True wisdom results in right action

Creation 3
St Paul’s Church, Ipswich
15 September 2024

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All of our readings this morning invite us to make the right choices if we really want to gain wisdom.

We are called to move beyond correct ideas to right action.

As Proverbs presents this theme, we hear that the invitation to embrace wisdom has been out in the public domain for anyone and everyone to see and hear. 

This was no secret tradition kept from the public and handed down behind closed door.

Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks … [Proverbs 1:20]

In a different way, the Letter of James urges people to act smart and not simply rely on their attitudes, beliefs and values to get us home at the end of the day. In the end, what matters is what we do and especially, James would say, how we treat other people.

Faith without works is dead! [James 2:26]

The Gospel this morning is the pivotal scene in the Gospel of Mark.

Jesus takes his disciples up the northern region in the foothills of the Lebanese mountains. 

Last week we found Jesus in southern Lebanon, at Tyre. This week he is pagan territory once more, at the base of Mt Hermon.

The ancient name for this place was Paneas, because it hosted a cult site for the god Pan. That name survives still in the Arabic name, Banias.

In the time of Jesus the name changed back and forth as various wannabee powerbrokers attached their name to the site.

Mark calls it Caesarea Philippi; the city Philip built for Caesar.

Philip, son of Herod the Great was actually recycling a great temple built at the site by Herod in honour of Augustus: the Augusteum.

Later Nero would rename the place, Neronias.

This was a place where people dreamed of power and influence.

Eventually it reverted to its traditional name, as the locals always win. The rich and famous eventually fade away, along with their ambitions and their arrogance.

So why has Jesus taken his disciples up into that area?

As they make their way to that seat of power, Jesus asks his companions what people think of him. After all the miracles and controversies that have been playing out in the previous half of the Gospel of Mark, what are the crowds saying about Jesus?

Jesus is not seeking fame, but it seems he has been making an impression.

Some folk think he is nothing less than John the Baptist returned to life after Philip’s half-brother, Antipas, had him executed.

That’s not a bad answer, since Jesus had been a disciple of John and really only launched his own mission after John had been arrested. There was indeed some continuity between John and Jesus.

Others raised the bar even higher, thinking of Jesus as the great prophet Elijah returned to the earth.

Again, that is not a bad answer. Many Jews around that time expected Elijah to return just before the end of the world. Some Jews still have that belief. When Mark’s readers get to the transfiguration story in the next chapter, Elijah is one of the two heavenly figures who appear alongside Jesus on the holy mountain.

Others whose views were being canvassed in this 2,000 year-old opinion poll, thought that Jesus must be one of the Old Testament prophets. Moses was probably the main figure they had in mind, but others may have been thinking of Jonah. Indeed, Jesus himself spoke about the sign of Jonah when people asked him to say who he was.

Finally, Jesus switches focus to the disciples: But who do you say that I am?

Peter blurts out an answer: You are the Messiah!

Peter’s answer was correct, but Jesus insists they keep that idea to themselves. It is not something to be talked about.

Suddenly Marks tells us that it was not just Jesus and the disciples, on the trip but the crowd as well. The people with incomplete and confused ideas about Jesus, have also been travelling with Jesus and disciples as they head north towards Caesarea Philippi.

His words to the crowd are also words for us to hear:

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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? [Mark 8:34–36]

Beliefs, ideas and opinions are important, but actions matter more.

To be a follower of Jesus means that we stop seeking fame, power or wealth. Instead, we lose our lives—we take a step back and then some—so that others come first and the good news can flourish in this world.

So what does Jesus mean to you?

And how is your own life forever changed because of that?