Sermon – Don’t Block the Light – based on Mark 8:31-38

Good morning – I just got back flying home from Florida Friday – wow are my arms tired!

That’s a great joke but wow I flew in the blessings of the Lord to see and use “miracles” of air transportation and miracles of ground transportation – and even I got to ride in a self-driving cybertruck – it was amazing – and yes a bit scary but the quality of the drive – in rush hour and construction traffic – the quality of it – immense – and yet the cybertruck makes an important distinction between it self driving and those driver-less vehicles – this cybertruck watches you sitting in the driver’s seat to make sure you don’t fall asleep or get distracted by your phone or the scenery – it beeps and it buzzes your seat to get you to pay attention. It is a partnership… a partnership in travel that is safe and efficient – and really I would get that technology for going down the turnpike  – not that I have that kind of money – but I would trust it – and it trusts that we are paying attention too.

And that is my segway into the partnership of us – carrying our crosses and proceeding in life while God is moving us but we are in some sort of position to also work and do things – not always taking over from God – that is different than the cybertruck – that is the opposite because we can say “hey I know a better way” than God – we do often do that – but in reality life is about us and God together – we are His Hands and feet – and we also have to not block Him from proceeding – we like Peter can’t block the Way of the Lord – And the spiritual war being waged all the time is still a participatory situation – we need to pray – we need to work – we need to love like Jesus and these are the times for extraordinary love to be poured out to teach people that Jesus wins and won.

And being a self-isolated soul in Florida, catching only glimpses of TV news, I can still tell you that now is the time when the Love of the Lord has to be shared even stronger. And we need to give people hope and show that we have trust and hope in the Lord. Paul in 2^nd Corinthians said “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

So to serve – remember that great phrase: God does not call the equipped – He equips the called.

So today in our Lenten series: “The Way of Renewal – Following Christ’s Call”,

I am going to talk about these Mark 8:31–38 scriptures which show Jesus on His Way in a really hard-fought war – the battle and the win over sin and death – so that we can be renewed and saved – and in thinking about  what obstacles there were in both directions – which has us and Peter perplexed – we are to remember that we are STILL walking WITH Jesus – yes giving people hope – yes we are to share our witness of the hope in the Lord – and yes Jesus take the wheel but often Jesus want us to get out of the car and walk one by one with the people.

Jesus, as we heard in our scriptures, was teaching and teaching – he said to Peter and His devoted followers (and the one who was about to betray Him too) – Jesus knew all.

Here is what the disciples were discussing with Jesus in the few scriptures before that brash conversation between Peter and Jesus – Peter finally got to realizing and declaring his belief that Jesus Is the Messiah: v27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” 28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”

v30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. [and I know these are different times when Jesus said shhh…  don’t tell – and in this case and often I believe that Jesus was not wanting folks to look at him as the side show attraction – and detract from him teaching… and honestly the clog of people around him prevented him from getting place to place – and surely Jesus knew that He needed these last few days with His disciples to get them ready for His next steps of the journey to the cross]

So Jesus did teach his disciples directly – and these must have been tough truths to hear: Jesus Predicted His Death – 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.” Jesus knew He has to put the darkness of Satan and his meddling behind Him – that is what could remove the blockage of the LIGHT.

And our human situations – either by choice or by design – or by overwhelmed nature suffer from blockages to see things fully… Peter could not see things from God’s point of view – and that blockage was real – mentally and emotionally – Jesus was his friend – as well as the Messiah…

Simple blockages in life exist – physical – like the change in weather –

Like in Florida – at the beach with the sunshine, it was 85. And as soon as that sun went behind those thick clouds, it felt so cool (from a swimming point of view – I know 70 is awesome here) – but I am talking how the clouds block out the sun and it is significant in blockage…

Just like when I flew back home, thick clouds here blocked the sun. Was really sunny above the clouds but below – socked in with clouds…

And early one morning I looked outside and start a strange color object in the sky and I thought it was the moon, but really it wasn’t sure what I was looking at until later. I realized there was an eclipse, and it was the beautiful blood moon.  And that’s because the earth was blocking out the light from reaching the moon.  When there is blockage, you can’t see the light.

And emotional blockages in life exist.

(Show 1964 newspaper)- In reading this one 1964 newspaper, I picked it up from my family farmhouse, when cleaning, because it was about the Kennedy. Assassination, and it talks about Jackie Kennedy’s reactions in the testimony given for the Warren report. She has some recollections, but she blocked out a lot of her memory – understandably – by choice or circumstance.

This newspaper says she heard a sound similar to a motorcycle – and a cry out scream from Governor Conley, which caused her to look to her right. She saw a quizzical look on her husband’s face as he raised his left hand to his throat – exclaiming “My God I am hit.”  [and I am so comforted that the President reached out to the Lord in those moments – as we should.]   Mrs. Kennedy then heard a second shot and saw the shot hit her husband. She then did the strangest thing which showed up in spectator’s movies, eyewitness accounts published widely in magazines and newspapers, she climbed out of the back seat onto the trunk and crawled on her hands and knees towards the back of the limousine – Secret service Agent Clint hill, who had been in the car behind, recalled that Mrs. Kennedy jumped from the seat and appeared to be reaching for something coming off the rear bumper of the car, the right rear tail, when she noticed that I was trying to climb on the car. She turned towards me and I grabbed her and put her in the back seat, crawled up on top of the back seat, and lay there was Mrs. Kennedy -irrational with horror was trying to get away. Was she climbing out to get help? Reports based on Mrs. Kennedy’s testimony, said she had no recollection of climbing onto the back of the car, let alone knowing the reason why. The president’s personal aide, who witnessed the incident, said Mrs. Kennedy probably would have fallen off the back of the car and been killed if secret service agent Clint Hill had not pushed her back. She had no recollection… she reacted…

EMOTIONAL BLOCKAGE – and “she reacted” – Peter reacted – she – and Peter – and we are really really human. When there are blockages – you can’t see reality – and it is so hard – we have no reason to judge anyone let along Peter – he was in a hard spot…

Peter uttered such a blockage to the path of Jesus. Not that Jesus would be stopped, but Peter uttered that ultimate worldly: “No, it can’t be, it won’t be, I won’t let it happen”. What could Peter’s stop? Nothing. We know the rest of the story –  Jesus, certainly would proceed to NOT let the blockage of the light – meaning HIM – JESUS is the LIGHT – Jesus would not let the blockages prevent Him from reaching his final destination. By Jesus saying “satan, get behind me”, Jesus was saying that not even satan himself could block the path. Jesus chose to go through the cross to be crucified. In order to complete God’s plan. On the cross, Jesus would say it is finished while he was still alive, meaning all the prophecies had been fulfilled – even back to Genesis we are told that Satan as the snake would be crushed – and certainly satan couldn’t stop it. The world couldn’t stop it – the prince of the worldliness of this world couldn’t stop it. Jesus DID die for our sins and to give us eternal forever life – that IS the Good News of today and always.

Now we look back at Peter and his upsettedness and his disbelief. That’s not unusual for Peter, who was so connected with Jesus yet forget about the big picture, and was rash like cutting off the ear of the soldier trying to arrest Jesus. Peter was in denial, like scared, when the onlookers asked: “Weren’t you with Jesus? Aren’t you one of his followers?” and Peter denied Jesus three times even that last time, seeing him probably almost directly denying him and the rooster crowed. The denial, it’s just like our denial that God is trustworthy in our lives to give to Him everything, I mean everything… We need to give our trust. We need to give our lives. We need to give up our hangups. And especially for me – we need to give up our reliance upon ourselves. We are that blockage of the full light shining, but don’t worry, God gives grace and mercy and God is there… And God will light our path!

Let’s imagine Peter standing there that day. He had just mentioned to Jesus in the moments before this scripture section that he believed that Jesus was the messiah. If they were up on their prophecy, they would have known that the Messiah was going to suffer, peter probably blocked it out. Peter so upset to hear this, peter couldn’t handle it.  But Jesus said Satan get behind me. Satan was nipping at Jesus’s heals, like in the wilderness, but Jesus would crush the blockages, Jesus by His sin and death and resurrection would make the way for us…

So what do we do? We pick up our crosses and follow Jesus – we need to be changed – we need to be born again into this journey that restarts and never ends – we need Jesus to light our way.

The cost of our LOVE is following Him – The Way of the Cross – 34 JESUS 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.”

And in this newspaper, 1964, I have never heard of it – but I liked that there’s a motto that says: “Give light and the people will find their own way.” New York World – Telegram – it’s a great strong newspaper of the day…

SUMMARY:

SO, which way to do we walk in life – where do we turn?  How do we change? What cross do we need to pick up to serve Him better?

“I’d Rather Have Jesus” is a song written by Rhea F. Miller with the tune written by George Beverly Shea. This poem, penned in 1922, was left on a piano in the Shea home by Bev Shea who wanted her son to find it and change the trajectory of his life. 

George’s life direction did change. He had a popular music career then years later chose to work with evangelist Billy Graham and sang this hymn around the world.

 So in closing – please listen to these lyrics and let us all take them to heart:

I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold
I’d rather be His than have riches untold
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or land
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame
I’d rather be true to His holy name

Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today

He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom
He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs
I’d rather have Jesus, and let Him lead

Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin’s dread sway
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today