Lent 2, 2024
Mark 8:27-38
“Our best laid plans”
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
(Sermon may be viewed with the entirety of service here)
How many of you like to take vacations? Do you like to “play it by ear” or “plan everything in finest detail?” Regardless of your preferred method…there is always some kind of a plan even if your plan is no plan at all. Often plans don’t go they way you expect them…maybe especially with children.
I remember taking a vacation with Alicia and the boys to Florida in January a number of years ago. Alicia was standing up in the wedding of a very good friend. There was quite a bit of planning that needed to be done. We were both working, we needed to have everything little boys would need on the trip, rental car, hotel, plane tickets, a substitute pastor, making sure everything was ready at church for when I was gone. Lot’s of planning.
What I didn’t have planned? A snowstorm in Chicago the day we were supposed to come home. The room keys were returned. The rental car was returned. Alicia, the boys, and I were walking into the main terminal. Many flights were already canceled. Our still showed “on time.” Everything was going as planned. I used the restroom came out and “DELAYED.” Ugh. We got to check in. “CANCELED.” Now what? You can leave tomorrow on separate flights. Umm… No. You can spend several more days here. We can’t. They finally had a plan for us. We had to stay overnight. When you’re picking a discounted hotel room in Tampa…pick the nice hotel! Don’t pick the cheapest option. I won’t get into details of the location, the area, or the introduction to Palmetto bugs and lizards I had inside our room at the crack of dawn. Nor will I remember having to call the Circuit Visitor and saying “I need another sub for church tomorrow…we are stuck in Florida!”
My best laid plans had not heard of Murphy’s laws. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. We were safe. We did make it home. It was a headache. It was a long day. But God provided.
“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mark 8:31-33)
Murphy’s laws don’t apply to God. God’s plans are perfect. God’s plans are not our plans. And sometimes we don’t like that. Peter didn’t like God’s plan. The Disciples had it in their heads what this Messiah and Salvation plan should look like. It didn’t include anything about Jesus suffering and dying. It didn’t include the suffering and dying he and the other disciples would face in the future either. So when Jesus talks about this plan…Peter rebukes Jesus.
What about our plans? Do we ever rebuke Jesus in our own right? Its far more than planning a vacation. How is your life going? Is it going according to your plans? Do you have the perfect job? Perfect house? Car? Salary? Spouse? Children? Is your dream life going as planned?
And when it doesn’t go as planned do you question God? Do you question His plan? Do you act like Peter and tell God: “No thanks Lord…I’ve got this handled?” or “God, you have a pretty good plan…but I know how to make it better.” Or maybe you just blame God for the problems that have occurred to your plan.
Whether you want to say it out loud…whether you want to admit it or not…I know the answer is yes…because I have to answer yes as well. I have questioned they why’s to many of the plans I have had that didn’t go according to the way I wanted them. I have questioned why God did or didn’t do what I thought He should do. When my brother and parents died, when we received different diagnoses for Aaron’s behavior, when my wife was diagnosed with cancer. None of these were part of my plan. And yes, in my sinfulness, I have questioned God as to why they happen.
And when I questioned God…when I had the urge to pass blame upon him… I have been crushed by the words He spoke to Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mark 8:33)
Murphy’s laws can often be true…because sin is true. Sin corrupts us, the world, and everything in it. We live with sickness and disease, heartache and troubles, pain and suffering all because of sin. Our plans fail because of sin.
So what happens next? What happens when we bear the burden of sin. What happens when our sinfulness is rebuked by God? God provides.
God provides us with people who love us and support us; people who let us lean on them and lift us up. God provides His people with many talents to help us in our needs. God provides us with all that we need in this world…and even provides us with many of our wants. Most importantly God provides us with a Savior who took our sin upon himself on the cross that we would be covered in His righteousness.
We are reminded by last week’s Hymn of the Day “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” “And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife, though these all be gone, our victory has been won; The kingdom ours remaineth.”
Though sin wreaks hell in this world; in our lives and in the lives of those we love…we are victorious in Christ. God’s plan was to send a Savior. God’s plan is for us to live with Him in paradise with all the saints that have died before us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
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