(A sermon for Mark 8:31-38 Presented at Christ Christ, Bordentown, NJ, February 24-25, 2024)

I feel lucky today because I get to tell a sermon about one of my favorite questions asked in the Gospels, “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” And also because the same Gospel reading contains another passage that I adamantly question how it’s interpreted.

But before we get to all that, let’s first focus on the fact that Jesus is asking a question. According to the author, Martin Copenhaver, in his book, “Jesus is the Question”, Jesus himself asks 307 different questions in the Gospels. Whereas he is only asked 183.

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Some might say that a leader who asks a lot of questions, is either not qualified or is just being a jerk_ and testing you to see what you know. Both could be true, but good leaders have a skill of leading with questions_ and then telling with kindness. This teaches a person to be curious and not assumptive _ to question yourself as to what you think you know _ and to question what else you need to learn. 

In Jesus’ case, some of his questions come with immediate answers. But this question does not.                    

So, what does that mean _ “gain the whole world and lose one’s life?”

For starters, what is life? They say that bread is life. Life is hard. Life is like a bowl of cherries, or a box of chocolates. Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.

Idioms aside, life is probably the only thing that you really have.

But one might ask in response_ “Paul, what about the fine church garments you’re wearing, or what about your incredibly large (and awesome) record collection, or the house you live in? Don’t you have all of those?” True, I have all three.

But they are just things. Things that I have _ that come along with me. But they are not my life. I could give up all three as well as every other thing, and I would still be left with the one thing that I truly have … me.          

I can buy all those other things again. But I can never buy one more me. The me that I was given by the grace of God.

So, the question seems to be how much do you obtain, buy, or gather before the scale tips and your life is secondary to all these things you’ve obtained? So much so that you lose sight of your own self.

I say “the question seems to be” because I wasn’t there when Jesus asked this question and there’s no recorded answer. So how can I know for sure? And what makes me so unsure?

What makes me so unsure is because God made humans to be a curious bunch. He made us to question everything in search of finding answers. This is why sometimes we progress and create amazing inventions_ or sometimes we’re just obnoxious_ or sometimes we just spin in place trying to figure it all out. Or sometimes we turn that curiosity too far toward obtaining more things, believing and hoping that that’s what makes a better life.

Thus, our curious nature can cause misalignment at times, sometimes for good, sometimes not so good.

Which brings me back to the beginning of the sermon when I said there was a part of the Bible that I question the way it’s interpreted. The verse “And Peter took [Jesus] and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, [Jesus] rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men.” The common thought is Jesus is calling Peter Satan.

But what if instead Jesus is really talking to Satan who may be actually present and influencing Peter to act stupidly? When I first read this many years ago, I thought Jesus was talking to Satan. And I still do.

So there you have it. I’m questioning how this is interpreted and my questioning has led me to believe a difference. Thus, I’m not in alignment with the widely viewed interpretation and I’m spreading my misalignment with you.

I’m not telling you this so that you agree with me but to show that curiosity of scripture is OK, and in hopes that you’ll be curious and question me back. After all, we’re only humans.

So hopefully you appreciate the scope of this sermon:

(1) _ Life is the only thing you truly have, don’t give it up in place of a bunch of things.

(2) _ It’s OK to question everything…even God _ because he made us to be that way _ and it helps us to learn more about God and become closer to God when we ask questions.

Lastly, think about the fact that Jesus is teaching us by asking us questions in the Scriptures. He wants us to design our lives around love, worship, and faith. He wants us to read scriptures and find ourselves in them.

But He wants us to continue questioning just like He does to us.

And when you think of the word “question” … think of the first part of that word_ quest.

He wants us to go on this quest. He wants us to have the lives He gave us, and feel and say “I feel lucky today” because we’re on this quest with Him,    and because you are you, and God loves you for being you _  the curious questioning creature that you are.

Amen.