Proper 19, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Proper 19, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Mark 8:27-38 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
“Who do you say that I am?
I remember attending the funeral of a colleague and friend named Deborah.
As we celebrated her life and witness,
I heard anew Deborah’s invitation to come and follow Jesus.
That was what her life was about:
pointing others to Jesus!
Deborah lived every moment of her life to its fullest.
When she unexpectedly found herself a young, single mother raising three children with no career or college degree, her strength kept her family afloat.
While attending college at night,
she founded and became the Director of the local food bank…
a food bank which continues to thrive and serve many in eastern North Carolina.
While working full-time during the day to provide for her family,
she graduated with a degree in Social Work
and then continued working to serve the area’s hungry.
One afternoon she picked up her son,
who was then an 8th grader and, according to him,
dragged him to deliver some bags of food to a dilapidated motel room out on a rural road.
He didn’t want to go with her,
but Deborah provided no other option.
Upon arriving at the motel room,
they found a young woman not much older than he was at the time,
with a newborn infant in her lap.
Deborah and her son brought in the bags of food and set them down.
Deborah introduced the young woman saying, “Sean, this is Lois… your sister.”
At the funeral Sean commented that,
at the time,
he was angry that his mother would introduce this young woman to him in this way,
but later he realized that was how his mom related to everyone.
She saw everyone as her child, her sibling, her neighbor… in Christ.
She lived her life with love, acceptance, and equality for all…
fighting for justice,
standing up in opposition to power when power was oppressive.
Deborah was a force to be reckoned with…
a force for Good,
a life that always pointed toward Jesus and the Gospel.
“Who do you say that I am?”
“Who do you say that I am?” is a question Jesus asks of his disciples.
And it a question worth asking…
Who is Jesus?
And… I’m going to suggest that, as followers of Jesus,
how we answer the question of who Jesus is
also reflects who we are.
As followers of Jesus…
Who we say Jesus is,
is who we have decided to be,
or, at least, that is who Jesus calls us be!
Jesus’ question is not a test.
It’s not about getting the answer right,
but it is an opportunity to reflect on how our lives reflect the Gospel.
It’s an opportunity come face-to-face with our own commitment,
our own discipleship,
our own identity.
As we answer the question of Jesus’ identity in our own lives,
are we willing to risk being known for what we believe?
Reflecting on the ways in which Deborah witnessed to the life and ministry of Jesus
helped me hear the connection between Jesus asking his disciples,
“Who do you say that I am?”
and the question we live out in our own lives, “Who do we say that Jesus is?”
As we live our lives, are we pointing others toward Jesus?
Do our lives point toward a loving, liberating, and healing God?
And please note:
there is nothing easy about it!
After Jesus asks the disciples who they say he is,
he immediately tells them that he must undergo great suffering,
and be rejected,
and killed.
He also tells them that after three days he will rise again.
There is suffering and death but also resurrection.
This road is not easy, but there is hope.
He then says,
“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.”
So I wonder: are we willing to risk our lives,
or at least or reputations,
to share the expansive love and forgiveness and mercy and Grace of Jesus?
Are we willing to fight for justice?
Are we willing to stand up against people and systems that are oppressive?
Are we willing to welcome anyone and everyone into our church and into our homes?
It is not easy.
Nor is it always easy to know the right thing to do.
In many situations in which I am faced with a complicated choice for action…
a choice in which I am trying to follow Jesus,
I often doubt my actions.
And that is where prayer
and conversation in community
and the witness of others and Jesus
help provide clarity.
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks.
How do our lives answer that question?
When Jesus says, “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves,”
he is saying that as his followers,
we have a new identity
- an identity not determined by this world.
Our identity does not stem from who we are related to by blood.
Our identity stems from who we are related to as children of God.
The way that we orient ourselves toward the world
is inextricably bound up with the way we orient ourselves toward Jesus.
“Deny yourself” does not mean self-annihilation, but redefinition.
As Christians, the way we understand ourselves and live our lives reflects kindom-living.
Our identities are rooted in being disciples of Christ,
in offering healing and wholeness to this world…
even though that may mean we lose our earthly reputations,
or our jobs,
or even our lives.
Who do you say that I am?
I long for,
and am frightened of,
the clarity of saying of Jesus:
“You are the Messiah.”
I offer the following prayer to each of us,
so that our lives may reflect God’s loving and healing kindom:
God be in my head,
and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes,
and in my seeing;
God be on my lips,
and in my speaking;
God be in my heart,
and in my thinking;
God be in my hands,
and in my living.
Amen.
