8. The Secret: Denied

From time to time in these Lenten sermons I’ve mentioned the “messianic secret.” That phrase goes back over 100 years to a book written by a New Testament scholar named William Wrede.[1] Wrede was trying to understand one of the most noticeable features of Mark’s Gospel. Almost always when Jesus heals someone[2] in Mark’s Gospel or casts out an evil spirit,[3] even when Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah,[4] the Lord commands silence. “Don’t tell anyone; keep this a secret.” Ever since Wrede wrote his book, the messianic secret has been much debated by students of the New Testament.

I called my Lenten sermon series “Hiding in Plain Sight.” I have tried to show that Mark uses the messianic secret motif to describe the way of Jesus, not because it is hard to understand, but because it is hard to live. Jesus’ way is the way of the cross and we can only follow his way if we take up our own crosses. What Jesus did was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head but what it demanded was only obvious to the eyes of faith. That’s why the secret hides in plain sight. So tonight and in the three sermons that follow on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we’re going to see more reactions to the open secret that Jesus’ way is the way of the cross. Tonight we talk about how the secret is denied. Let’s read it in Mark 14.

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters; for it is written,

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though all become deserters, I will not.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But he said vehemently, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And all of them said the same.

Poor old Peter. In some ways he was the hero of the gospels and he was clearly the preeminent disciple. He was Petra — the Rock — upon whom Jesus said he would build his church. (Matthew 16.17-20) He was passionately faithful. Peter also suffered seriously with foot-in-mouth disease. He often said the wrong thing. Or he said the right thing at the wrong time. Or he said the right thing but either denied he said it or didn’t do what he said.

Jesus was quite clear. All this disciples would desert him. His way was the way of the cross and now that crucifixion loomed immediately ahead Jesus knew that none of his closest friends could go the way he had to go. There would be a time, some days hence when Jesus’ friends would see and follow him again — in Galilee — but not now. All will abandon him.

“I will not!” claimed Peter. “Even if I die with you, I will never deny you!”

I was blessed to always be taken to church when I was growing up and I remember trying to learn the difference between denying Jesus, which Peter did, and betraying Jesus, which Judas did. It was confusing to me because actually denial and betrayal are not all that different. But Peter ends up mostly as a good guy and Judas is always just a bad guy. So as a child I learned that denial was not good, but wasn’t real bad whereas betrayal was unforgivable. We’ll talk more about betrayal on Wednesday night.

But tonight we’re looking at Peter’s denial and I want to closely focus not on what Jesus predicted, that Peter would three times deny even knowing Jesus, but on Peter’s emphatic denial that he would deny. I want to focus on that because it shows that Peter was in denial about himself. He didn’t know himself and that’s a serious problem for all of us. Too often we live in denial.

Everyday doctors see people in denial — about their weight, their smoking, their drinking, their exercise or lack thereof. Our spouses and our children and close friends can usually spot our denial although their vision isn’t as acute for seeing their own. It’s easier to see denial in others but it’s in us too. We live in a world of denial.

Over a month ago I read an article in the newspaper and immediately cut it out and stuck in my folder where I was collecting material for this week’s sermons. It was about a state police sergeant named Brian who had been arrested and charged with being an Internet child sexual predator. He was arrested after suggesting a lewd act with someone Brian thought was a 14-year-old boy. In actuality it was an FBI agent running a sting operation to catch sexual predators on the Internet.[5]

The tone of the article suggested how surprising and shocking this was, shocking because Brian had been a stalwart soldier in the war on terrorism. For a time after 9/11 he ran security at Logan Airport. He earned two Bronze Stars in combat duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. For a time he helped train Iraqi police officers in a town outside of Baghdad. The paper wondered how could someone like this do something so despicable?

A little Christian realism helps us not be surprised about this sort of thing. Sin is an equal opportunity employer. It infects all of us — good people, bad people, everybody. When Jesus said, “You will all become deserters,” he was talking about more than the twelve disciples who would abandon him in his final hour. Jesus was in fact talking about the human condition, a condition about which we are often in denial.

We live in a world of denial. Right now major debates are taking place in television news rooms all across the country. There was a time, not that long ago really, when those who reported the weather on local television just needed to look good on camera, banter laughingly with the news anchors, and put a smiley face even on bad weather. Increasingly, however, the weather men and women are trained scientists and expert meteorologists and they know that global warming and climate change are scientific facts. One weather man who works for a FOX affiliate in Miami said, “We have a burden to educate the public about climate change.”

But whenever he or others like him propose talking on air about climate change and global warming, their ideas get shot down by the news directors. “Just say it’s sunny,” they are told to say about global warming. And if they do slip something in about the reality of things, the stations get all kinds of nasty emails and calls because people don’t want to hear anything negative. Although Pete Bouchard, the chief meteorologist at Boston’s NBC affiliate (WHDH-TV) is trying to change things, he says that for most people the weather on TV is still just something that comes before or after the sports.[6] We live in denial.

Of course, there are attempts to overcome our denying ways by saying that we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves. Some of you will remember what was generally called the human potential movement that got much play in the 1960s and 70s.[7] Its mantra was probably the title of a popular book by Dr. Thomas Harris, I’m OK – You’re OK.[8] The point was that a lot of people feel bad about themselves. They carry around a lot of guilt. Many suggested this was the fault of religion, particularly Christianity. A lot of folks still say this.

I think the problem does not have to do with religion in general or Christianity in particular. It really has to do with being in denial about who we are. When Jesus said that everyone would desert him, he wasn’t trying to make his disciples feel bad or guilty. He was trying to help them see the truth. It’s only when we see the truth about ourselves that we can begin to be free. Remember what Jesus said in John’s Gospel: “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Only when we admit that we are in denial, can we see that bigger truth that Jesus died for people who are in denial and he comes alongside of us not to make us feel guilty but to tell us that he loves us. That’s why we gather this night and this week, not to flog ourselves with guilt as if self-flagellation will make us better people. We gather to face truth about ourselves — we are all deserters — and when we face the truth we begin to glimpse the bigger truth that God still loves us and is on our side.

Douglas John Hall is a Canadian theologian, now in this mid-70s, who continues to be most influential on my thinking and believing. In a book he wrote last year, a book that is very personal because it began to be written when he was in a life or death battle with cancer, he tried to talk about why he has given his life to writing and teaching theology. It’s a healthy thing to think about why we have done or do what we do.[9]

He tells how many times over several decades he has met people — young and old, students, clergy, and laity — who tell him how something he wrote was very important to them. To a small degree I can identify because on occasion someone mentions the importance of something I’ve said in a sermon. Dr. Hall says that he is always humanly touched but wants to reply in all honesty and say to these folks, “Yes, but be careful! I am just a human being, “prone to evil and slothful in good,” as the old prayer of confession puts it.

I would echo his thoughts and that is not because he or I feel bad about ourselves. It’s because Jesus tells us that we are all deserters. We all live in denial and only when we begin to see that truth can we start to glimpse the bigger truth of God’s amazing love for us. That’s where we’ll pick things up tomorrow night.

[1] William Wrede, The Messianic Secret, trans. J. C. G. Greig (London: James Clarke & Co., 1971). Wrede’s Das Messiasgeheimnis in Den Evangelien was first published in 1901. For a helpful outline of the messianic secret debate, see http://people.smu.edu/dwatson/messianic_secret_001.htm.

[2] See Mark 1.40-45, 5.21-24, 5.35-43, 7.31-37, and 8.22-26.

[3] See Mark 1.23-28, 1.34, and 3.11.

[4] See Mark 8.29. The transfiguration scene in Mark 9.2-9 is another time when Jesus’ messiahship was revealed but he instructed Peter, James, and John to say nothing.

[5] Shelley Murphy and Raja Mishra, “Papers detail a ‘dark side’.” Boston Globe 28 Feb. 2006: B1.

[6] Linda Baker, “Just say it’s sunny,” www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/04/04/weather, Internet, 4 Mar. 2006. Bouchard, of Boston’s WHDH-TV (NBC) says, “I’d like to be the clearinghouse for information on climate change and other issues. Global warming is the biggest single challenge for our children’s generation, and it is the role of the meteorologist to guide the public through it.” He adds that the challenge will be taking the reins from news reporters, who currently lay claim to anything not covered by a standard weather forecast.

[7] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Potential_Movement, Internet, 8 Apr. 2006. The Human Potential Movement came out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and was formed to promote the cultivation of extraordinary potential believed to be largely untapped in most people. The movement is premised on the belief that through the development of human potential, humans can experience an exceptional quality of life filled with happiness, creativity, and fulfillment. A corollary belief is often that those who begin to unleash this potential will find their actions within society to be directed towards helping others release their potential. The belief is that the net effect of individuals cultivating their potential will bring about positive social change at large.

[8] Thomas A. Harris, I’m OK – You’re OK (New York: Avon, 1976). The books subtitle was “The Transactional Analysis Breakthrough That’s Changing the Consciousness and Behavior of People Who Never Before Felt OK About Themselves.” Harris’ title has mutated into other book titles, many of which seem to converse of what he was trying to say. JacLyn Morris and Paul L. Fair, I’m Right. You’re Wrong. Now What? How to Break Through Any Relationship Stalemate Without Fighting, Folding or Fleeing (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2001). Eleanor Wachtel, I’m Okay, We’re Not So Sure About You (Unknown Binding, 1983). Rose Dorrance Beser, I’m Okay — But You’re Not (New York: Dewey Co., 1993). Susan Jeffers, I’m Okay, You’re a Brat!: Setting the Priorities Straight and Freeing You From the Guilt and Mad Myths of Parenthood (Los Angeles: Renaissance Books, 2001).

[9] Douglas John Hall, Bound and Free: A Theologian’s Journey (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005) 23-24. “For then, with the freedom and inner compulsion that is presupposed by the vocation to write, comes the realization that what one writes will actually be read — by some, at least. And some will take it seriously. Some will actually believe it! Some will make what for them are momentous decisions under the impact, in part, of what one says. And then what? …
“The point is that theologians, like Christians in general, must live with and seek to articulate Truth — living Truth that only rarely can even be glimpsed and never, ever fully capture in concepts and words. And theologians must do this as those who would be teachers of others, guides for the church in its uncertain voyage on the dark waters of time, witnesses to Good News in a world that staggers from one piece of bad news to the next. The theological vocation, then, requires a courage that is more than natural — the courage of being, in Paul’s language, a ‘fool for Christ,’ a courage that darkly suspects, however, that most of the time it is just playing the fool.”