First Week in Lent

Discipleship: The Design of the Cross-Shaped Life

Scripture: Read Mark 8:27-38.

In the fall of 2004, Jamie Dolan was the sole survivor of a random shooting at a Radio Shack store in St. Petersburg, Florida, in which two other employees and the gunman were killed. A bullet to his head left Jamie blind. A year later the Dolan family became the center of national attention when the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew came to St. Petersburg to build Jamie, his wife, and their three children a new home.

They bulldozed the Dolan's forty-four-year old house and rebuilt it to meet the needs of a blind man and his family. The show ended, as they all do, with a lump in every throat and a tear in every eye as the family moved in to begin their lives in a whole new way.

In a deeper sense, an extreme makeover, a "radical renovation," is precisely what God wants to do in and through us. The Bible says that God's work of salvation calls for a total reconstruction of our sindistorted lives and of this sin-damaged world, so that the living Christ can take up residence in us and so that through us God's kingdom can become a tangible reality in this world. Salvation is nothing less than a radical renovation of cosmic proportions.

In 1995, we began a nonstop renovation project at Hyde Park United Methodist Church that continued for eight years. Across the time, we tore down, remodeled, or built new buildings on every square inch of three blocks in the city of Tampa, including the sanctuary, which was originally built in 1907. The renovations didn't always move along the way we planned. There were surprises along the way. But the project resulted in facilities in which the congregation could live, grow, and be in ministry for many years ahead.

There were times along the way when I felt like the frustrated homeowner described in Helen Kromer's 1960s satirical musical review, For Heaven's Sake. The homeowner invited God into his home to do what he thought would be some minor repair work. The homeowner knew that his home needed new gutters and a new coat of paint. He was aware of rotting floor boards and cracked plaster. He thought he could get God to do some modest patch and repair work.

To the homeowner's surprise, God came in and began a major rebuilding of the entire house! The homeowner fumed about the "divine house wrecker" who ripped out rotten beams, tore open picture windows in the walls of his cozy hideaway, added new floors, and launched a nonstop rebuilding project that began to turn what was a quiet little bungalow into a castle fit for a king. The homeowner began to feel as if the house no longer fit his old, small-house lifestyle and finally told God that it felt more like a place where God would live. That's when the divine renovator told the homeowner that the purpose of the renovation was for God to take up residence in him.

Make no mistake about it. When God begins a work of interior renovation in our small, narrow, self-addicted lives, God has a big idea. God's renovation plan is to rebuild our little lives into a place where God can take up residence and be at home.

A good starting point for understanding the design of the radical renovation God intends to do in our lives is the hinge passage upon which Mark's Gospel turns. It's the story of Peter's audacious affirmation that Jesus is the Christ; the Messiah; the finite, human expression of the essential character of the infinite, almighty God. (See Mark 8:29.) Suddenly, everything shifts in verse 31 when Mark records:

Then [Jesus] 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.

Suffering, rejection, and death were clearly not a part of the design that Peter had in mind. Mark uses a very strong verb to say that Peter "rebuked" Jesus. It's the same verb Mark uses to describe the way Jesus rebuked evil spirits. Peter has just declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the one who comes to represent God's reign and rule in this world; but now, the first time Jesus says something that doesn't fit into Peter's plan, he rebukes Jesus, turns his back on him, and heads off in the opposite direction. It makes me wonder if there might not be a little bit of Peter in most of us.

Isn't there something in most of us that would like to have just enough of Christianity to be religious, but not so much that it disrupts the assumptions upon which we live?

Isn't there something in us that wants to add a safe, predictable dash of spirituality to our lives, but doesn't want to be confronted with anything that challenges the basic perspective of the culture around us?

Isn't there something in us that longs to know that God can save us, but is not so keen on having a God who actually expects us to become a part of his saving work in the world?

Aren't there times when we would like God to come in to do a little repair work, but we're not so sure we want him doing major renovation?

When Peter rebuked Jesus, he may not have been all that different than we are—just a little more honest and a lot gutsier in expressing it!

Mark does an interesting thing in telling the story. He turns Peter's words back on him by using the very same verb to say that Jesus "rebuked" Peter and told him, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things" (Mark 8:33).

Jesus says that there is a Continental Divide that runs through the center of our souls. It divides two ways of living, thinking, and being. One way is to set our minds on the ordinary, human design for thinking and living. It's not necessarily bad; it's just ordinary. It's the ordinary perspective of ordinary people living by the ordinary assumptions of the ordinary world. The opposite option is to set our minds on God's design. It is the extraordinary way of living that sees all of life from the perspective of the saving will and life-giving way of God that Jesus modeled by going to the cross.

Mark uses another strong verb when Jesus tells Peter, "You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things" (8:33, emphasis added). Luke uses the same expression to describe the way Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51, emphasis added). Paul uses it when he tells the Colossian Christians, "Set your minds on things that are above" (Colossians 3:2, emphasis added). It describes a radical reorientation of our thinking that results in an equally radical reorientation of our living.

Do you remember Copernicus? He figured out that the sun, not the earth, is at the center of the solar system and that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around. Talk about a radical renovation! His discoveries totally reconstructed everything we thought we knew about the earth and its relationship to the rest of the solar system. It resulted in a total reorientation of the way we think and live on this planet.

Jesus calls us to nothing less than a Copernican revolution in the way we think and live. Contrary to most cultural assumptions, my little world is not the center of the universe. It's not all about me. The universe does not revolve around my self-interest. The most important question in life is not "What's in it for me?" The gospel is not a selfhelp manual to make life go a little better. Jesus calls us to a radical reorientation in the way we think that leads to an equally radical redirection of the way we live. Or, to return to our original metaphor, Jesus is nothing less than a divine version of Ty Pennington, who comes, not to do a little repair work, but to bring a total reconstruction of the way we think that results in an extreme makeover of the way we live.

Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century reformer, borrowed the Latin phrase "homo incurvatus in se" from Saint Augustine. It means "man curved in on himself." Luther wrote, "Our nature ... is so deeply curved in on itself that it not only bends the best gifts of God towards itself and enjoys them ... but it also fails to realize that it so wickedly, curvedly, and viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake" (Lecture on Romans [1515]. Quoted by David S. Yeago in "The Catholic Luther," First Things [1996]; http://www.firstthings.com/ article.php3?id_article=3838).

The principle of homo incurvatus in se was captured in Greek mythology in the story of Narcissus. He was so good-looking that the god Nemesis cursed him to fall in love with his reflection. The more Narcissus looked at himself, the smaller he became until there was nothing left but a little white flower. Eugene Peterson wrote, "Narcissus got smaller and smaller and smaller until there was no Narcissus left: he had starved to death on a diet of self" (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2005], page 243).

Starving to death on a diet of self is an accurate diagnosis of the most malignant cancer in the human heart. The evidence is that homo incurvatus in se is deadly. Life turned in on itself gets smaller and smaller until there is nothing left that can be called life. But in a sin-distorted world, this is the ordinary, human design for living and thinking.

By contrast, Jesus called his followers to a way of thinking that turns the mind-set of the world inside out. He defined the fundamental irony of the cross-shaped life when he said, "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" (Mark 8:35).

It's true, you know. If you try to save your life, hold it, hoard it, protect it, squeeze it tightly to your chest, you will squeeze the life right out of it. A life centered in itself ultimately shrivels up and dies. But if you lose your life, if you release your life, if you throw yourself with almost reckless abandon into the way of life that Jesus taught, you will find it! You'll find real life, abundant life, resurrection life that can never be put to death.

Jesus is not looking for fans like the ones who line the red carpet in Hollywood for the Academy Awards. Jesus is not looking for objective observers who will stand off to the side and coldly critique what he has to say. Jesus is looking for disciples: ordinary men and women who will allow their lives to be transformed by the extraordinary selfgiving love of God supremely revealed at the cross. Jesus is calling disciples who will allow the mind-set with which he lived, died, and rose again to become the mind-set in which they live, with which they die, and through which they are raised to new life. It's the basic design of a cross-shaped life, and that's exactly what God intends to build in each of us.

Questions for Discussion or Reflection

1. When you look at your own experience, have you ever felt like a homeowner who invited God in to do some repair work and then discovered that God had a major renovation in mind? How did you respond? What difference did it make?

2. Read Mark 8:27-33 aloud, with one member of the group reading the narration, one reading the words of Jesus, and another reading the words of Peter. How do you think Peter felt when he "rebuked" Jesus? How did Peter feel when Jesus "rebuked" him?

3. What does it mean for you to "set your mind" on something? How has this chapter helped enlighten the difference between setting your mind on human things and on divine things?

4. Where do you see evidence of "homo incurvatus in se"—life turned in upon itself—in our culture? How have you experienced it in your own life?

5. Reread Mark 8:35. What does it mean for you to live into the truth of this scripture? What action can you take to move in that direction?

Prayer

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified; Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.... Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 220)

Focus for the Week

Jesus' design for discipleship calls us to a radical reorientation of our lives.

Secong Week in Lent

Servanthood: A Peculiar Way to Greatness

Scripture: Read Mark 9:33-37, 10:32-45.

The disciples just didn't get it. I wonder if we do.

Jesus had told them clearly that they were on their way to Jerusalem where he would face rejection, suffering, and death. They were on their way to the cross. But as they were making their way down the dusty roads of Palestine, Jesus was eavesdropping on the disciples' conversations. Over dinner that evening he asked the disciples, "What were you arguing about on the way?" (Mark 9:33).

Mark says the disciples were silent. It must have been an awkward silence, filled with a lot of shuffling of feet, twiddling of fingers, and staring off into midair. They were probably a little ashamed to confess that they had been arguing about which of them would be the greatest disciple. It's as if they were trying to guess which one of them would be the first to make the cover of Time magazine, and how they could get there.

These disciples were neither the first nor the last to wonder how they could achieve greatness. The world has plenty of answers to that question. Hollywood answers it by handing out the Oscars. The greatest is the one who earns the praise of his or her peers. The way to greatness is the way of fame and applause.

Donald Trump also has an answer. The greatest is the one with the most and best of everything. The way to greatness is the way of amassing wealth, property, and possessions.

Polarizing politicians have their answer. The ones who are greatest are the ones who amass political power, influence, and control. The way to greatness is the way of coercion and the defeat of anyone who dares to get in the way.

The "prosperity gospel" preachers have their answer. The greatest are those who can manipulate the power of God to get what they want; greatness is getting God to do what we want God to do.

The disciples' egocentric little debate created the opportunity for Jesus to define his own, very peculiar way to greatness. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35).

Talk about a radical renovation! It's no wonder the disciples didn't get it. It was so odd, so outside the box of the world's expectations, so contradictory to their cultural assumptions, that it went right over their heads.

James and John clearly didn't get it. You have to respect their nerve. They don't even ask Jesus a question; they just announce what they want like a demanding customer in a discount department store. "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you" (Mark 10:35).

Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't it be great if we could get Jesus to do whatever we want? Wouldn't it be great if we could unleash divine power to accomplish our goals? Wouldn't it be great if we could get God on our side so that our church, our nation, our business, our political party, and our basketball team always come out on top? Wouldn't it be great if we could sing "God Bless America" not as a plea for God's grace, but as a demand for God's support? Wouldn't it be great to get Jesus to do whatever we ask?

Jesus plays along with them by asking, "What is it you want me to do?" James and John knew what they wanted. They could see it on the horizon: "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory" (Mark 10:36-37).

I've always identified with these guys. My name is James. My twin brother is named John. The idea of being on the right and left hand of Jesus doesn't sound so bad to me. But then I remember that Mark uses that phrase "one at your right hand and one at your left" again in Mark 15:27 when he writes, "And with him [Jesus] they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left." Mark knows what it will mean to be on the right and on the left of Jesus. It will mean being with him at the cross. But these guys, James and John, just don't get it. Neither do we.