We Press On; Sermon based on Mark 8:27-9:8

Rev. George Miller
Feb 23, 2020
Mark 8:27-9:8

Once upon a time, we lived in a much simpler moment.

Before fears of the Corona Virus and the spectacle of the impeachment; before the Australia wildfires and slow moving threat of Hurricane Dorian.

A more innocent moment when I was but a wee lad of only 49 and a half.

It was the much simpler days of August 2019. Wayyyy back when we were studying Philippians- a letter Paul penned to the church in Philippi.

As you may recall, Paul wrote about:

-not being wishy-washy
-working on our own salvation
-knowing we are Citizens of Heaven
-becoming a sweet fragrance to others.

In chapter 3 Paul wrote “…straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal of the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ.”

Paul acknowledged his own humanity, knowing that God is not yet done working through him.

He knows he is not a polished piece of perfection, there is still so much to learn, and he is making the choice to press on, move forward, and not stay in the same spiritual rut.

But, if you recall, Paul is writing these words while in prison. He is talking about pressing on while chains are pressing down on his flesh.

He’s writing about following a heavenly call even while he’s suffering through an earthly sentencing.

Paul’s freedom is stripped away, yet his eyes look forward to a future in Christ.

So therefor, he presses on.

Talk about having a passion for God.

Talk about allowing the Holy Spirit to rise you above current circumstances.

Talk about feeling no shame in Christ and taking up your cross.

Today we reach the middle of Mark’s Gospel; the hinge of the story in which two things happen-

1st- we discover who Jesus is and what he will experience.

2nd- we decide if we are going to stay behind or if we are going to follow.

In Mark’s telling, we come to a beautifully crafted moment in time.

A week in the life of Jesus in which everything changes, and the reality of mortality sets in.

Jesus’s ministry in Galilee is coming to an end. He has cast out demons, restored communities, renewed women, raised up girls, fed the masses, empowered mobility, and given sight.

Peter has figured out that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus has told the disciples that he will undergo great suffering.

The masses are told that to follow him from this point on means that you must also take up your own cross.

Then we have this moment 6 days later.

We are in a northern city, one that’s mostly made up of gentiles, where a temple of the Roman emperor stands.

Jesus takes us up a mountain.

If you look at the map of where this story takes place, all that’s been accomplished, all that they have experienced, is to the south.

What is also to the south is Jerusalem, the place that’s known for killing its prophets.

Picture this: you’re with Jesus after years of following him. You now know who he is, what will happen to him, and what’s being asked of you.

You climb to the top of a beautiful mountain; a place like Bok Tower, where you can look out in all directions: north, south, east, west.

You see that southwest is Jerusalem, the city in which your Savior will die.

Do you flee to the other side of the mountains as if you were the Von Trapp family in “The Sound of Music,” going as far north as you can until you are no longer in any kind of danger?

Do you try to stay on that mountain top for as long as you can, hoping to freeze that moment for all eternity?

Or do you go south, towards Heaven’s Destiny and you own mortality?

???Do you flee, do you freeze, or do you press on???

……………..Jesus presses on…………

In the words of Parker Palmer, Jesus comes to his own “Rosa Parks Decision” and in doing so he changes the whole entire world….

If there is one thing we can say about our faith, is that we are a people who press on.

It is in our stories; our spiritual ancestors.

Though Sarah was elderly and childless, when God said “Go!”, she pressed on.

Though Joseph was sold into slavery by his very own brothers, he pressed on.

Though Moses and Miriam came up against the Red Sea, they pressed on.

Diminutive David stood before gigantic Goliath and pressed on.

Queen Esther could’ve lost her life for speaking up, yet she pressed on.

Jesus was humiliated by his own hometown, yet he pressed on.

Jesus came to a mountaintop in which the heroes of his past appeared, and just a few steps north sat freedom…

…and yet he pressed on.

As Christians, that is what we do.

We press on.

Paul pressed on even while in prison.

The earliest Christians pressed on even when the threat of Rome pushed down.

The great reformer Martin Luther pressed on when he saw the church straying from the Gospel of Grace.

The Pilgrims pressed on when they realized they would rather live out their faith in a new world then die in a country where their spirits were suppressed.

The colonists pressed on when they met in a congregational church knowing it was better to dump tea into a sea than to drown in unfair taxation.

The suffragettes and civil rights movements pressed on, knowing equality for all was essential for everybody.

As followers of Christ, as recipients of Paul’s letters, we too press on.

Knowing that we are mortals, meaning that we are born, we live, and we die-

We press on.

It may seem safer to stay on the mountain,

it may look easier to run away,

but we know that’s not who Christ was,

therefor we know that’s not what we are called to do.

So what do we do, you and I, us and we?

We press on.
We press on.
We press on.

Amen.