Not So! Yes So!

Mark 8:31-38

I recall two of my children when they were much younger, having an argument. I don’t remember what they were arguing about, but it had descended into a shouting match with one yelling “Not so” and the other yelling “Yes so” repeatedly. They each obviously believed that they can convince the other by simply yelling ‘Not so” or “Yes so”.

There are times when we, with realizing it, are engaged in a similar “not so, yes so” argument or dialogue. We often don’t realize it because while we are saying “not so” to things that are going on in our lives, the forces that surround us are saying “yes so”, but we don’t hear that, either because we don’t want to or because we are not paying attention.

When tragedy strikes; when we are faced with serious losses; when challenges overwhelm us; our initial response often is disbelief - “not so” – this can’t be true, this can’t be happening. All the while, the forces of life, or of destruction, are saying to us “yes so”, it is true, it is happening.

Last week, my wife got the news that someone that she knew very well had died from COVID 19; the deceased was in her early forties. I did not know her, apart from hearing my wife speaking often to her and well of her, and I only saw her once. Never-the-less, I felt my wife’s pain at the passing of her friend; it was palpable. I recall how my wife responded to the news with disbelief. She in essence was saying “not so”.

We all have suffered loss in our lives: loss of loved ones and friends through death, loss of relationships, loss of opportunities, loss of trust, of hope, of independence, for many in this pandemic, the loss of their livelihood, and the list goes on.

Then there are those for whom it is the dread of an anticipated loss with which they have to contend. The dreaded thought and crippling fear of them likely having to go on without that person who was a dear companion, a pillar of support, who helped to centre and ground them and give them purpose in life.

Whether the loss we are facing is actual or anticipated, most are hard to accept, and many are met with disbelief – not so, it can’t be true! And while we clutch at some small or fleeting hope that it is not so, there are those forces out there that are yelling back at us or gently whispering – “yes so”, it is true, it is happening.

In our reading today from Mark’s gospel, we enter into another interesting exchange between Jesus and Peter. It was a “not so, yes so” exchange.

Jesus gathered his disciples and told 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”. The always quick-to-speak Peter would have none of it, Mark writes that he rebuked Jesus, meaning that he expressed sharp disapproval of what Jesus said. He essentially told Jesus “not so” – that is not happening!

But in response to Peter’s sharp “not so”, Jesus came back with his own emphatic “yes so”. Mark writes that “Turning and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

If Peter and Jesus were kids, they probably would have stood their ground, staring each other down, and yelling at the top of their voices: “Not so! Yes so! Not so! Yes so!”

But they were not kids, and what they we dealing with was not kids’ stuff. It was matters of life or death, not just for Jesus, but for all of us.

“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!”

To better understand the “not so, yes so” exchange between Jesus and Peter, we have to back up a bit.

Immediately preceding the portion of scripture that was today from Mark 8, we read were Jesus had gone with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They answered him, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He then asked them, “But who do you say that I am?’ The always quick-to-speak Peter (I’m sure we all know someone like that) answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah – the one anointed and sent by God.

Matthew, recording the same story, writes that Peter answered “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” To which Jesus replied “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” 

I think therein lies the reason for Peter’s rebuke of Jesus – his “not so”.
How can the Saviour, the “Son of the living God” be made to suffer and be killed? In Peter’s mind, that was a “not so” – can’t be!

But in his “yes so” to Peter, note that Jesus did not refer to himself as the “Son of God”, he referred to himself as the “Son of man” - a term her often used in reference to himself.

“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!”

Jesus acknowledged that he was the “Son of God” but he also understood that he was the “Son of Man”. Like us, he is a product of flawed human beings, but human beings who are yet capable of much good. And I believe that he wants us to understand that while we are a part of a world where there is suffering and death at the hand of our fellow human beings, especially those in positions of power and authority, we can rise above that; we can see good emerge - we can live into that good of which we all are capable, if we are prepared to make some tough choices.

When out of fear, or a desire to cling to what we have, we are inclined, like Peter, to say ‘not so” to the things than challenge and demand a lot of us, we need to hear that voice of God saying to us “Yes so”; and be willing to make the often tough choice of changing our “not so, to God’s “yes so”.

“Yes so” to self-denial:

When that means opening ourselves to God’s will and way.

When that means taking less for ourselves so that others may have what they need.

When that means looking outward and not only inward.

When that means offering forgiveness instead of seeking for revenge.

When that requires that we put the interest of others alongside or at times even above our own.

We have to be willing to change our “not so” to God’s “yes so”.

Yes so to taking up our cross.

Cross-bearing is not a penalty that is imposed upon us, or something unavoidable that we must face. Cross bearing is an act of love that we freely choose. It is a task that we undertake, and a price that we pay, out of love.

For Jesus it meant going to a cross to die because He loved us. For us it means reaching out with love to others, even when that love is not returned.

It is hard to love people who don’t love you. It is hard to love people who treat you with indifference. And for some of us, it is hard to love people who are different, who are not from our group. And yet cross-bearing means to do just that.
That is the challenge that the cross presents, and it’s not easy.

But that’s the only way we can heal our brokenness. That the only way we can save our lives. That the only way we can experience resurrection.

As Jesus says: "If any want to become my followers, 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.”

That a choice we that can only make if we are willing to change our “not so” to God’s “yes so”.

Thanks be a God.