Welcome to the Sunday sit down where it's not Sunday, but we
are here to talk about this past Sunday and this past Sunday.
We had Allison with us preaching and it's always, it's always a
privilege to have you back with us after you abandoned us last
year. Allison was on staff for about 7
years with us. And it was just a, I got to work
with her for a good chunk of that time.
And it was just a real gift to be have her on our staff team.
And it's a gift now to have her with us, you know, as a part of
our church and occasionally when you were able as, as a guest
preacher. And so that was you this past
week. And it's a privilege as always,
to have you and to have you with us.
Now to talk through a little bit more in depth this past week.
And so this past week we were reading from Luke Chapter 9.
And this is sort of you, you described it as this turning
point, this sort of like this climactic moment of Jesus
revealing himself in, in many ways, right.
And, and so I want to take a moment and just read it and, and
just to sort of talk through certain parts of it that's we
couldn't quite make it into its way into the sermon.
And there was one question from, from someone from the church.
Very good question. And so let me read it though.
So this is Luke Chapter 9 starting at verse 18.
Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were
with him, he asked them, Who do the crowds say that I am?
They replied. Some say John the Baptist,
others say Elijah, and still others that one of the prophets
of long ago has come back to life.
But what about you, he asks. Who do you say I am?
Peter answered. God's Messiah Jesus strictly
warned them not to tell this to anyone.
And he said the Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers
of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be
raised to life. Then he said to them all Whoever
wants to be my disciple must must deny themselves and take up
their cross daily and follow me forever.
Wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their
life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to
gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Whoever is ashamed of Me, in My words, the Son of Man, will be
ashamed of them when He comes in His glory, and in the glory of
the Father and of the holy angels.
Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste
death before they see the Kingdom of God.
Just like a light passage, right?
Yeah, yeah, just a a nice summer, nice summer sermon.
For sure. What was your, what was your
processing of of it as you were preparing like what was your?
Yeah. Yeah, it definitely, it felt
really weighty. It felt loaded.
And it did feel like this, this really significant moment that
it's been building to this. There's been all these
opportunities for people to learn about Jesus, whether
that's what he's seeing or teaching or observing what he's
doing. And now he's with his, you know,
the people that have seen the most and been the closest to him
on the road. And he asked this question and.
And so, I mean, I kind of joked that it was like an exam, but it
really does feel a bit like you, in order to understand this
passage, I felt like you really have to understand what's come
before. And that's not to say, of
course, the spirit can speak through wherever we're at with
whatever we know. But maybe the better way to say
it is the more that you know and understand of the previous nine
chapters, the more that this will kind of come to life.
And and so I think it felt, yeah, it felt significant in
that. And then I think it also just
feels really significant because I think the truth of it is the
way that we answer this question like should actually change
everything. It should, yeah.
And it's one of the reasons why I've loved the way that we've
been going through this whole book, right?
That we're able to see the threads all the way through like
it's, it's I just, I, I even even just like as in you kind of
alluded it to it in, in the sermon as well.
But even, you know, we talked about it when we, you and I met
up last week, when we looked at the examples, you know, when
Jesus says, what are the crowd? Who do the crowds say I am?
And they talk about, you know, John the Baptist and Elijah and
the prophets of, of old. And, and it's like when you,
when you remove it from its broader context, you're like,
OK, well, that makes sense. But it makes more sense when you
look at what was happening just a few sections ago, right?
And This is why it's so beautiful and so good to be able
just to connect all these dots. So, yeah, we're seeing the
culmination of something here, of all that these disciples have
been has seeing and doing. And now they have this this
realization of like, man, this this guy is more than we could
have ever thought. We thought we were just going to
follow this rabbi around. And, and, and we've now come to
realize that I think he's more, you know.
And it's, it's a bit of a unique moment of the disciples getting
it. Like I think often, often I
appreciate the disciples because we can relate to them because
they're not getting it or they're missing it or, and, and
I think, I think we'll talk probably more about this.
I don't think they get everything because there's,
there's plenty of interactions to come where you're like, oh,
they really don't fully understand.
But it is a, a nice moment of being like, OK, but they are,
they are seeing this, they're seeing him for who he is.
And that's it's a profound, really profound moment.
And again, I think when we get used to these terms and used to
these words, it's easy for us to gloss over these things but and
miss how significant it was that Peter was able to name him in
that way. So, yeah, it makes me think of
the first question, which is Jesus's use of the phrase, you
know, you must have to deny yourself, take up your cross
daily and follow me. And that phrase take up your
cross. There is a, you know, there is a
cultural phrase. It's become codified in culture
almost of like, you know, it's this is my cross to bear.
This is like, you know, usually is implying suffering or
whatever else, right. And so sometimes it's hard to
like untangle that from, you know, what Jesus is is asking
his disciples to do and also recognizing that that Jesus
talks about being killed, but doesn't explicitly mention
crucifixion, right. And so, you know, how would his
disciples, and I know that the part of this is going to be
speculation a little bit, but I think it's worth exploring how
it is. How would his disciples have
understood Jesus using that term?
Take up your cross daily and follow me.
Yeah, because as you noted, he says that he will be rejected
and killed and on the third day race, but he doesn't
specifically say in that moment, I'm going to be killed on a
cross. But in the very next phrase,
he's saying, you know, this is what's going to happen to the
Messiah, the Son of Man. And for my followers, you're
going to follow basically the same path.
And in that context, he does. They take up their cross daily.
Dude. I think you could make that
leap, but I also don't. I don't judge them for not
connecting those dots. I'm not sure they.
Would I don't think. Yeah, evidence would suggest it
feels like. Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, it's, I think it's, it's hard to know some of what
they would have expected. I think from my understanding,
crucifixion was a known form of Roman punishment.
And so at least that term, I think, would have brought to
mind a specific image for them. And my understanding is that
when you were sentenced to death by crucifixion, the expectation
was that you would carry the cross beam to the place where
you were going to be crushed like that.
That was sort of part of the sentencing.
So there was, I think, some language around, again, I think
it probably would evoke a picture for them.
Maybe they had seen other people who had been sentenced carrying
a cross beam and had a picture of what that looked like.
So I think he's using, as he often does, a reference that
would have meaning for them. But I don't expect them to have
yet like, like we're going to see.
They still are not fully expecting all of what's to come.
And I think maybe part of what's helpful there is to realize just
how, um, if shocking is the right word or revolutionary what
he's saying here about the Messiah is.
And I think maybe that's the OR a helpful part.
So the idea would have been that that that the Messiah would come
in and like they were they were under Roman occupation and they
were up being oppressed. And so there was this idea of
like a political revolution and political freedom and come in
and knock out all the Romans. And when he says to them, OK,
you know, I'm the Messiah, basically, here's what it means
to be Messiah. That's not what there are
thinking. Now.
There are like when I was digging into some of the Old
Testament references that talk about this anointed one, which
is more a Hebrew word, anointed one that gets translated as
Christ. There is reference to the
Messiah being killed. But again, I don't know that
that was the common expectation. And so I think this idea of him
being like this is what it means to be Messiah, rejected, killed,
raised. Oh, and also, if you're going to
be my followers, you're gonna follow in the same.
Yeah, it feels very.