Mark 8:27-38 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.”
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. 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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 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.”
Reflection No Lord, how can this be? People conspiring to commit federal hate crimes. Unprovoked stabbing of a black man. Countless people losing their homes to fire, flood and plague. Memories of the 9/11 debacle and twenty years under the authority of fear, war, politic, hatred and tragedy. No Lord. How can this be? And there we stand right next to Peter with our minds closed to reality as it is, which sets us crosswise with all that is Divine because Divinity is a choice for the present moment.
Reading the sentence, “Then he (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,” it is easy to be seized by emotion and shout, “No Lord, how can this be?” And we miss a very important point. The writer of the Markan text refers to Jesus as the Son of Man, which is to say, the Son of Humanity. I believe this not only annunciates Jesus as one who lives in accord with God and humanity but also every one of us who claim to follow Jesus and live in accord with God and humanity.
We are Daughters and Sons of Humanity. When we choose to follow the law of the Lord, “Love one another (no exceptions, no conditions) and do to others as you would have them do to you,” we set ourselves apart from the social, political and religious elite who set their minds on human things; fostering fear rather than love to promote their positions, using their power for personal gain regardless of the cost to others, stopping at nothing to be first, great, pad their purses and save their own lives. This is the way of setting our minds on human things.
By contrast, when we choose to get behind Jesus we decidedly set our minds on divine things. This is the way of being divinely human; living with courage by faith, humbly using our power for the good of others, serving rather than being served, sacrificing our personal gain for the common good. This is not only difficult, it is dangerous because it puts us crosswise with the keepers of the status quo who persecute and try to annihilate anyone who challenges their authority. In fact, even some of our friends will call us crazy!
Still, “Wisdom cries out from the street,” “Love one another. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Are we listening? Are we scoffers? Do we hate knowledge and ignore Divine counsel? Do we lose faith and capitulate to fear? Do we succumb to the poison pen of the keepers of the status quo? Or, do we consent to be the Daughters and Sons of Divine Humanity even when it means laying down our lives for others?
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Ephaphata - be opened. What if we were open to the Law of Lord? the statutes of the Lord? What if we were open to the wisdom of the Lord crying out in the streets. Can you hear it?
how long will you mutter scathing words and scorn the stranger?
how long will you hate knowledge and refuse God’s call?
Love one another. Do to others what you would have them do to you.
When calamity strikes and we are drenched in anguish, then we reach out to our neighbors and call upon God.
Oh God, this cannot be….
7 The law of the Lord is perfect
and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the Lord is sure
and gives wisdom to the innocent.
8 The statutes of the Lord are just
and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the Lord is clear
and gives light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean
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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 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.”
Gary Norman Beeler
24 August 1941 - 10 September 2021
there is no better way to flood life with meaning than to have lifted others and helped them to a greatness they never knew they had; to have together with others righted some of the wrongs of this injured earth and its creatures; to have acted rather than waited for others to act, and to have brought others with you, for the greatest leader on earth or in heaven cannot lead alone.
Frankly I only stumbled across the new liturgical Season of Creation this week so turned to TEC website and read, “The Season of Creation, September 1st through October 43rd, is celebrated by Christians around the world as a time for renewing, repairing and restoring our relationship to God, one another, and all of creation. The Episcopal Church joins this international effort for prayer and action for climate justice and an end to environmental racism and ecological destruction. This year’s theme is A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God. In celebrating the Season, we are invited to consider anew our ecological, economic, and political ways of living.”
I have no idea how we will go about this but I trust we will figure it out together.
I completed the circle of my sabbatical where it began, in my back yard.
Morning’s dove sits vigil on my heart hatches me to see
the glories of purple petals and sunflower paint
How infinite the consciousness of woman, of man
flocking falling stars and pinecones.
Surely we are meant to be and be held
in the grandeur of God flaming out like shook foil
in every distant chink and present chip with palatial praise.
William O Douglas, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan and Potter Stewart.
I don’t remember the cases I argued. They were insignificant. I was a rookie in the justice department who was given either sure winners or sure losers to argue. But I especially recall Douglas, who had recently suffered a stroke and was in obvious discomfort, looking sharply at me as I made my arguments.
I was awed. Here was the justice who wrote the 1965 decision in Griswold v Connecticut, finding that a constitutional right to privacy forbids states from banning contraception. The man who argued the Vietnam war was illegal and issued an order that temporarily blocked sending Army reservists to Vietnam. The justice who wrote in the 1972 case Sierra Club v Morton that any part of nature feeling the destructive pressure of modern technology should have standing to sue in court – including rivers, lakes, trees and even the air – because if corporations (which are legal fictions) have standing, shouldn’t the natural world?
