Lent 2 - March 8, 2009

Jesus Says: “Follow Me & Do It MY Way”
Mark 8:31-38

I think if Americans had a theme song, it would probably be something like “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. There's just something so quintessentially American about those lyrics:

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up, and spit it out
I faced it all
And I stood tall

And did it my way.

Yes, this could be our anthem, we Americans who are so proud of doing things our own way, defiant of anything that would stand in our way. We want to do things ourselves, in the way we want to do them. We don't want to hear what any naysayers might think; we don't want to get a second opinion. We'll face it all, and we'll stand tall, and do it our way. This independent-mindedness is something we admire & celebrate – we pride ourselves on it, and we applaud it in others.

And yet, it's exactly this attitude that Jesus warns against in today's gospel reading from Mark. Because the way we understand it, my way means claiming our rights to live our lives the way we want to. My way means looking out for number 1 above all else. My way means looking for the safe and easy and profitable way through life. My way tends to be the selfish way.

And here we have Jesus coming on to the scene and saying something completely different. “If you want to follow me, you gotta do it my way,” he says. Being a disciple, a follower of Jesus, means doing it his way. And Jesus' way is not the safe way. Jesus' way is not the easy way. Jesus' way is not the profitable way. Jesus' way is the hard way.

His way is the way of self-denial, and I'm not just talking about denying yourself some tangible, material thing. It's about denying yourself, because Jesus' way is the way of putting aside our self-seeking selfish behavior. His way is the way of reining in our instinct toward self-preservation. His way is the way that calls us to leave behind our self-interest, our self-centeredness, our pursuit of utter self-gratification. Following Jesus his way means begin willing to follow where he leads despite the cost, despite the things we may have to give up, despite having to give up “my way” for Jesus' way.

And let's make no mistake, following Jesus is costly. For those early followers, the ones Jesus is talking to in the crowd, choosing to follow him often meant giving up their family and friends and their position in society, because being a Christian meant leaving your old life behind. If your family or friends didn't decide to follow Jesus too, they'd shut you out.

And if that's not enough to ask, well, the 12 disciples who were in Jesus' inner circle make it clear that following Jesus means risking it all, even your life. For them, following Jesus meant giving up their homes and their jobs and traveling treacherous roads to every place in the known world to spread the good news of God that Jesus revealed. For almost all of them, following Jesus' way meant literally giving up their lives, being captured and killed for the sake of the gospel, for proclaiming a new way that opposed the accepted order of things.

It's easy to ask why. Why would they do such things? Why would they decide to follow Jesus his way? Why would they put their own way aside and follow after this one who asked so much of them? We hear Jesus say, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me,” and we wonder who would want to be his follower. It's not an obvious choice, is it?

But we know that they did! They were willing to follow Jesus, even if it meant denying themselves, even if it meant picking up the cross, even if it meant losing their lives for Jesus' sake and the sake of the gospel. Because Jesus' words rang true to them. They heard him say, “those who want to save their life will lose it,” and something deep inside of them knew that Jesus was telling the truth. They knew that what the world had to offer, the promises that came with doing it “my way” didn't remotely compare with what Jesus promised to those that choose to follow and do it his way. They were willing to take up his challenge, willing to put it all on the line for him and the sake of the gospel because they believed him when he said, “those who love their life for my sake... will save it.”

It's the witness of Jesus followers throughout the generations. Doing it my way, pursuing the things of this world, living only for ourselves & what we think will make us happy, looking for the safe or easy or profitable way through life always leaves us empty. In the end, we lose our true selves, the selves Jesus challenges us to be. But when we risk losing our lives for his sake, we discover true life, abundant life, rich life, life in all its fullness.

Jesus stands before us today & everyday, inviting us to become followers. He calls us to his way, and the only reason we can even begin to follow is because it truly is his way. For Jesus' hard way is the way he traveled first. It was the way of great suffering and rejection and death. And he chose that way, denying himself and knowing that it would mean taking up his cross. Jesus took the hard way of complete commitment, knowing what it would cost. And he did it for us – for you and for you and for me and for everyone. Jesus lost his life so that he might save ours. He did it his way. May we answer the call to follow so that in the end, when we reach the final curtain, as the song goes, we can to Jesus for certain, “I did it your way.”

Amen.