By Captain Michael Ramsay
In the last little while I have performed a few funerals / memorial services both here and in Tisdale. They are all a little bit different, of course. Some have been with the physical remains interred in an urn, others in a coffin and I was a part of one ceremony where the remains of the person were not even present at all. Most people have songs. Many have eulogies. Some people have pictures and I often preach a short homily based on the Holy Scriptures.
Of the ceremonies that I have been a part of in the North East here, none of the passings have really been a surprise and for most of them – even from just a humanistic viewpoint – were a blessing: loved ones don’t need to suffer anymore.
Of course from a Christian viewpoint there is another good part of the memorial or funeral ceremony, the acknowledgement that those that love the Lord will be raised again at the last trumpet and will be a part of the Lord’s kingdom either in Heaven or on the renewed earth.
Even recognizing all of that, you know what, in those last hours, before the dying pass on, when we know the end of their time with us is near and soon they will see the Lord face-to-face – in those last hours – at times we still don’t want to let them go, do we? And because we love them, we fight to keep them here even praying and begging God that they not to leave us.
I think this is some of what Mark is telling us about the Apostle Peter in the Chapter 8. Peter has just had an intimate moment (v.29) with the Lord where he confesses his messiahship and then Jesus tells Peter (v. 31) that he is going to die.
Peter and the Lord are close. Peter is part of his inner circle and he has just proposed to Jesus, verse 29, that he is the Messiah. Jesus acknowledges this truth to Peter, tells him to keep it a secret for a while and then proceeds to explain to Peter and all the disciples there what it is that must actually happen to the Messiah, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed …(sic)”
Peter, then as he has just figured out that Jesus is this ‘Son of Man’, this Messiah, Peter is now hearing Jesus is telling the disciples - that this Messiah must die.
Jesus must die. This is hard on Peter. He loves the Lord. Peter will have none of that talk. He has just acknowledged Jesus as Christ; so, Peter pulls him aside, so as not to ruin the secret that he actually is the Messiah, I’d guess. Peter pulls him aside and starts to rebuke him. The text doesn’t say specifically but he might be saying something here like, ‘Now Jesus, don’t talk like that… we won’t let them kill you…we’ll stand by you and protect you… we’ll be here for you… I’ll never leave you; don’t die on us… don’t leave us…”
This response is very much like many people when they find out that one they love is going to die. Peter has just been told that one he loves is going to die and he can’t accept that. Having just found that out he hasn’t come to terms with it yet. He will miss Jesus and he is focusing on that. This is human enough and it is the first of the stage grief cycle, denial.[1]
Jesus’ response to this reaction of Peter’s is far from comforting here; it is somewhat reminiscent of the way he addresses the Pharisees actually so far in this gospel. Notice this – Peter pulled Jesus aside to speak to him privately when he hears that Jesus is going to die but Jesus responds loud enough for all of the twelve to hear. Turning and looking at his disciples, verse 33, Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me Satan! … You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Jesus doesn’t stop there; he goes on: after he has called Peter ‘Satan’ in front of the disciples, Jesus calls to the crowds, verse 34, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.”
Peter pulled Jesus aside to talk to him and Jesus responds on the spot by calling him “Satan” in front of Peter’s colleagues and then by making a point to the crowds following them. Peter’s actions here are not acceptable to Jesus. What he says is not just some trivial error that Jesus wants to keep quiet. It is rather an issue so serious that Jesus publicly addresses Peter’s comments with the harsh words that he does choose, but why?
What did Peter do that was so bad here that he merited being called ‘Satan’, dressed down in front of his friends, and becoming a catalyst for such a strong speech that is to follow? What did Peter do?
He - verse 33 records - he set his mind on himself, on human things rather than on the things of God. He put himself before Jesus and Jesus’ mission. In effect Peter here is trading in his treasures in heaven for earthy desires - and as Jesus says (verse 37), by setting his mind on the secular rather than the sacred, Peter is indeed choosing his personal desire to have Jesus avoid an early death over his very own soul.
Peter started thinking about what he wanted instead of what Jesus must do.[2] Peter starts thinking about what he wants rather than what God desires. It is this that earned him the epitaph ‘Satan’
That is not all it is though. The severe way in which Peter disagreed with Jesus is significant as well. Apparently the language Peter uses here to speak with the Lord is quite strong.[3] It says that he ‘rebuked’ (epitimoa) Jesus. That is the same language that the Jesus used to silence people (3:12), to control the storm (4:39), and to control and cast out demons (1:25) thus far in Mark’s gospel. This word epitimoa (rebuked) can mean ‘ordered’ or ‘silenced’[4] and it implies here an attempt to take control of Jesus such as that of his flesh and blood family back in Chapter 3 (verse 21) when they referred to Jesus as being ‘out of his mind’[5] and so tried to ‘take charge of him.’
Peter, like Jesus’ mother and brothers before him, Peter it appears is trying to take control of Jesus, trying to impose his will on Jesus. In Peter’s eyes it maybe for Jesus’ own good but when Jesus’ mother and brothers earlier attempted to do the same, Jesus denied them and now that Peter is doing this, Jesus calls him ‘Satan’. (Some theorists even point us back to Satan’s attempts to tempt Jesus in the wilderness here (Matt 4:10).[6]
This is serious. Peter, like Satan in the desert (Luke 4, Matt 4, Mark 1:13); Peter, like Jesus’ biological family (Mark 3), Peter is apparently wanting Jesus to do Peter’s bidding here. Rather than Peter doing what Jesus wants, Peter suggests that Jesus should do what he wants. Peter is, as it says in verse 33, setting his mind not on the things of God but on the things of man and this is fatal…
Are we ever tempted to do this? Are we ever tempted to take control of God? Are we ever tempted to - instead of asking Jesus what we should do for Him in a situation – are we ever tempted to tell Jesus what he should do for us?
Do these prayers ring any bells: Lord, help me win the lottery. God, please let me get this job whether or not I am qualified for it. Please let the Roughriders (or BC Lions) win the cup. Come on, please let me roll a seven. A six of hearts…please, just a six of hearts…
Are there times when – instead of asking and serving God - we ask God to serve us? I personally have heard people imply or outright say that if they are praying in this manner or that or if they are praying for such and such a thing that God is bound, He is obligated to answer those prayers according to the THEIR will.
I have heard this language around faith healing sometimes[7] where people will command God or His Spirit to heal someone and when that language is used in that way it really is an apparent attempt to control God/Jesus and this language always sends a chill up my spine…I wonder, in such cases, do we really have in mind the things of God or do we have in mind -the opposite- the things of men?
Now we need a little clarification: I am not implying that we should never ask the Lord for anything on our minds. No. Mark’s gospel story here is full of people asking Jesus for miracles that indeed Jesus does perform, in many cases according to their faith but Mark’s gospel also has people’s demand for a sign (Mark 8:11) from heaven flatly denied. Jesus is God.
Because Jesus is God, he is not simply easily swayed by our whims and fancies; Heaven is not a democracy where if we have a simple majority of prayers we can overthrow the will of God. Heaven, Praise the Lord, is a kingdom, a monarchy run by an absolute monarch.
This absolute monarch is a loving king. He is a father who wants the best for us and this, I think, is a big reason why he does not always give us what we want – sometimes the things we want, like Peter in our story here, sometimes the things we want when we set our minds on the things of people, are not what is best for us and neither are they what is best for the Kingdom.
Our fleshly desires are sometimes like a little child whose requests is like reaching for a pot of boiling water on the stovetop. God, the loving father, will swipe away her hand – however much that swat might hurt - before she turns the scalding water on herself.
Sometimes our desires are like the child reaching for the pot. Peter in his rebuke of the Lord was certainly like that child. He was reaching for the pot to look into it and see what it would be like if Jesus never did die. Had Peter’s desire not to lose Jesus, had Peter’s attempt to keep him from his death and resurrection prevailed, it would have been like dousing us all in that boiling water. If Jesus never did die and rise again, if sin and death were not defeated, if we could not experience that victory in Jesus, where would we be? In very hot water indeed. Jesus knows better than we do what is best for us.
It is better for us to have in mind the things of God than the things of man. God is a loving God. God did not submit to Peter’s will. Jesus instead swats Peter’s hand away from that pot of boiling selfishness and, sparing him, scalds him instead with a tongue-lashing, “Get behind me Satan! [He says]… You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Sure that may sting, but it stings a lot less than the eternal pain we’d suffer had Jesus succumb to temptation and his task not been accomplished.
God is a loving father. It says, (Luke 11:11-13) "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” He wants what’s best for us. We need to put our faith in him. We have to avoid trying to control God by telling him what to do for us and instead seek his will for our lives. We have to set our minds on the things of God rather than on our own desires.
God will look out for us. It is like my own daughters. I love them so – as much as they may or may not like it at times - I make them tidy up after themselves, so that they won’t have to struggle with the curse of disorganization for the rest of their lives. We teach them to read so that they need not fight illiteracy for eternity. We teach them to pray and read the living Word of God so that they can live forever and prosper, as the Lord permits, in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now these choices to submit to the Lord won’t always be as easy or as clear-cut as the ones we have mentioned here. Verses 34 and 35 of Mark 8 say that we must take up our cross and follow Jesus. A parallel in our world today is to say that we must don our orange jumpsuits and walk down death row, listening to the calls of ‘dead man walking.’ We must seek God’s will not ours – with even our very life on the line.
We have to seek in Jesus’ will; not our own. We have to believe that we will be raised up on the last day with Jesus. We have to seek and be willing to lose our lives for Jesus if we want to gain eternal life. We have to seek Jesus’ will. We have to believe that what he wants for us is better than what we may want for ourselves. We have to have in mind the things of God and NOT the desires of our flesh.
As we finish here today, I am reminded of a comic by Bill Waterson: Calvin and Hobbes.[8] Calvin, in his request, thinks he knows what is best for himself. His loving parent however knows different….
So today we have a choice. We can be like Calvin in our prayers and in our lives and demand that our Heavenly Father give us everything we desire without regard for His will, in which case we will be - Praise the Lord - one disappointed little kid or we can approach the Lord and ask him what is his will and pray for that to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Today, we have a choice, we can chose either the things of God or we can choose the things of man: which we choose?
Let us pray as Jesus taught us to pray…
Our Father who art in Heaven; hallowed be Thy name
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread and
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
For thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen
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[1] The five stages of coping with dying, abbreviated DABDA, were described by Kübler-Ross in her classic book On Death and Dying in 1969 They are D.A.B.D.A. – Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance.
[2] If he’d gotten what he wanted, we know that it would not be better for him –or for us – as death and sin would have never been defeated and we would be back to square one.
[3] Tolbert, Sowing, 202.
[4] Williamson, Jr. Lamar, Interpretation, 153.
[5] Pheme Perkins, NIB, 626.
[6] Palmer, 624; Lenski, 345; Williamson, 153.
[7] I still believe in faith healing provided that one is following God’s lead instead of the other way around.
[8] Bill Waterson, Calvin and Hobbes. United Press Syndication, 1988.
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