ࡱ> HJGq` 5bjbjqPqP .B::-%~~~~~~~6 6 6 8n   " $ThnC~ C~~ X~ ~ ~~ @/y[6 _n0*w**~0  CCX 6 6 ~~~~~~ A GAME OF TWO HALVES 17th Sept 2006 Bures Family Communion Mark 8:27-38 Its the middle of September and the football season is well and truly upon us again. Basically the same teams are dominating the premier division, the same players are demanding yet more money and the same clichs are being used to describe matches. One of the most common of these clichs is It was a game of two halves. Suppose Chelsea play Watford. The score after the first half is nil all. Then in the second half Chelsea score 6 goals and Watford are overwhelmed. We ask what happened at half time? What did Jose Mourinho say in the dressing room? Did he give his team a verbal kicking or did he just spot a weakness in Watfords defence? It seemed like a totally different match. A game of two halves. Marks gospel could be called a gospel of two halves. The first half is very different from the second. The book has 16 chapters. Our New Testament reading today was taken from chapter 8, exactly half-time in the gospel. Unlike the Chelsea dressing room, in Mark were allowed to see what goes on in the interval. At this very important moment Jesus has taken the disciples off the field of play, we might say; for some rest and relaxation. And there are 5 important factors we need to notice about this half time team meeting. The first factor is the place. Jesus has brought them to a mysterious place; a place full of significance, a fascinating place both because of its location and history. He has led them to a little village in the far north of Israel. It sits at the foot of Mt Hermon, the highest mountain in the country, 9,200 feet high and snow-capped the whole year round. The mountain comes down to the plain, not as a slope, but as a sheer cliff. From this precipice there bubbles out water, a whole river, as wide as this church. Theres no obvious hole in the cliff. The water just comes through cracks in the rock. This river is called the Jordan. Its source is here and eventually it flows into the Dead Sea where it evaporates. As someone has said The Jordan starts nowhere and ends nowhere. Back in chapter one of Mark we saw Jesus baptised in the Jordan at the very lowest point of the Earths surface. And here he has climbed, with his disciples, to the highest point of Israel. This mirrors his popularity. It too has climbed to its highest point. Now its all downhill to the Cross. A ministry of two halves. Now what about the history of this village? It was originally called Balinas, after the god Baal, the symbol of fertility, of life. Baal was worshipped in this place. Later in the Old Testament the Israelites worshipped here. Later still the Greeks found a little cave by the river where they thought Pan, the god of nature, was born. It was then called Panias. Then the Romans came, built a gleaming white temple at this spot and dedicated it to their emperor, whom they worshipped as a god. It was then called Caesarea Philippi. The second important factor is Jesus question a two-part question. Here they were at this place with a background of the greatest possible religious history and diversity. All sorts of different deities had been worshipped here down the years. Jesus has taken the disciples on a quiet walk. Almost as an aside he asked, Tell me, who do people say that I am? The answers came thick and fast from the disciples, An Old Testament prophet come back to life, the reincarnation of Elijah or John the Baptist. These were highly complimentary answers. The local people couldnt hold him in higher regard. He was a hero. Then Jesus got more personal. But you, who do you say that I am? This is the number one question any of us will ever face. There are other important questions in life: What is truth? Who is God? What is man? How should we live? Is there a purpose to life? Who is my neighbour? But none is as important as Who do you say that Jesus is? Now, while I was preparing this, I thought Id ask, separately, 10 of my colleagues at work who they thought Jesus was. None of them, I hasten to add, would call themselves a regular churchgoer. Some of them are tough ex-rugby players with cauliflower ears and broken noses. So you can imagine when I asked my question there was a certain amount of coughing and spluttering and the first verbal response was not repeatable in church. Eventually I managed to get some serious answers: One said, He was a bit of a character, a born leader, would have made a good Prime Minister. Other answers included An evangelist, a divinely inspired human being, a superstar, an inspired man, a good man who went about doing good works, a 1st Century Ghandi, a shining light to the people of his time, a Good Samaritan figure. When Jesus asked his disciples this question, Peter blurted out immediately You are the Christ. An answer far removed from what the crowds of his day or what my friends in the office thought. The third important factor is the difference in the two halves of Marks gospel. Although Peter gave the right answer he was basing it on the first part of the story. So far he had seen Jesus perform miracles, drive out evil spirits, heal men with leprosy, raise the dead, feed 5,000 people, walk on water. This was someone he could follow. This surely was the Christ promised long ago. But in the second half things would change dramatically. There would hardly be any more parables and miracles. There would be less talk about the Kingdom of God, more about the Son of God. In other words his teaching would become more personal. In the second half Jesus would address the disciples themselves rather than the crowds. In the second half, he told them, he would suffer and die a criminals death. When Peter heard this he could stand it no longer. No, no, no, this wont happen. Youre going to be a conquering king. And this is who the Jews were looking for. They were expecting a Messiah who would lead them to victory over all their enemies. They had overlooked the passages in the Old Testament about the Suffering Servant passages such as Isaiah 53 which we read every Christmas as one of our 9 Lessons: He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, like a lamb that before its shearers is dumb. When Peter protested he got the most withering response from Jesus. Get behind me Satan. Jesus could hear the devils words come out of Peters mouth. These words were meant to distract him from his purpose and he wasnt having it. Peter had realised who Jesus was but didnt recognise the job hed come to do. Mark has a subtle and gentle way of illustrating this earlier in the same chapter. A blind man came to Jesus to be healed. Jesus spat on the ground and made mud out of the spittle, rubbed it on his eyes and he could see. But he couldnt see clearly. To him, men looked like trees walking. Then Jesus put his hands on his eyes again and he saw perfectly. (The only time when Jesus didnt heal someone fully at one attempt.) It was a two part healing. In the same way Peter understood who Jesus was but didnt yet understand his full purpose in coming to Earth. He only saw half the picture. Years later he saw the whole picture. For, long after Jesus died, he wrote Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. Eventually, like the blind man, Peter had his eyes fully opened. Peter reminds me of what they say about an Englishman he always laughs 3 times at a joke. Once when hears it. Once when its explained to him. Once, lastly, when he understands it! In the same way it took Peter a long time to understand what Jesus was all about. So here are the 2 halves of Jesus ministry. The first is very attractive and the second half is darker, dominated by his terrible death on the Cross.. The fourth important factor is what we NOW make of this question from Jesus who do we say he is. After hearing the answers my work colleagues gave I thought, How far away, how distant Jesus seems to them a shadowy figure from way back in history. But compare those answers to the chorus we sang earlier: Jesus is greater than the greatest heroes, Jesus is closer than the closest friends, He came from Heaven and he died to save us, To show us love that never ends. Over the last year it has been a great thrill for me to be involved in an Alpha Group. Just 10 of us listening and discussing the claims of Jesus, looking at his life, death and resurrection. Most of the group have a church background but over the months all of us agree that we have been drawn by his Spirit to a much closer relationship to him. Many of us have been surprised by this as Jesus, by his Spirit, has seemed to tap us on our shoulder and asked, And you who do you say that I am? If you believe that I am the Son of God let me change you from within. Lets talk together. See what I have to say to you in my word and lets become friends. He may have seemed very far away a few months ago but now he has come close. Sometimes someone who has been a Christian a few years finds they are standing still in their Christian life. There are times when Jesus sets challenges for us to test our faith. Some of them seem so great that they take our breath away. Its as if he is saying, And you, who do say that I am? Do you believe that together we can rise to this challenge? Four years ago I remember that Mary had come to the end of the Diocesan Ministry Course and said she wasnt going to go any further. Nobody was surprised because she was already busy, running a house, running a Bible Study, looking after 3 children and working full time as a counsellor. Sometime after that she must have felt that tap on the shoulder from the Spirit. She rose to the challenge of ordained ministry. Next Sunday we are all delighted to see the final phase of that come to pass at the Cathedral. A couple of weeks ago I heard about a woman who was a missionary in Africa. She lived and worked in a very dangerous area. A man I know asked her if she was afraid of dying in such an area. She gave an amazing answer. I died 10 years ago. A decade before she had been challenged by Jesus. And you, who do you say that I am? If you believe that I am the Son of God do you trust me enough for me to live in you; even in this dangerous place? Her old life died. From then on she lived only for Jesus. The fifth, and last, important factor is extra time. In a football match extra time is played if a winner is needed after the 90 minutes have ended in a draw. In Jesus ministry there was extra time. He came back on to the pitch after full time, not because his match had ended in a draw. In fact he had totally demolished the opposition. He came back to prove his victory over death, to show his disciples his war wounds and to leave us his Holy Spirit. One day therell be no need for Jesus to ask the question that he asked his disciples. When we die, in our extra time, we shall see him in Heaven, high and lifted up, shining with a blinding light, seated next to his Father. We shall stand in awe and wonder, dazzled by his brilliances. Then the answer will seem glaringly obvious. But until then each one of us must respond to that question that reverberates down the Centuries; the greatest question ever asked: And you, who do you say that I am?.     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