This is a week when it’s harder than
usual for us to be followers of Jesus Christ.
We’ve watched in outrage and grief as
media reports have brought us images of a burning American consulate in Libya,
as well as angry protestors at our embassies in Egypt and more than 20 other
countries. The images evoke all kinds of
pain: The abomination of an attack on
the anniversary of Sept. 11; the fear of more violence against Americans around
the globe; and, for those of us of a certain age, the memory of an attack on
the American embassy in Iran, 33 years ago, as well as the deaths and
hostage-taking that came from it. At the
same time, we find ourselves appalled by the epic foolishness of a dark-hearted
filmmaker whose ugly movie about the Prophet Mohammad has spurred much of this violence. As we see the reports about attacks on our
citizens and embassies this week, and as we see the damage done by a
hatemonger’s recklessness, it’s hard not
to want the vengeance that deep pain always demands.
Our pain and outrage are made all the
deeper by the fact that the deaths included an American statesman, Christopher
Stevens, the ambassador to Libya. Not
that his life was inherently more valuable than the other three who died. But there is special meaning to the killing
of the embodiment of the United States in a foreign nation.
And in this case, that pain and outrage are
even deeper because Chris Stevens was clearly someone who should not have been killed by deluded zealots
wanting to punish America. Chris Stevens
was just the opposite, the kind of diplomat even our enemies respected. I’m sure you’ve read much of this already, but
I think it’s worth repeating some of Chris Stevens’ story because it ties into
our Gospel reading today. After
graduating from a prestigious university, seemingly set for a powerful career,
he joined the Peace Corps instead. He
worked in an isolated mountain town in Morocco, teaching English. When he returned to the U.S., he became a
lawyer and eventually a diplomat, but he wasn’t seeking a pathway to
power. He took postings in tough spots,
dangerous capitals in the Middle East and North Africa. Eventually he became deputy chief of mission
in Libya; and when the Libyan people rose up against Gadhafi,
it was Chris Stevens who served as envoy to the rebels, coaching them in
building a government as they toppled a dictator. As Stevens’ stepfather said, “He wasn’t looking for a ... cushy ambassador’s spot. He loved the Libyan people and was passionate
about helping” them.1 As a friend remembered, “Chris really was that American you always hope exists somewhere.”2
In a nutshell, Chris Stevens managed to take a position of power and use it as
a position of self-giving instead.
Now, I have no idea what kind of
religious faith Chris Stevens held, if any.
But I do think his life and death give us a window into the divine reality
Jesus was proclaiming in the Gospel reading we just heard – interestingly, a
reading not selected for this
particular day but simply what came next in the Sunday lectionary.
Jesus begins with a little Q and A with
the disciples, bringing them along to glimpse his identity in a way no one had seen
so clearly before. “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks. “Peter answered him, ‘You are the messiah,’”
God’s anointed ruler sent to inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth. (Mark
8:29) Clearly, Jesus is the
authority. The disciples can bank on
what he has to say.
So here’s Jesus, standing before his
followers as God’s ultimate ambassador. And
what might the royal proclamation be? He’s
set up to make a pronouncement about heavenly power toppling evil worldly authorities. But that’s not at all where Jesus goes with
his power. Instead, the messiah
announces that he will “undergo great suffering, and be rejected … and be
killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). The evil powers of sinful self-interest will
have their way with him. They will even
appear victorious. But on the third day,
the suffering messiah will rise.
That message is
reassuring for us Christians to hear this week.
Sin will not have the last
word. The kingdom of God will rise. The good guys will win in the last act. That’s the story we want to hear.
What’s harder to hear is Jesus’ next
comment. Peter tries to convince Jesus
that he doesn’t have to undergo all this suffering. You’re the messiah, after all, Peter must
have said. You can dish out suffering
rather than having to take it. But Jesus
“rebukes” Peter, telling him the easy way is not the holy way (8:33). And then he takes this hard Good News up a
notch. Calling together the disciples
and the crowd, Jesus says this path of self-emptying, this call to offer
himself for others – it isn’t just his path alone. It’s the
path of discipleship, the one we’re all called to walk. “If any want to become my followers,” Jesus
says, “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, and for the sake of the
gospel, will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)
So what does that mean for us, in this
bitter and bloody week? What does Jesus’
call say to us about American foreign policy and the response our nation should
make to the killings in Libya? I don’t
presume to say. I learned in eighth
grade that, for us, “the supreme law of the land” is the Constitution, not the
Bible; and it will be the Constitution that will govern our nation’s
actions. We all have our opinions about
that – opinions formed by our faith, I hope.
But you don’t want your priests making foreign policy any more than you
want your diplomats preaching your sermons.
I don’t know what today’s Gospel will
say to the president or his advisers if they’re in church this morning, hearing
the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, which is used in so many
denominations. But I know what I
hear this Gospel saying for me, and maybe for you, too.
When I see our consulate being attacked
or our embassies being threatened; when I see black flags being hoisted in
opposition our nation’s flag; when I see the body of a good, good man lying
dead from unprovoked attack – when I see these images, I want retribution. I want revenge. I want to know when the president is going to
strike back and who the target will be. But
then – amid memories of the twin towers falling 11 years ago and the fear that
we might be attacked again, amid the desire for vengeance from this week’s
attack – along comes the memory of Jesus Christ and the hard path he calls us
to take.
The cross we bear looks different, one
day to the next. Sometimes it’s serving
others when we’re completely tapped out.
Sometimes it’s loving someone who’s lied to us. Sometimes it’s just continuing down a dark
path facing one assault after another, when we can’t see any Easter sunrise on
the horizon. But taking up that cross is
always about turning away from the smallness of my own heart and turning toward
the fullness of the heart of God. It’s
always about emptying my heart of sin and self, and opening my heart to the
people Jesus loves enough to die for – which is everybody. Taking up the cross is always about the fact
that those who want to save their lives must give them up, despite how hard
that is.
I can’t do anything about sinful
extremists killing innocent people. I
can’t do anything directly to influence my country’s response. The only thing I can influence is the
response of my own heart. As Jesus says
elsewhere in Scripture, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your
neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say
to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may
be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-44)
That’s why this is a
hard week to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
So may our hearts be open to his hard,
good news. And may what Abraham Lincoln
called the “better angels of our nature” lift us, with Jesus, to a place where
we can truly pray, “Father, forgive them….” (Luke 23:34)
1.
Pearson,
Michael. “Slain ambassador died ‘trying
to help build a better Libya.’”
CNN.com. Available at: http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/12/world/africa/libya-us-ambassador-killed-profile/index.html?iid=article_sidebar. Accessed Sept. 14, 2012.
2.
Tarnopolsky,
Noga. “Remembering Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.” Globalpost.
Available at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/120912/ambassador-j-christopher-stevens-a-friend. Accessed Sept. 14, 2012.
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