Prayer for Rally
Series Slide
Last year, I read Paulo Coelho’s modern classic, The Alchemist.
I had no idea what an alchemist was before that.
So in the off chance that you’re as ignorant to Alchemy as I am, let me do my best to define and explain it.
Alchemy is the medieval practice of philosophy, magic, and chemistry that is concerned with changing a common substance of little value… into gold. That process is called Transmutation.
Additionally, the alchemist was always in search of “Philosopher’s Stone”, from which he would be able to create the “Elixir of Life”…that would allow the person who drank it to live eternally.
· …and yes, Harry Potter fans, that is the same “Philospher’s Stone”.
While I would not endorse the larger worldview presented in the Alchemist (which is basically “Be True to yourself, Follow Your Dreams”)… there is a part of its storyline that I think is particulary beautiful, and truthful.
It's a story about a teenage shepherd boy from Spain who, after having a recurring dream, goes to see a gypsy fortune-teller who tells him that he wil discover a treasure if he travels to the Egyptian pyramids.
So he begins his quest. Along the way, he meets several interesting people.
One of them is an old King who tells him that everybody has what’s called a “Personal Legend”. Some goal that the universe has destined you to achieve. But in order to pursue his “personal legend” and go to Egypt to recover his treasure he has to sell his sheep, leave all he knows behind and travel into the unknown.
Along the way, he has his money stolen, faces the temptation of settling down into a comfortable money-making job before he reaches the Pyramids, and is nearly murdered by warring tribes in the desert.
He also hears this legend of Alchemy and meets a lot of wannabe alchemists. All these alchemists give him these books that are written in different languages and filled with strange symbols that he couldn’t understand. They all have advice to give him about BEING an alchemist.
But, none of those alchemists have found the Philosphers stone or have ever transmuted anything into gold.
Eventually, the boy finds a real alchemist….
And at first the boy is frustrated with the alchemist…because he doesn’t think he’s learned anything about being an alchemy. He hasn’t learned how to make gold… and he has no clue how to find a Philosopher’s Stone.
So he says to the alchemist..
ALL ON ONE SLIDE
Boy: “You’ve told me nothing along the way. I thought you were going to teach me some of the things you know. A while ago, I rode through the desert with a man who had books on alchemy. But I wasn’t able to learn anything from them.”
The alchemist answers him-
Alchemist: “There is only one way to learn. Its through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.
Boy: “What went wrong when other alchemists tried to make gold and were unable to do so?”
Alchemist: “They were looking only for gold. They were seeking the treasure of their personal legend, without wanting actually to live out the personal legend.”
Seeking the treasure without LIVING OUT the personal legend.
Seeking the treasure, without being willing to embark on the journey.
There is only one way to learn…its through action. Its through movement. Its through a journey.
This shepherd boy was learning from all of these wanna be Alchemists that THE MAIN POINT of being an Alchemist was NOT making gold…OR achieiving eternal life.
The True Alchemist told him…that there is something bigger than finding the elixir of Life…
He taught him that a true Alchemist’s main concern wasn’t the Transmutation of ordinary metals into gold, rather it was the transmutation of ordinary people into extraordinary people.
Title slide- “Seeking Treasure, Forsaking Journey: Why Suffering is a MUST for Transmutation”- Mark 8:27-38
This week, in the gospel of Mark, we are at the hinge, the fulcrum, the turning point on which the whole book shifts.
The first half of the book of Mark has been about Jesus proclaiming and displaying that he is the Messiah, the anointed one, the king, that is going bring this incredible Kingdom.
In other words, for his disciples…that KINGDOM is the treasure. That’s the gold. That’s the Philosphers Stone that brings the elixir of life.
But, what you are about to see, is as soon as they realize that Jesus is a Messiah…he lets them know…”I’m not the sort of Messiah you think I am.”
“Yes, my Kingdom is coming…but not the way you think it is.”
First. There is a journey.
Mark 8:27-38
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
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.”
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Transition: Jesus was not an Alchemist. But he was into Transmutation. He was seeking a treasure through a journey. And all the disciples who wanted to learn from him, well, they could only find their treasure through a journey.
Do you know the difference between a vacation, a trip and a journey?
· In a vacation, you simply escape the normal.
· In a vacation, you have the ideal. In a vacation everything is at perfect rest.
· That’s why after you have kids, you don’t go on vacations anymore…you just take trips.
· You go on a beach TRIP, not a beach vacation. Because you just go exist in another place for a little while and eat at different restaurants.
· A trip just takes all of your normal to another location. You don’t escape it.
· BUT A JOURNEY…a JOURNEY transforms you. A journey is definitely a departure from the normal…
· But see, a journey is not the ideal. And it doesn’t leave you the way you started, because a journey has hardship…suffering…pain.
· A journey changes you…transmutes from an ordinary person…into something golden.
Today, I want to show you the journey that Jesus calls his disciples to.
…so that you can better understand the suffering that is going to you're your way…and also…so you can look at your life…and decide…am I trying to make my life a vacation, a trip…or am I embracing the journey?
1) Your understanding of Messiahship determines your expectations of Discipleship.
· When Peter says to Jesus “You are the Christ.”
· It shows how much Peter has learned.
· He’s caught on that Jesus is the Messiah.
· But when Peter rebukes Jesus after he tells them that he is going to suffer and die.
· It shows how much Peter still has to learn about Jesus.
· V 31-32
· See, Peter would have grown up hearing that the Messiah was supposed to kill, not be killed.
· That the Messiah was supposed to overtake the Jews’ enemies as a powerful military leader…
· …not suffer and die at the hands of his own religious leaders.
· Which is, clearly NOT, what Jesus’ plans are.
· Jesus’ plans’ are to suffere and die…and then resurrect.
· Its understandable that Peter would be confused when Jesus says thist…
· So is Why is Jesus so strong in his rebuke of Peter?
· I mean, he calls him Satan.
Back to 1)
· Well, its because whatever you think the Messiah is about, so goes your expectations of what it means to be a disciple..or a follower of that Messiah.
· And Jesus cares deeply about the KIND of people his disciples turn out to be.
· Let me give you some examples.
· Peter has an understanding that Jesus has come to be a military and political savior.
· That he will rescue the Jewish people from Roman oppression by raising up an army and overpowering the government.
· SOOOO, what does Peter do later when they come to arrest Jesus? He takes out a sword in an effort to defend Jesus and cuts off a Roman guard’s ear.
· He understood Jesus to be the Messiah that was going to stand up to Rome, so that is how he tried to follow Jesus. By protecting him from harm.
· We are guilty of this all the time.
· Think Jesus mainly came to be a moral teacher? Then being a disciple will mainly mean conforming your actions to some moral code.
· Think Jesus is mainly a politician? Then deciding whether you are Republican or Democrat will be essential to what it means to be a Christian.
· Think Jesus is mainly concerned with setting the world straight by disrupting culutural norms? Well, then you are probably going to follow him by doing a lot of culturally upsetting activism and then point to Jesus flipping tables over in the temple as justification.
· Listen, I’m not saying Jesus wasn’t a moral teacher…or that he didn’t say things that challenged the politics of the day…or upset cultural norms…HE ABSOLUTELY DID THOSE THINGS.
· But see, none of those things were the treasure. None of those things were the end. None of those things were the goal.
· Did Jesus triumph over Rome? Yes. That’s why you can pay $10 for tour of the broken down colesium, yet the church goes on.
· But Jesus wasn’t interested in changing what socio-politcial group was running that part of the world…
· …he was interested in changing Peter…and the other disciples…and eventually…you and me.
· He wasn’t focused on transmuting Gold….he was focused on transforming disciples.
· V 29
· That’s why he singled out Peter.
· That’s why he asked him “who do YOU say that I am?”
· Because rightly defining Jesus’ messiahship has EVERYTHING to do with the sort of disciple Peter will become.
· But just because he got the title right- YOU ARE THE CHRIST…doesn’t mean he would understand the journey.
Transition: And that’s why Jesus confronts Peter’s view of suffering. Its out of love. See…
2) Suffering isn’t just the way you find your treasure, it teaches you what the treasure is.
· At the end of the Alchemist, something very strange happens to the boy.
· He makes it to the Pyramids and begins digging for his treasure in the spot he saw in his dream.
· But some thugs find him digging, beat him up, and force him to tell them what he is digging for.
· So the boy, bruised and bleeding tells the thugs, “I had a dream that I’d find treasure here.”
· They laughed at him and forced him to dig more until it was obvious that there was no treasure there.
· Then they stole what little gold he had and left him for dead.
· But one of the thugs came back and said…
· “Listen, kid, you are going to survive this and learn a valuable lesson. See, two years ago I had a recurrent dream like you did. It told me that I should travel across the desert to Spain and there, I would find a treasure at the base of a sycamore tree tree growing out of the ruins of an old church. But see, I’m not so stupid as to cross an entire desert because of a recurring dream.”
· The thing is…what that thug described in his dream…well, that old abandonded church was the boy’s home. Its where he started.
· All along, the treasure he was seeking, was right under his feet. He didn’t have to cross the desert. He didn't have to wrestle with temptation. He didn’t have to go through the pain of the journey.
· So he goes home and as he digs up the treasure… he prays a little prayer. He asks God a question.
· He says, “[All along], you knew the whole story. You knew where the treasure was. Couldn’t you have saved me from all the pain I went through?”
· And he hears a voice say, “No, If I had told where the treasure was, you would have never seen the Pyramids. They’re beautiful aren’t they?”
· Here’s the interesting thing. In the boy’s journey, he meets a girl named “Fatima”. He falls in love with her, and promises after he finds his treasure that he’ll return to her.
· …and you know how the book ends?
· With these words.
· “I’m coming, Fatima”
· Do you know what happened to that shepherd boy? The journey…his suffering…changed what he valued.
· If he would have found the buried treasure without the journey…he would have stayed right where he was. He would have taken a lot of vacations…but never a journey.