’s say that Christ died in our place. Let’s say that Christ took our place and died on the cross so that we don’t have to. Let’s say that Christ paid the price, and set us free to live.
Obviously, Anselm’s idea doesn’t match with the whole “deny yourself & take up your cross” thing.
And what does Anselm’s idea say about God?
According to Anselm and his “Jesus died in our place” idea, God demands death as punishment for sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but it doesn’t say that it is God who demands death. What kind of a God demands death? What kind of a God demands blood? What kind of a God is unable think of a better, more creative solution? What kind of a God sends his son to die, because death is the only solution? ...because someone has to die?
Talk about an idea lacking in creativity. If God is God, couldn’t God come up with something better than that?
Let’s say a person sins by killing another person. The judge finds him guilty and he is sentenced to death. But then the judge’s son arrives, and the judge says to the guilty one, “if you say you’re sorry, then I’ll have my son die in your place.”
Well, why does anyone have to die? Why can’t the judge (who, in this case, is all-powerful) just overturn the death penalty and find a more creative, constructive, restorative solution by which the repentant murder can pay back his debt to society?
I talk to friends and relatives who have given up on faith, and this idea is one of the reasons why they have given up. “How can you worship a God who demands death? A God who says you must die, but then makes his own son die in your place, because somebody must die.” They find they cannot worship this “somebody must die” God, and so they lose their faith.
And I don’t blame them.
Now, this doesn’t change the fact that Jesus did die. On the path to a better theology, we do have that to deal with...
Yes, Jesus died. He was killed. But he wasn’t killed to satisfy God. He was killed because he proclaimed a kingdom that was a threat to those who abuse and oppress, and they would not stand for it.
Imagine a parent sending their son or daughter off to war. The parent doesn’t want the son or daughter to die. But the parent does want them to do what is right, to defend their honor and the honor of their nation. And defending one’s honor and the honor of one’s nation may in fact mean facing death.
Or, imagine the parents of a civil rights activist. That civil rights activist is out there, fighting for rights, fighting for justice. Do the parents of that activist want their son or daughter to die? Of course not. But they do want that son or daughter to do the noble work they are called to do, and they want them to keep doing that important work, because it is what gives life meaning.
They don’t demand their child’s death. But they do insist that their son or daughter follow their call, and do what is right, no matter the cost. Even if that means risking their life.
Lots of people have faced death by living out their call from God. Martin Luther King. Oscar Romero Maximilian Kolbe. Just to name a few.
God didn’t demand their death. Yet death came to them, because they were committed to following Jesus no matter the cost.
God gave Jesus a mission, to proclaim a new kingdom, to set the oppressed free, to bring wholeness to the world.
It was inevitable that he would die, not because it was what God wanted or demanded, but because sometimes that is the price of following one’s call. In Jesus’ case, the rulers and authorities of this world could not stand to have someone challenge the way they had constructed the world. They would stop at nothing to silence him.
And because we are followers of Jesus, we share his mission, his purpose. It is now our job to proclaim a new kingdom, to set the oppressed free, to bring wholeness to the world.
And there are people today who do not like the message we are called to proclaim.
We are called to proclaim a world in which the poor are lifted up… and there are people in the world who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which Black lives matter… and there are people in the world who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which gays and lesbians and transgender people are affirmed… and there are people in the world who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which immigrants and refugees find a home… and there are people who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which women are respected and given a voice… and there are people who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which people, before acting, take into consideration the rights of their neighbor and not just their own right to do something… and there are people who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which people of all races, ages, genders, sexualities, ethnicities, incomes, religions, and nationalities come together as one people, united,...and there are people who do not like that message.
We are called to proclaim a world in which life is sacred, a world in which guns are regulated so that they do not find their way into the hands of people who would use them to commit harm to other humans...and there are people who do not like that message.
The message Jesus calls us to proclaim, the message Jesus calls us to live by and to live out, will not be welcomed by all. If you follow Jesus faithfully, they will try to silence you. They will try to oppress you. They will try to discredit you. And yes, if your voice is loud enough, they may even try to kill you.
But you will have spoken. You will have shined your light. You will have helped make God’s kingdom a reality on earth.
This past week, the world has seen young survivors of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida speaking out, demanding that our society put people first, put human lives first, put children first… instead of
placing the sales of guns as their first priority.
These young people have shown great courage and boldness. They are speaking Truth, but there are people who do not like their message of Truth. Already, there are those who are trying to silence their voices. The gun manufacturers, the NRA… their profits will be hurt if society pays too much attention to the young prophets in Florida and across the country. And they will try to silence them…already they are spreading false rumors, and creating fictitious conspiracy theories, and spreading them about.
The same thing happened following the release of the movie Black Panther. This movie has brought empowerment to African Americans. And not everyone likes this. Some are trying to discredit it. They’re making up rumors of Black mobs intimidating or attacking white moviegoers, spreading these rumors through social media.
In the same way, lies are spread concerning Muslims and other minority groups. Russian influencers as well as white nationalists in America fabricate rumors to discredit and silence those who advocate for peace and understanding and truth.
Yet we are still called to do just that: to advocate for peace and understanding and truth. We are called to follow Jesus, no matter the cost.
Jesus says: “take up your cross. Follow me. Say no to yourself, deny yourself, and proclaim the message I have given you.” 
Yes, the world may ridicule you, persecute you, try to silence you. And in rare cases, yes, the world may try to kill you. But Jesus makes this promise:
Those who lose their live for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will find their life renewed. If you lose your life, you will save it. If you lose your life, you will be made whole.
God demonstrated this when he rose Jesus from the dead. The world killed him, but God rose Jesus back to life. The world broke Jesus’ body, but God made Jesus whole.
And we have that promise, repeated in scripture, that all who are crucified with Christ will be resurrected with Christ. All who die in Christ will live in Christ.
And when the world breaks the body of Christ because of the message we proclaim, God will make us whole. When the world takes away our life because we are living faithfully to our calling, then God will give us new life. When the world beats us down, God will raise us up. When the world tears us apart, God will put us back together.
Because God is love, and love is stronger than death, and love always has the last word.
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