Today I talk about platypi. Platypuses? Platypus? Platitude? Plongitude?
Mark 8:31-38; Romans 4:13-25; Psalm 22:23-31; Genesis 17:1-7,15-16
One of my favorite animals is the Platypus. It’s … well, to be honest a Platypus is a weird animal. It looks a little like an otter, but with the tail of a beaver and a bill that looks like a duck’s. It has webbed feet, and it’s body temperature is about 10 degrees cooler than your average mammal. While it has a few of the characteristics that define it a mammal, it also has a different kind of jaw, extra bones that most mammals don’t have, and it lays eggs. Platypuses are also venomous, something incredibly uncommon among mammals, and have a manner of electro location not unlike certain kinds of fish.
When the platypus was first described in 1798, a number of prominent scientists of the time were convinced that the animal was a hoax, one even went so far as to look for stitches in the pelt that was sent back to England from Australia. And yet, though there was much doubt, the Platypus is a real animal, and now no-one doubts is existence.
In the same way, when Jesus’ disciples heard what he was going to do — that he must “suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again” — the disciples were somewhat understandably doubtful. Just like “everyone knew” that an animal couldn’t have a duck-like bill, lay eggs, and yet look like a beaver/otter, “everyone knew” that the Messiah wasn’t going to be killed. If he was it would kind of defeat the point.
The expectation around the Messiah at that time was that he would show up and basically lead an armed rebellion against the Romans, re-establishing the Davidic dynasty that was his birthright, and setting up a new Jewish “Golden Age” of enlightened, theocratic self-rule. It’s a nice image really, and it would definitely appeal to an oppressed people yearning for freedom from foreign rule.
But, as we know now, that wasn’t what Jesus was about. The real mission of the Messiah was so disconnected from their expectations that in a way, Peter would have felt compelled to call Jesus out on it. It would have sounded absolutely absurd! Of course, that just led to Peter himself being rebuked with the words, “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then Jesus offers a little teaching: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
If that doesn’t make you shudder, you’re not paying attention. The last thing I would ever want is for God to be ashamed of me. Now, American culture doesn’t think about shame very well; we’re primarily what is called a “guilt culture.” What this basically means is that if we do something wrong, we feel a sense of personal guilt over what happened. It is assumed that people have an inherent sense of right and wrong, and when a person does wrong they know it. An individual is expected to make the “good” decision, and if they do not, then the person is made to feel “guilty” about it.
This contrasts with what is referred to as a “shame culture”. Shame cultures are based around not living up to the expectations of others; instead of an inherent individual sense of morality, it’s more like a number of cultural standards one is to live up to, and failing to do so hurts not just the individual, but the individual’s community. In a shame culture, the ultimate punishment (and therefore the ultimate deterrent to bad behavior) is forcible removal from the community.
This is the kind of situation Jesus is describing. To paraphrase a bit, “Anyone who wants to follow me should be willing to die like I will. You may be able to save your own skin by not following me, but if you go that way, be warned: if you act like I don’t exist in this life, I’ll act like you don’t exist in the next.”
Jesus sets up an expectation of us that is difficult in its very simplicity: to do as He does. It’s contrary to our sinful nature to act this way; our internal “moral compass” that we gained by disobediently eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil tells us to follow ourselves, not someone else. And yet the consequence of not following is clear: eternal ostracism from God.
Jesus isn’t calling us down an easy road. Our Old and New Testament readings both point to Abraham as an example of faithfully following God, but his life was anything but easy. So it is for us. We may have struggles in this life, we may be called to carry our own crosses as we follow Jesus, but following Jesus is also better than anything we can imagine otherwise.