St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Proper 17/Year A ▪ September 3, 2023
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The story of Moses’ terrifying encounter with God on the mountain is one of my favorite passages. I mean, Moses was going about his work leading his flock of sheep and God chose a subtle way of grabbing his undivided attention. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. Now, if the voice of God projecting from a burning bush isn’t enough, the bush was not consumed by the fire—miraculous! On that holy ground and in those holy conversations, Moses was given his marching orders and told to go to work!
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that none of us has encountered God through a burning bush. But I’m confident that each of us has encountered God in our lives in such a way that stopped us in our tracks and forced us—whether or not we wanted to—to be in holy conversation with God. Whether the disciples or the crowd around Jesus in our Gospel passage in Matthew realized it, they too were standing on holy ground and having a holy conversation with God when Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them: Deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24).
The first of this three-part formula is an invitation to work—the work of denying the sinful nature of the human self. The seven deadly sins of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth create an environment within the human soul that turns the individual away from God and toward egocentricity. When Jesus told the disciples about the suffering he was to undergo, his death and his resurrection, Peter’s well-meaning response, was met with Jesus’ rebuke. Jesus’ focus was not on self- preservation, but on fulfilling God’s purpose; anything contrary to that was a temptation for disobedience. Jesus was not calling Peter Satan; Jesus was recalling Satan’s temptations in the wilderness which urged him to satisfy his own desires above his obedience to God’s plan for human salvation.
The second, of the three-part formula, is doing the heavy lifting of taking up of one’s cross. Taking up of one’s cross is a decision to willingly participate in the death of the human inclination to sin and it is laborious work. We are challenged to seek out those parts of ourselves that necessarily need to die, to make space for the kingdom of God within. Having the courage to take up your cross, or multiple crosses, requires trusting that God will transform not only your cross, but you—the cross bearer—into the Holy Ground upon which God calls you by name, as he did with Moses. On this holy ground of a transformed life, God reveals His plans for your life’s purpose.
The third part, following Jesus, is about the disciple’s place. Jesus’ rebuke of Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” was a reminder to Peter that a disciple must always be mindful of their place, and follow behind the teacher.
“If any want to become my followers, let them: Deny themselves/ Take up their cross/ and follow me,” said Jesus. I imagine that the disciples, who heard Jesus speak those words, were like so many of us—trying our best to show up in this broken world and to follow Jesus as we navigate the inescapable, universal human condition of suffering.
If the human condition is to suffer unto death, our mission—our work—then, as Christians, is to bear hope by pointing to the eternal life that is given in Christ. Our task is to preach repentance of sin as Jesus did. Our task is to inspire others, by our lived example, to await, with hopeful anticipation, God’s kingdom come. Our task is to share the life-giving message that in baptism we die to sin, and are joined in Jesus’ glorious resurrection. At ground, the work is to make Christ known to those who do not yet know him. That is the labor of love that Christ calls us to. It is work because doing our lifelong work of repentance requires intentional effort.
As we are sent out into the world as instruments of God’s grace, practical theologian and author, Richard Osmer, says that four basic questions must be asked:[1]
Applying Osmer’s questions to our current lived reality, we can see that the “What” takes many forms—civil unrest; escalating gun violence; the desecration of human bodies in human trafficking; increasing poverty; homelessness; food insecurity and the lack of healthcare coverage. The “What” is brokenness. The lenses of the Christian faith come in when we ask why such brokenness is going on and what ought to be going on. The egocentricity of the seven deadly sins, previously mentioned, give us a clue about the why.
The Baptismal Covenant gives us several clues as to what ought to be going on, particularly when it asks, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?[2] It is, in fact, a blueprint for going about or work as disciples of Christ.
So, how might we respond? We respond first, by engaging the holy work of conversing with God, who observes the misery of his people, and has plans to use us—the body of Christ—to bring about liberation for the oppressed; those who are in pain; and those who live with no hope of relief.
We then respond with the holy work of surrendering our bodies, minds and souls to laboring in Christ’s love in the vineyard. We can only truly labor with the One who shares our yoke, when we do the work of letting go of self-centeredness, in order to be empowered by God to serve God and our neighbors.
We might respond, as Moses did when God called to him from the burning bush with his assignment to liberate God’s people from the Egyptians, “Here I am.” In order for us to do the work Jesus calls us to do amongst God’s people, we must first come down from the mountain!
As you observe the Labor Day holiday, a celebration recognizing the many contributions American workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being, I invite you to reflect on the life and death of Jesus—both labors of God’s eternal love for God’s people. I invite you to reflect, also, as you sing our recessional hymn, how you, how we, as a community of faith, labor together for the sake of God’s kingdom.
“Come, labor on. Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain, while all around us waves the golden grain? And to each servant does the Master say, ‘Go work today.’”[3] Amen.
[1] Osmer, Richard. Practical Theology: An Introduction. Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008.
[2] “The Baptismal Covenant,” Book of Common Prayer, p. 305
[3] “Come Labor On” Hymn 541, 1982 Hymnal.
