Lord of the Streets
February 25, 2024
2 Lent, Year B
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Psalm 50:1-6
Mark 9:2-9
Acceptance, and The Advocate
Peter was rather less than pleased with Jesus when Jesus told them all that he would be arrested and killed. Peter wanted Jesus’ rise fame and power to be meteoric and unending, and it seems that he wanted to be right there at the top of the heap with Jesus in Peter’s world conquering fantasy. Jesus assured Peter and the rest of his disciples that Peter’s desires for greatness and his denial of suffering was not the way of the Gospel nor of the kingdom of God. Peter was setting his mind on human things, flights of fancy, rather than on divine things.
So, nowadays if a preacher wants to preach that everything is going to be great, and you’re going to be wealthy and successful, name it and claim it, manifesting whatever it is in your life that you want, that preacher is officially setting his mind on human things, flights of fancy, and not on divine things. Such preaching feels good for a time. Name it and claim it preaching gives us a shot in the arm, and we’re happier, for a few hours or maybe for a few days, imagining the great stuff that’s going to come our way, if only we believe, and pay the preacher his due. Pay a little to the preacher now, and you’ll get a lot in the future. Such preachers are often pretty damn wealthy, and as to the return on people’s manifest riches investments, it seems to work out about as well as the lottery.
In short, such name it and claim it preaching is a bunch of hooey, a way for some preachers to sell momentary happiness with false future dreams of easy street.
Peter wanted a “manifest only good things” kind of preaching from Jesus. Peter wanted easy street, and Jesus was having none of it. “Those who want to save their life will lose it,” Jesus said. It’s just like back in Genesis in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were pretty happy with things. The trees, and fruits, and animals were all great. Everything was wonderful, except they wouldn’t choose acceptance over that one thing God said not to do.
“Gee, God, thanks so much for everything. All our needs are cared for, we especially love each other. I mean, damn, you done well. It’s just that, I mean, we appreciate everything we’ve done, but we really want that one particular piece of fruit you said not to eat. We need it. We want it. We won’t be satisfied with life until we have it.
So, God let them take it. They got what they wanted, but they lost the life they had. Shamed and disconnected from one another, disconnected from God, everything in life was harder. Wanting to deny and overcome any limitations on their lives, they ended up with enormously more limitations than they’d had before. Wanting to be masters over the world, supplanting God’s place in some ways, they ended up with a world that would not bend to their whims, but would fight against them and resist them.
The more we seek to control everything and everyone around us, the more we find the world and all around us fighting and resisting our efforts. Some gain power enough to force others to their will for a time, but at the cost of love, at the cost of trust, at the cost of darkness and despair flourishing in a world that should be filled with light. Easy street is paved on the backs of other people’s hardships. Such was Peter’s desire for greatness and power, a life free of suffering and sadness.
Suffering and sadness are part of life; we can’t escape them. That’s what Jesus was saying. “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.”
Jesus accepted what was going to happen to him, his arrest, crucifixion, and death. In the face of suffering and sadness, Jesus didn’t pray to some preacher to manifest power and riches. No, Jesus prayed for acceptance. He accepted his death, and he also accepted his resurrection. Death was not the end for Jesus, nor is it the end for us. Jesus’ acceptance of his death and resurrection brought light and life into the world. Jesus’ acceptance of his death and resurrection brought hope into the world, not the false hope of riches and easy street paved on the backs of others. Jesus’ acceptance of his death and resurrection brought true hope of life in unity with God and one another.
Remembering that hope is not always easy. In the face of real challenge and tragedy, holding on the hope of Jesus’ resurrection can be elusive for us. We rage against the problems of the world. We don’t want to accept the suffering of the world, and we certainly don’t want to accept our own suffering. Things aren’t right. How could accepting them possibly be right?
Suffering and sadness are part of life; we can’t escape them. Acceptance doesn’t mean, however, that we do nothing. Jesus’ acceptance and love means we strive to help alleviate each other’s suffering and sadness. That’s being advocates for each other, guided by the Holy Spirit, the Advocate. We also set our egos aside so that we’re not raging against all of the problems we face and the problems we see in the world.
To rage against everything that is wrong is to be an adversary, guided by Satan, whose name literally means Adversary. That’s what Peter was doing. He rebuked Jesus because he didn’t want the suffering and sadness to happen. He raged, guided by the Adversary, and so Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan!”
Last week, I was at the City Council meeting to comment on the expansion of the Sidewalk Ordinance which allows people to be ticketed for laying down, sitting, or putting their things on the sidewalk during the day. I went there to speak against the ordinance, as an adversary. Before I spoke, however, I listened members of council raise issues of how the ordinance hurt folks who are homeless, and I heard Mayor Whitmire encourage the members to look into Haven for Hope in San Antonio for helping folks who are homeless further in Houston.
So, rather than speak against the ordinance, I spoke as an advocate for all who are homeless, basically reiterating the points council already made, sharing a story of someone who had been harmed by the ordinance, and urging them to make working on homelessness one of their top priorities, noting that the city has done tremendous work, and homelessness is far from solved.
Seeing the suffering and sadness of so many, I wanted to rage against the ordinance, telling them they were wrong for having it, but that wouldn’t have done a lick of good. Being an adversary, following the way of Satan, all I’d have done would have been to make enemies and add darkness to the world. There was no manifesting my desires, no naming and claiming.
Instead, accepting the sadness and suffering of the ordinance, I spoke as an advocate, following the Holy Spirit. That’ll bring better and more lasting help in the long run. “Be still before the LORD,” Psalm 37:7-9 tells us. “Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him. Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers, the one who succeeds in evil schemes. Refrain from anger, leave rage alone; do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil.”
Manifesting one’s desires of glory and riches over and against everyone else in the world, is the flip side of the coin of fretting ourselves over the ones who prosper. I do it every day. That’s something I continually need to give up, choosing instead to follow the way of Jesus, the way of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate. Accepting that suffering and sadness are part of life, we can choose to pray for love, striving with one another, just as we were created to do.
Like Jesus, we can pray for acceptance both of death of
resurrection, for the light and life of Jesus. That’s not the false hope of
glory and riches, easy street paved on the backs of others. Acceptance of death
and resurrection is the true hope of life in love and unity with God and one
another.
