The Invitation - Part 1

 

The invitation

 

September 21, 2001 Manuscript (Berkshire Revival, Dalton, MA) Bob Withers

 

            Where are you going this evening?  Why are you here?  When you leave here what road on the

 path of life will you be taking?  Where are you going this evening?

            Jesus and His disciples are in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi…He has been teaching them for over 3 years…walking with them, talking with them, eating with them, sleeping with them.  They have known the hostility of the religious leaders, the fickleness of the crowds.  There have been weeks of such long hours that one day has run into another day.  “Was that Tuesday we did that or Wednesday?”  There have been weeks of crowds pressing upon them so that they had no rest.

            Three years of walking with the Master.  Three years of watching Him, listening to Him and telling others about Him.

            And now in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus and his disciples…walking along the road together, as one foot goes down before the other on their way to a particular mountain that will hold an unique experience, as one foot goes down before the other…perhaps they were talking about fishing, or about their families, maybe about the recent healing of the blind man who at first saw men looking like trees walking, or as the Middle Eastern sun beat down on them could it be they were reminiscing about the water turned to wine years ago at Cana?

            As they are walking…walking to a mountain…and beyond the mountain to the city of Jerusalem…to that city where Jesus has an appointment to keep…an appointment with a crowd in a garden, an appointment with the religious leaders and a kangaroo court, an appointment with the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, an appointment with hammer and nails, an appointment with darkness…

            As they are walking Jesus speaks… “Who do men say that I am?”  An easy enough question…an easy enough question.  “Oh, some think you’re John the Baptist back from the dead, they’re really freaked out about You.  Others think you’re Elijah come back to earth.  And still others think you’ve just got to be one of the prophets, though they’re not sure which one.  Oh yes, Master, there is a lot of speculation about you, a lot of discussion about You.”

            And as the disciples were displaying their knowledge of contemporary thought as proud as a courting peacock or tom turkey, as they were trying to outdo each other in their display of knowledge in the presence of their Teacher, as their chests were getting puffier and puffier as they vied for pre-eminence before the One whom they had lived with for the past three years…as they jostled to be in the front of the class…to be the top honor student…Jesus asks,

            “But…who do you say that I am?”

            And the clucking of hens stop, the peacock’s fan folds, and the eyes of the students avoid the Teacher’s gaze…because now it’s not enough to talk about what others think…it’s not enough to talk about what others believe…it’s not enough to make others the target of the conversation…the question has come home to each of the disciples individually.

            Why were they there?  Where had they come from?  Where were they going?  What were they doing there?

            And then a bolt of unseen lightening strikes one of their number…and Peter speaks those words that have echoed down the centuries, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

            All is well it seems, all is well, He is the Christ and they are with Him, walking down the road in Galilee in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi…all is well…the Teacher’s question is answered…one foot in front of the other…step by step they walk…the tension is relived…on they walk…but do they know where they are going?

            Do they know of the appointment in Jerusalem?  Do they know of the crowd…the mob…with torches in the garden of agony?  Can they see the kangaroo court in the official residence of the high priest?  Do they recoil at the flesh being torn from the back of Jesus by a Roman flogging?  Can they hear hammer striking nails through flesh into wood?  Do they know where they are going?

            And Jesus begins teaching as they walk…putting one foot in front of the other…

            “The Son of Man must suffer many things…and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes.”

            Suffering and rejection?  Rejection by the elders, chief priests and scribes?  Rejection by the religious leaders, by the leaders with the fancy titles before their names and the alphabet soup which follows their names?  Can this be true?  Well, if it is true no doubt they’ll come to acknowledge their mistakes as the Christ demonstrates Who He really is…they’ll come to their senses.

            And as one foot is placed in front of the other Jesus continues, “The Son of Man must suffer, must be rejected and must be killed and after three days rise again.”

            “Now we don’t know about this rising again thing, but we do know about the idea of being killed.  Jesus must not know the plan, being killed is not part of the plan.”

            So Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke Him.  “Yes Peter, do it, straighten Him out about this business of being killed.  We haven’t invested three years of our life so that He can be killed.  Bring Him to His senses.”

            Jesus turns about…looks at His disciples…His eyes fasten of Peter…and His heart connects with this most impetuous of His followers…and Jesus rebukes Peter saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God but the things of men.”

            The disciples reel backwards as a boxer who has suffered a severe blow falls into the ropes.  The unexpected punch has knocked the wind out of them. 

“Suffering, rejection, being killed…these are the things of God?  These are the things of God?”

to be continued...