Consider the Word, September 9, 2021

Consider the Word, September 9, 2021
17^th Sunday after Pentecost – Season of Creation
 
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/92395423097
Meeting ID: 923 9542 3097
 
Readings for September 12:

• Proverbs 1:20-33
• Psalm 19 Or Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1 As Canticle
• James 3:1-12
• Mark 8:27-38

 
Collect

Almighty God,

you call your Church to witness

that in Christ we are reconciled to you.

Help us so to proclaim the good news of your love,

that all who hear it may turn to you;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 
Reading: Mark 8:27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach 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. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "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? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

 
Reflection Questions

1. Who do you say Jesus is? What does Jesus mean to you?
2. In what ways do we pretend that Jesus didn’t mean that we are to “take up [our] cross?
3. On what do we stake our lives?

 
Closing Prayer

Through suffering and rejection, O God,

you bring forth our salvation,

for in Jesus you embrace our humanity

and transform our lives by the glory of his cross.

Grant that for the sake of the gospel

we may rebuke the lure of this world,

take up our cross,

and follow your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

 
The Message:

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, “Who do the people say I am?”

²⁸ “Some say ‘John the Baptizer,’” they said. “Others say ‘Elijah.’ Still others say ‘one of the prophets.’”

²⁹ He then asked, “And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?”

Peter gave the answer: “You are the Christ, the Messiah.”

^30-32 Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. He then began explaining things to them: “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive.” He said this simply and clearly so they couldn’t miss it.

^32-33 But Peter grabbed him in protest. Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. “Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works.”

^34-37 Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?

³⁸ “If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.”

The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson