He Makes Us Holy

This passage reminds me of the story of Vinko Bogataj. Most of us know his story. It is the story of the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Remember that phrase from ABC’s Wide World of Sports and the opening credits showing a ski jumper? Down the ramp, then flying through the air – just watching it is exhilarating. That ski jumper was Vinko Bogataj. And then, the film of a ski jumper coming down the ramp and somehow, without reason or warning, falling backward and crashing into the crowd instead of launching into the air, his body cartwheeling and careening to a stop. That ski jumper was Vinko Bogataj too. The film of the amazing jump and the film of the crash were captured both of him, on the same day at the 1970 World Ski Flying Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. His first jump was the leap of a lifetime…and the second, he has replayed in his mind over and over… perhaps more times than ABC has shown it.

In the passage from Matthew, Peter is experiencing the agony of defeat. And just prior, he made the leap of his lifetime. Jesus asked him, “But who do you say that I am?” And he came down the ramp, and his form was perfect as he answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus blessed him and changed his name from now on he would be Peter (Peter means rock). “On this rock, I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Ah, the thrill of victory.

And then, Jesus starts talking about going to Jerusalem and suffering – that he will be killed and on the third day raised. Preacher and New Testament Scholar Dr. Tom Long suggests that “Peter is like a man who has just been named campaign manager of a promising presidential candidate who astonishingly hears the candidate proclaim that he can accomplish his goals only by being assassinated.” Peter takes Jesus aside and tries to get him back on course. “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” When you watch the film of Vinko Bogataj’s crash, you see that he gets off balance, as he crouches for the takeoff, his weight shifts backward too far, and for some reason he puts his hand down to steady himself. In a split second, instinct took over – for Vinko and for Peter. Jesus rebukes Peter, “Get behind me, Tempter. You are a hindrance to me, for you are not one the side of God, but of men.” The agony of defeat.

We translate the name Satan, but the actual translation is Tempter; the same name that was given to the one who tempted Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days just after his baptism. I don’t think Jesus was calling Peter names. He was naming who Peter was being in that moment and correcting his course, “Get behind me, where you can follow.” Because when you are out front, you wind up with your legs over your head, careening through the air, landing for all the world to watch over and over again in the agony of defeat.

And then Jesus teaches the disciples and us what true victory in life looks like. “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”

We all have our cross to bear. But, Jesus isn’t commiserating with us in our problems. We have connected having a cross to bear with a problem, a burden, a struggle. We have equated bearing our cross to experiencing the agony of defeat. Dictioary.com defines the phrase as “A burden or trial one must put up with, as in Alzheimer’s is a cross to bear for the whole family, or in a lighter vein, Mowing that huge lawn once a week is Brad’s cross to bear:” Jesus was not at all encouraging the disciples or us to just keep on keeping on, to put up and shut up about the pains of life. Jesus was calling them to follow the way of holiness, a life of commitment to greater good and acting on behalf of others instead of themselves. He makes us holy, too, as we take up our cross and follow him, as we are committed to the greater good and acting on behalf of others instead of ourselves.

I posted a quote on my Facebook page a few weeks ago of Rev. Becca Stevens, who founded Magdalene Houses and Thistle Farms in Nashville to minister with women who have experienced human trafficking. This is the quote, “Your cross is not what you are willing to live with; it is what you are willing to die for.” Your cross to bear is your mission; your vocation; your purpose.

Bill Gause and I went to seminary together, and he tells about talking with a student about his future career. The student “was a brilliant engineer. He loved the math and the challenges of working out complex problems. But he was also a person of deep faith and he was struggling to discern what he was being called to do with his life: be an engineer or a pastor. When we sat in my office to talk about it, he told me that he really loved engineering, and the thought of being a minister filled him with dread and unhappiness. “So,” he decided, “that means I’m supposed to be a minister.”

That is not what Jesus taught. If Bill’s student becomes a pastor, it will be the agony of defeat. God blessed him with a passion for engineering – his cross to bear will be revealed in that arena. At some point in his engineering work, he will have a choice to make between his self-interest and the greater good. And, if he is like most of us, that choice won’t be a one-time opportunity. Most of us have frequent choices to make between me and us. Choosing “us” is our cross to bear; and it is how he makes us holy.

Presbyterian pastor and author Frederick Buechner writes about vocation in his book Wishful Thinking. Vocation, he says, “means the work a person is called to by God.

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Super-ego, or Self-interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this. The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.
….The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

What is your cross to bear? Where does your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet? There is the thrill of victory. There, God will make you holy.