But there is more to be noted about the context of this incident. Up to this point the gospel has been chiefly about a whole series of miracles, both healing and nature miracles where the central issue for the disciples and the reader is the identity of Jesus. Over the summer we have had various sermons on the stilling of the storm and Jesus walking on the water; on the feeding of the 5000; on the healing of the Gerasene demoniac and the raising of the little girl from the dead. As has been commented many times these incidents are not simply miracles for miracles sake but rather signs that the Creator God is present in the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. After all Mark made it clear to us the readers in chapter 1 that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

We know Jesus' identity because we stand on the other side of the Resurrection. But the disciples are slow to understand who Jesus is. To make the point even clearer Mark “bookends” this quite long section of the gospel which runs through to his arrival in Jerusalem with two healings of the blind. Just before today's passage Mark gives the account of the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. This healing takes place in two parts. Jesus at first anointed his eyes with saliva which gave the man partial vision (“I can see people but they look like trees walking”). Then Jesus lays his hands on the man's eyes and we are told “his sight was restored and he saw clearly”. The healing of Blind Bartimaeus stands at the other end of the long section. There Bartimaeus' sight is restored and “he followed Jesus on the way.” In other words he became a disciple. These two healings of blind people provide a paradigm for what is about to take place at Caeserea Philippi. Jesus there asked the disciples what others said about his identity. They were quick to respond. It is always easier to say what other people think. But Jesus then tosses the hard ball, “but who do you say I am?” It reminds me of being in a tutorial and being questioned by the tutor. You attempt to show how much you have read by quoting everyone else's opinions until you are stopped by the tutor who says “Yes I know all that; I have read the standard texts also. But what do you think?

Peter, bless his heart, eagerly replied correctly “You are the Messiah”. Peter gets it like “a hole in one”.

Unlike the same incident in Matthew Jesus did not applaud Peter's insight with a “Blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah” not even a pat on the back. In keeping with the Messianic secret theme in Mark Jesus counseled keeping this insight quiet and proceeded to predict his own Passion, Death and Resurrection (the first of these predictions in the gospel). To which Peter responded by taking Jesus aside and rebuking him. Peter simply could not comprehend how the Messiah could so suffer and die.

Jesus responded with a stern rebuke addressed to Peter and all the disciple “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on divine things but on human things.”

What this reminds me of immediately is Peter's response to the Transfiguration which we celebrated last month. You will remember there that Peter wanted to build shrines to contain the vision on the mountain. Whereas the divine voice focused on Jesus and the disciples were left with Jesus only who took them down the mountain into all the messiness going on below with the disciples unable to cope with the boy with the demon. As I said on Transfiguration you cannot short circuit the way to glory. The way of Jesus, the way to glory, includes the way of the cross, which ultimately leads to glory by way of the Resurrection.

Like the man who is healed of his blindness in two parts or phases so Peter and the disciples come to faith gradually. Peter is right in identifying Jesus as the Messiah but cannot comprehend the nature of that Messiahship. So Jesus says to Peter and indeed to all the disciples (note “But turning and looking at his disciples”) “Get behind me”. Don't stand in my way. In other words “Follow me.” Follow in my way, the way of the cross. Not the human way but the divinely ordained way. This is the shape of the Journey of Faith which Jesus proceeds to teach in the following verses and indeed in this whole secion including the Transfiguration.

This tough teaching about denying oneself and taking up one's cross and following Jesus is prefaced by some inclusive words: “Jesus called the crowd with his disciples”. In other words Jesus calls everybody who seeks to follow him including us. We too are challenged as to what it is to follow Jesus. And like the disciples in the gospel passage we too know that faith rarely if ever comes all at once. Rather like the blind man in the passage preceding today's gospel the journey of faith is more commonly a gradual one. May be we have had some really powerful experience at some stage in our lives that gave us a really good start on the journey. Maybe it has been more like a slow awakening over many years. Maybe we have had strong experiences of faith which have faded a bit over the years. But still we journey with Jesus. That is why we are here.

I want to say a little bit about “taking up the cross”. I love art of all sorts as most of you know. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to visit a gallery to look at pictures. On Friday I spent a happy time visiting the new William Blake exhibition at the Morgan Library. But sometimes art drives me crazy! Last year Marble Collegiate over the road installed a new stained glass window facing Fifth Avenue which is back lit at night very effectively. It was installed to honor Arthur Calliandro who was retiring after a long and distinguished ministry there. The window is entitled “Christ in the city” which is fair enough for a city church. Sure enough if you strain you eyes you can see the vague outline of the Empire State building in the murky background. What it really looks like is Jesus standing in a bed of roses! That plus the fact that Marble has no cross in the church makes me wild. The Jesus we meet in the Gospels; the Jesus in the Catholic creeds; the Jesus proclaimed by St Paul is always Jesus Crucified and Risen. It is not the feel good, positive Jesus; Jesus in a bed of roses!

So Jesus continues with this powerful teaching “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 and forfeit their life?” Here Jesus repeatedly uses the word “life” (in Greek “psyche”) which means both life here and now as well as life in the eternal sense. That is why in the last verse in today's gospel Jesus touches on the Son of Man coming in Glory to judge the world. In other words discipleship is ultimately about gaining eternal life, life with God. What is left out in today's reading is the next verse which makes sense of the passage: “And he said to them, Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.” Allowing for the emphatic exaggeration, Jesus drives home the point that our following him in the way is about our journey to the Kingdom of Heaven. That is our true destination as people of faith.

Today as every day we journey together in faith as a happy band of pilgrims. We gather in faith Sunday by Sunday to affirm our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus, crucified and risen and to share in the eucharistic food of his body and blood to assist us in our journey.