Grace Church Van
Vorst, Jersey City NJ
Church of the
Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen, Jersey City NJ
September 13, 2015
Year B, Proper 19:
The 16th Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
Jesus Our Brother
I
admit that when I first looked at today’s lessons I laughed out loud when I got
to the opening verse from the Letter of James:
“Not
many of you should become teachers, for you know that we who teach will be
judged with greater strictness. For all of us make many mistakes”
Well,
that’s for sure!
Many
of you know that in addition to serving as rector at St. Paul’s I am now also
teaching Religion at St. Peter’s Prep, my alma mater and where I taught
(History) for seven years before heading off to seminary.
I
actually haven’t taught yet – the first day of classes is tomorrow. Instead,
we’ve had two weeks of orientation and meetings during which sometimes I’ve
felt excited and other times overwhelmed. And, sometimes I’ve wondered if James
would put me in the category of the few who should teach or the much larger
group of those who shouldn’t.
No
surprise, it’s kind of weird to be back at Prep now as an Episcopal priest
though it has its advantages.
For
example, on Thursday the school had its Mass of the Holy Spirit, an annual
ritual in all Jesuit schools.
I
have to tell you that it was great to just sit and pray and listen and say the
responses but not have to think about choreography or what I’m supposed to say
next.
Near
the end of the Mass, the celebrant referred to “Jesus our brother.”
And
that expression really struck me.
Of
course, I’ve heard it before and even said it myself sometimes, but not that
often.
I
tend to go with “Jesus Christ our Lord and your Son,” which, of course,
emphasizes Jesus’ divinity.
But,
Jesus our brother was a good reminder for me of Jesus the human being – a human
being just like us but without sin.
And,
actually, we’ve encountered Jesus our brother in our gospel lessons both last
Sunday and today.
Last
week, you may remember we heard the story of Jesus’ encounter with the
Syro-Phoenician woman – this Gentile who comes to Jesus asking him to cast out
an unclean spirit from her daughter.
And,
how does Jesus react?
Well,
maybe he was having a bad day or maybe he was uncomfortable being in a gentile
land, or maybe he was unhappy that his privacy had been interrupted but, for
whatever reason, at this moment Jesus comes as close to sin as he ever does in
the gospels.
Jesus spurns her, apparently referring
to the woman and her daughter as “dogs.”
The
brave – or maybe just desperate – woman goes back at Jesus, who has a change of
heart and chooses to heal the daughter.
And
then today we have a lot going on in today’s gospel lesson.
Jesus
asks his famous question, “Who do people say that I am?”
And
then the follow-up to the discuiples, “But, who do you say that I am?”
And,
of all people, it’s Peter who gets the right answer!
“You
are the Messiah.”
I
can almost imagine Peter glowing like a freshman on the first day of school who
gets an answer right in class.
But,
Peter doesn’t get to enjoy that glow of satisfaction for long because, as we
heard, he gets understandably gets upset when Jesus predicts the suffering that
awaits him.
We’re
told that Peter “rebukes” Jesus – a strong word, indeed!
And
then in another of the most striking moments in the gospel, Jesus does some pretty
harsh rebuking of his own - Jesus really lets Peter have it:
“Get
behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but human
things.”
At
first glance, this does seem very harsh, doesn’t it?
After
all, Peter is understandably shocked at what Jesus has said. He loves Jesus and
he’s determined that he’ll do whatever he can to prevent his friend – his Lord
– the Messiah from suffering.
Though,
of course, we know that there’s irony here since we know that when the moment
of testing comes, Peter will deny even knowing Jesus – deny him three times.
But,
still, why the harshness from our brother Jesus?
It
seems to me that Jesus is angry at Peter because in this moment Peter really is
Satan – really is the tempter – tempting Jesus to turn away from the bloody
fate that awaits him.
Jesus
is sorely tempted.
Which
may sound strange to us since I think many of us often think that Jesus had his
forty days and nights of temptation in the wilderness, and that was that – that
somehow for the rest of his life and ministry Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the
Lord, was free of temptation, walking in a straight line to the cross.
Not
so, of course.
Jesus
our brother was tempted right to the end.
One
of my favorite books is of The Last
Temptation Christ. Have any of you read it?
Anyway,
in the novel Jesus is tempted even as he hangs on the cross – tempted to turn
away from this painful and shameful death – tempted to live like an ordinary
person – to have a wife, to have children, to have a little carpentry business
- to live a nice, quiet life.
That’s
not in the gospels, of course, but I’d be willing to bet that Jesus our brother
experienced that kind of temptation.
I
won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t read it.
So,
what does all of this mean for us?
Well,
as the author of the Letter of James reminded us, we all make many mistakes.
I’m going to guess that pretty much
everybody here has one time or another been impatient with somebody asking us
for help.
Maybe
it’s someone we don’t really like – maybe because of his personality, or her
nationality or religion, or maybe just the tone of his voice. Or, maybe it’s
someone who is constantly asking for help and we’re just plain tired of it –
compassion fatigue.
Well,
thanks to Jesus our brother, we know that God really knows what that’s like.
And,
I’m going to guess that all of us know the power of temptation – probably only
too well.
Well,
thanks to Jesus our brother, we know that God really knows what it’s like to be
sorely tempted.
So,
when we make our many mistakes – when we turn away the person asking for help –
when we slip and give into temptation – we know that God gets it – and God
is quick to show mercy – and, if we’re open to it, God is quick to give us the
grace we need so that the next time we’re more likely to say yes to the person
who needs our help and more likely to resist at least some of the temptations
we face every day.
We
know all of this – and so much more - thanks to Jesus our brother.
Amen.
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