What do people want?

What questions are people asking?

As a teacher I learned that until I answer the question that YOU have, you have a difficult time listening to what I am saying.  You get stuck on that question; it becomes a block to further enlightenment.  Once it's answered you can go again.

I remember a cartoon from a long time ago where one character was carrying a sign which said 'Jesus is the answer.'  In the next frame, another character has a sign which reads, 'What was the question?'

So it is important to answer the questions that folks are asking, which has a great deal with what folks truly want.  I made a list:  folks want life to be a little easier, to have their struggles have some meaning or purpose, to have their suffering acknowledged or mourned or at least to have someone walk with them through it all.   People would like good to be rewarded and evil punished.  People want to both be loved and feel loved.  They would like to be blessed (however they might define that). *

All of this is background to Sunday's gospel reading (Mark 8.27-33) which is a pivotal text in Mark's telling of the gospel story.  It begins with Jesus asking, "Who do people say that I am?"

It is important for people to understand what they are looking for when they turn to Jesus and call him Lord, or Son of God, or Savior.  In this text, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that his definition of Messiah, Anointed One, includes more than just healing and teaching and extra bread.  It includes suffering, rejection and a cross. 

If you are looking for daisies and roses, then this Jesus just won't do.  It is best to get that straight right up front, because from this point on, the pressure is on and the cross is on the horizon.


*When I consider folks who seem to embody evil, who do horrific things to one another, I wonder if a list like the one above is too 'pollyanna'. Do these folks want the same things? How do these folks end up consumed by such a destructive force that they are dangerous to themselves and others? Have these folks been so crushed by this world that they can only crush it back?