Journey to the Cross

Pause

How do you know whom to believe? How do you know what to believe? We hear lots of competing claims for truth these days.

As Christians we claim to follow the one who is “the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)

Today, hear God’s promises as the honest truth, the real truth, the most trustworthy truth.

Listen

Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: “The Human One must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the legal experts, and be killed, and then, after three days, rise from the dead.” He said this plainly. But Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him. Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then sternly corrected Peter: “Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

Mark 8:31-33

Think

Here we are again, faced with a decision. Jesus is teaching the disciples a hard lesson, that he will be rejected and will suffer. They don’t want to hear it because they cannot understand how this kind of suffering will become life-giving to all creation. Jesus is talking about advanced calculus, and they’re operating out of fifth grade math. They don’t have the eyes of faith to see or hear what Jesus is teaching.

Jesus sternly rebukes Peter for thinking of “human thoughts” rather than “God’s thoughts.” Often, we are not able to hear or accept God’s truth because it falls outside the range of what we think is possible. We are limited by human understanding or human imagination. Following Jesus requires us to imagine the unimaginable and to believe that things don’t have to stay the way they are right now. Once we believe God can do something new, then we can join in that work.

Mark Wingfield

Pray

God of unimaginable ways, I don’t always understand what you are doing. Sometimes I just don’t get it. Sometimes I’m in denial. Give me more faith to imagine and believe, so that I can catch wind of your ways and join in what you’re doing. Amen.

Go

Go, empowered by the real truth of God’s promises and commit to be a truth-teller yourself.

Go in peace, live in truth.