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<div align="center"><b><big><font size="4"><big>Preaching
Matthew 16:21-28</big></font></big></b><em></em></div>
<div align="justify"><em><font size="4">From that time on,
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands
of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised. </font></em></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Notice the verb: <em>show</em>.
Not "tell." Not "teach." <em>Show</em>. That makes a
huge difference.</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">If he tells us, we can
forget. <em>Jerusalem? Who said anything about
Jerusalem?! I don’t remember that; was I out sick
that day, or something?</em></font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">If he teaches us, we can
misunderstand. <em>Suffer and die?! Oh, okay: you
mean metaphorically, right? This is a parable,
right? Sure; we’re with you, Lord.</em></font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">But if he shows
us...well, that’s different. Then we have to look.
Then we have to see.</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">This is a strange
passage. It contains some of the most beautiful and
soaring language in all scripture, yet the words
themselves are achingly mysterious: "If any want to
become my followers, let them deny themselves and take
up their cross and follow me. For those who want to
save their life will lose it, and those who lose their
life for my sake will find it." Then, just as
mysteriously, Matthew seems to invert his own poetry
by pointing out the limits of what language can
accomplish. </font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">The limits are these.
Jesus <em>told</em> his disciples who he was. He <em>taught</em>
them the doctrine. Listen, he said: I am the Messiah,
the Son of God. I am the victor and the suffering
servant. I am the one who conquers death by laying
down my life. If you want to be my follower, take up
your cross and follow me, because I must to Jerusalem
and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders
and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on
the third day be raised. </font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Do you hear?—Jesus said.
Do you understand? No?</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Well, I guess I’ll have
to show you. <em>From that time on, Jesus began to
show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem. </em></font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">How do you think he did
it? How did he begin to show them?</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">I suppose it happened in
hundreds of ways. Calling a child to stand in the
middle of them, and talking about who is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. Telling a story about the
tenants of a vineyard who kill the vineyard owner’s
son. Talking about a cup that they must drink, just as
he will drink it.</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">I suppose Jesus tried to
<em>show</em> his disciples in every way a teacher can
think of. But how do you show them, without the cross?</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">You can’t.</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Maybe this is precisely
what is missing in our churches. We have shown one
another a lot of resurrection triumph, but not a lot
of suffering. We don’t have much encouragement for
showing one another our own paths to Jerusalem, and
how we have had to take up our own crosses and follow
him. </font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Fred Gaiser, an Old
Testament scholar at Luther Seminary in St. Paul,
Minnesota, tells a story about how he recently did an
impromptu survey of church mission statements. He
looked at websites and old bulletins to see what
churches were saying about themselves, and how they
presented themselves to the world. What he found, he
says, astonished him. The churches generally described
their mission in terms of being warm and welcoming
communities. They wrote of their commitment to serve
Jesus by ministering to the needs of the community.
They described their efforts to provide excellent
educational programs, fellowship opportunities, and
weekly worship. They declared themselves committed to
inspiring, biblical preaching. <em>But not a church
he surveyed mentioned the call to suffer in Jesus’
name</em>. What was missing from practically every
mission statement was the cross—at least, the cross
Jesus is trying to show us in this passage. </font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Gaiser is a wise and
loving scholar. He understands that it is hard for any
of us to look at the cross. But how do we even begin
to look if we are afraid to show it? </font></div>
<em>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">From that time on,
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to
Jerusalem. </font></div>
</em>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">I guess it takes a long
time for him to show us, because it takes a long time
for us to get up the courage to look. Or to name that
what is really happening in our lives is not the
victory story the world tells, but the resurrection
story the church tells. Going to Jerusalem is about
the hardest thing a human being can do. Showing
someone else the nail prints in our palms is even
harder.</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">How is this happening,
where you are? How do you and your people show one
another the cross? How do you show the world?</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Do you find it easier to
talk about the cross, or to preach about it, than to
show it?</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">What do you wish could
change?</font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Let him begin to show
us. He knows the best way to do it. Perhaps we can
hold one another's hands, take a deep breath, and
look. </font></div>
<div align="justify"><font size="4">Anna Carter Florence</font></div>
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