Mark 8:31-38: 31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” 34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Lose your life! My God! Did Jesus actually say this? Did you actually hear it just now and not walk out of here? Is Jesus serious? Lose it! We quietly sit in our chairs, nodding our heads in pious agreement, solemnly listening to Jesus say the most ridiculous things.

Ask anyone and they will tell you, “Saving is good. Losing is bad.” This is the way, everything from saving face to saving money to saving time. Who wants to lose face? lose money? lose time? Who wants to lose life? Yet, when it comes to life, the ways of God surprise.

If we actually heard this outrageous suggestion by Jesus, we would, like Peter, offer the strongest of protests, if not out loud, at least under our breath. When Jesus tells his disciples he will suffer, be rejected and killed, Peter, the story goes, “rebuked” Jesus, a strong word. It's the same word used elsewhere in the gospel for how Jesus addressed demons and unclean spirits in his exorcisms.

Jesus returns the rebuke: “But turning and looking at his disciples” Mark writes, “Jesus rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.'” Peter wants to cast out of Jesus any thinking that hints of suffering and death. Jesus wants to cast out of Peter any thinking that hints of self-preservation. Jesus is thinking divine things. Peter is thinking human things.

God's ways, in this instance anyway, are unreasonable. How can one save anything by losing it? You save something by . . . well, saving it, securing it, insuring it, bottling it, storing it, holding on to it. No, Jesus says. You save when you lose. Go figure.

We always find an upsidedown-ness, an insideout-ness to Jesus and God's ways. If we no longer see this, then we have lost sight of the Jesus of Christian scripture: turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, loving the enemy, first will be last, servant will be the greatest, blessed are the poor, losing to save. It is all of one piece.

We are in the season of Lent. Lent is that time of year that invites us to consider, again, what it means to follow Jesus of Nazareth. Faithful following means living to lose for the sake of Christ and the gospel. Jesus says in today's story, “If anyone wants to follow me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it.”

Of all that can be said about living to lose for Christ's sake I say it is this: forgive. Forgive your roommate who has fed false rumors about you. Forgive your colleague's inflated ego. Forgive your spouse for ignoring you. Forgive your ex-spouse. Forgive your parents for messing up long ago. Forgive your son's bad choices, your daughter's latest hateful outburst. Your boyfriend's insensitivity, your girlfriend's hyper-sensitivity. Forgive your neighbor. Forgive yourself.

Losing oneself for the sake of the gospel is to forgive. Saving face, protecting reputation, preserving power and control, defending personal justice are mighty forces that hold us back from losing to save. And yet, as Jesus knew, nothing robs us of life, and diminishes relationships more than unforgiveness. Forgiveness always requires a measure of self-denial. It is the cross Jesus invites us to carry. It was from the cross that Jesus, losing to save, prayed: “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they do.” Such self-denial, such a cross, believe it or not, is good news. Not only because Jesus' losing was for our saving. But, also, because it promises a fuller, more real life here and now. Living to lose, forgiving, is an act of de-centering. Taking our selves out of the center. And, I believe, it is in de-centering that we actually find our truest center.

Lose your life. Did Jesus actually say this? Did he mean it? Are you still here listening to this? Peter rebuked it. I think many today ridicule it. We are invited to live it.

Francis, that 12 th century monk, rebuked by his father and ridiculed by many had it right:

Lord, grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and

It is in dying that we are born anew. Amen

-Rev. Dr. Philip Johnson

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