Entering into a Commitment

Reading: Matthew 16.21-28
Yesterday some of us witnessed the wedding of Nathan Higgins and Nadine Abbenbroek. It was beautiful and moving. At the conclusion we were all told to walk up to the Buderim School where a surprise awaited us. A surprise? - a noise had just about drowned out the service towards the end, a noise that made sense if there was a surprise awaiting us!

There on the school oval was a helicopter. The bride and groom boarded it, were strapped in and flown off to Caloundra airport near where the reception was being held.

Marriage itself is a commitment where a man and a woman pledge themselves to one another for life "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in prosperity and adversity, in sickness and health, till death us do part…" It is a commitment that provides a solid foundation for a family and for society. It is stepping out with a commitment, not only to live together but to work together - and to make it work, no matter what. And people can be quite sure they know all that marriage is about. They can read countless books about it. These days many of them think that living together beforehand will help, but it doesn't! That increases the likelihood of problems later. No matter how people think themselves prepared, nothing quite prepares them for the reality - in joys and disappointments, in deep fulfilment and in struggles…

Flying in a helicopter is also a commitment. I have never been up myself, but they always seem to be the most vulnerable of aircraft. If the engine fails in a fixed-wing plane, at least the pilot may be able to look for a softer and safer landing site. But if a helicopter loses power, there is only one way it can go - down! Those who work with them all the time don't think about that. For them they are both remarkable and safe. Of course, they must be regularly maintained. Their fuel tanks must be filled. The pilot must know what he's about.

Watching from the ground as bride and groom were carried aloft, I reflected that it is one thing to have a strong conviction in the safety of helicopter flight, but another to commit yourself to going up in one. In a search-and-rescue operation, there may not be much choice for people. If their life is in the balance, any help is welcome.

Peter's conviction

Jesus had asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter had answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

What an amazing and bold statement that was! Peter had been with Jesus for three years now. He had heard Jesus teach, had watched his interaction with people, had witnessed a number of miraculous healings, had seen the dead raised to life, had been impressed by Jesus' prayer life, his close relationship to the Father, had observed his calmness even in a storm on Lake Galilee…

Yes, that was the time… They said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?"

Having seen all that and thought about it, Peter has come to a conviction. He is quite persuaded that Jesus is the Messiah - the one God has long since promised to send, the one the whole Jewish people were longing for with eager expectation… But not only so. Peter has grasped something that the other Jews haven't - Jesus the Messiah is "the Son of the living God". The Jews only believe in one God - not many gods as other peoples did. Someone who is truly part of God has come to live on earth and - it's Jesus!

"Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah." There were two reasons for this. One is evident in today's reading - they themselves didn't grasp what that all meant. And it would be bound to be misunderstood by others - including the Jewish leaders.

Suffering and death

The Jews were looking for a Messiah who would bring political restoration and economic prosperity. They failed to see their own need for repentance and holiness before God. They focused on themselves as the chosen people of God and failed to see that the purposes of God was to reach out through them to all the peoples of the world. When they thought of the Messiah, they were looking for a King. They weren't prepared for a suffering Servant.

They didn't think about Isaiah 53… "We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him - we ignored him as if he were nothing. But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God. But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved. He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word. He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. He was put to death for the sins of our people. He was placed in a grave with evil men, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie" (vv.4-9).

That was not their idea of a Messiah. And when Jesus began to talk about his suffering and death (and resurrection!), Peter objected, "God forbid it, Lord! That must never happen to you!" Peter has made a brilliant statement about Jesus - a statement which has obviously come from God himself - and Jesus brings them up with a jolt!

Peter, you got it right before. You received a divine revelation. But not this time! Now you are speaking from a purely human viewpoint. Worse than that, you are listening to Satan!

Take up your cross…

"If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

It was so simple back at Lake Galilee when Jesus had said, "Follow me, and I will teach you to catch people!" Yes, that had meant a commitment. It had meant leaving the fishing business, leaving home, family and friends, leaving the familiar for the unknown… It had meant going about with Jesus, watching, listening, asking questions… It would certainly change all of his life - he could never be the same or do the same ever again.

But this? He had no grasp that the commitment was to be so total that he might have to die for it, that in fact his fulfilment and life would be found in that total commitment on which everything from henceforth would depend.

On one occasion, drifting snow and bitter cold threatened the lives of Indian evangelist Sadhu Sundar Singh and his Tibetan companion as they crossed a Himalayan mountain pass. Fighting the "sleep of death", they stumbled over a mound in the trail.

It was a man, half dead. The Tibetan refused to stop but continued on alone. The compassionate Sadhu, however, shouldered the burden the best he could. Through his struggling, he began to warm up, as did the unconscious man. But before reaching the village they found the Tibetan - frozen to death.

We can't just live for ourselves. The principles that Jesus taught are still true: "whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it!"

Jesus Christ gave his all for you. Come - and give your all for him! Not just with a willingness to die for him, but with a commitment to live for him!


© Peter J. Blackburn, Buderim Uniting Church, 2 September 1996
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Good News Bible, © American Bible Society, 1992.

Back to Sermons