The Connection Between Cross and Crown

The Second sunday in lent

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Mark 8:31-38

³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (NIV 2011)

It wasn’t an election year, that’s for sure.  You wouldn’t hear a speech like this on any campaign trail anywhere in the world.  One doesn’t have to know much about the ins and outs of politics and the art of public speaking to recognize it probably isn’t in the best interest of any candidate to refer directly to a constituent as “Satan.”  Telling people “a vote for me is a sure-fire way to lose everything” is not likely to win over too many voters, either.  And, being honest is generally a good trait for a politician to have, but not when that brutal honesty openly admits, “if you don’t vote for me, you will regret it, for when the time comes, I won’t even acknowledge you.”  Oh, and one more thing: don’t start off your speeches by telling everyone you’ll be dying shortly.  No, these tactics are not to be recommended to anyone running for political office.

But Jesus wasn’t.  It was never a popularity contest for Jesus.  Jesus wanted more than votes; he wanted souls.  Jesus wanted the whole heart of a man, and catering to whims and wishes of men like some wishy-washy politician was not the way to do it.  Otherwise, those who might have been drawn to Jesus as a result of his pandering to their personal needs would have been in for a real shock when the reality of being a follower of Jesus set in.  There was only one way to speak: openly and candidly about why he had come, and about what it meant to follow him.  So we do well to take note this morning, as Jesus reveals to us His Purpose and Our Path.

I. His Purpose

This is the first time Mark’s Gospel records Jesus clearly foretelling his death.  There had been inferences and allusions to it previously, but these verses mark the first time Jesus spoke about his suffering and death with unmistakable clarity.  There simply was no other way to take his words.  Mark tells us, “He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.  He spoke plainly about this…” (v.31,32a).  Not only does Jesus avoid any ambiguity, but his prediction is really quite specific.  He said he would suffer.  He pointed out directly that it would be the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law who would be responsible for his demise.  He stated clearly that three days after he died, he would come alive again. 

These were not veiled references.  This was no parable or allegorical teaching tool being used by Jesus.  No, as Mark tells us, “He spoke plainly about this…”  In fact, it was a little bit too plain for Peter’s liking, as he demonstrated by taking Jesus aside and rebuking him.  It was, in a way, like Jesus’ campaign manager was having a word with his candidate and trying to straighten him out: “Hey, you’ve got to stop with all the gloom and doom.  That kind of talk will never get you elected.  You’ll never win people over with that rhetoric.”  Peter’s understanding at this point didn’t include the spiritual, but only the physical.  He could see no good thing coming as a result of Jesus dying.  

Naturally Jesus had to respond with a stinging rebuke of his own in this very important matter, for it was essential that Peter start to truly understand Jesus’ purpose.  You’ll notice that Jesus also made use of this opportunity to enlighten not just Peter, but the other disciples as well.  “But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men’” (v.33). What an attention grabber!  Now to be clear, this eyebrow-raising scenario was not akin to the conclusion of a Scooby-Doo episode, where the gang pulls off the villain’s mask to reveal his true identity.  Jesus was not revealing to his disciples that Peter had literally been Satan in disguise all along; rather, his point was that Peter’s rebuke showed his thinking to be more in line with Satan’s than God’s.  It also showed how hard the devil was working – even on those closest to Jesus! – to convince people that the path which led to and through the cross was no path for anyone who aspired to greatness.  Such a notion is not from God, but from the Prince of Darkness himself.

We refer to Peter’s way of thinking as the “theology of glory.”  The theology of glory is attractive, appealing to many even today.  It steers away from the Savior’s necessary suffering and death on account of our sin and focuses more on man and his reason, his ability to overcome the “speedbump” of sin.  The theology of glory is man’s “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can” instead of Christ’s, “I already did.”  It seeks a crown of everlasting life to be sure, but a crown that comes through the Christian himself instead of the Christ and his cross.

The misleading theology of glory had to be countered with something else, which is why Jesus plainly stated “the Son of Man must suffer… and be rejected…be killed and… rise again.”  This describes what we refer to as the “theology of the cross.”  In contrast to the theology of glory, the theology of the cross forces us to face the harsh reality of our sin and its consequences.  The undeniable reality, harsh as it is, is that our sin damns us to hell; if that sin is in no way accounted for, then the sentence stands and we are condemned to an eternity of God’s furious wrath and unrelenting torment in hell.  But the theology of the cross takes God the Father’s furious wrath and unrelenting torment and unleashes it all on his own Son in our place.  On the one hand, there is nothing glorious about it, for the thought of it makes us sick to our stomach: to know that such a horrific reality for my Savior was my own fault; it was because of my sin.

But on the other hand, it is the most glorious thing imaginable, for only through his suffering, his death, his resurrection, can we receive the glorious crown of everlasting life.  Through the cross, Christ answered for my sin, and he is my glory.  That was Jesus’ purpose.

II. Our Path

And it paved the way for our path.  Only beneath the shadow of the cross can the Christian see and by God’s grace embrace the path laid out for him.  Without the cross the path makes no sense; it is unappealing, absurd, and offensive.  Without the cross such a path would be avoided by all.  But through the cross, the Christian sees the most desirable path imaginable, because it is a path that follows in our Savior’s footsteps.

Listen again to Jesus’ description of our path: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (v.34b-37).  To help summarize the path Jesus laid out for his followers, we might think of it in terms of the two kingdoms: the kingdom of this world and Christ’s kingdom.  While people generally want the best of both worlds, Jesus’ point is this: that desire is impossible to achieve.  The path of a follower of Jesus is one that seeks Christ’s kingdom and is willing to give up anything in this worldly kingdom that might ever possibly get in the way.  That is what it means to “deny self” and “lose one’s life.” 

There’s an old African proverb that says, “The man who follows two paths will only split his pants.”  Are we so attached to anything the world offers, or will we take Christ’s kingdom and that cross that comes with it?  One of the hardest things for us to realize is that we cannot choose both.  We try to, but we can’t.  It can’t be the cross and this; it can’t be the cross and that – we’ll only split our pants.  It can only be the cross.  There is no middle ground.

That means real sacrifice, doesn’t it?  Sometimes we think it only means a little inconvenience.  Inconvenience is getting up out of bed to make an appearance at church once in awhile; sacrifice is doing it week after week and saying “no” to whatever else might threaten that Sabbath rest.  Inconvenience is having to endure the discomfort of hearing others bash Christianity; sacrifice is boldly speaking up for the truth despite that discomfort and potential backlash.  Inconvenience is when certain family members neglect the means of grace; sacrifice is lovingly confronting them about it.  Inconvenience is not having enough left over at the end of the month to give God; sacrifice is not having enough for something else because of giving to God first.  Inconvenience is having to be asked to serve for something at church; sacrifice is busting your tail all day at work and then heading right over to church to spend the rest of your day painting, and not even thinking twice it.

Every day we are faced with decisions that will reflect which path we’re on: the cozy and comfortable path of this world that seeks and serves self, or the painful path of suffering and sacrifice, the path of the cross and Christ’s kingdom that comes with it.  Only with God’s grace and favor will we follow the path he’s laid out for us.  He’s revealed his purpose, we know our path, and we’ll sacrifice whatever it takes to stay on that path.  We’ll do it because we long to be adorned with the crown that awaits us at the end of this life, the crown earned for us at Calvary, the crown that comes only through Christ and the cross.  Amen.