Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38, Psalm 22:22-30

One of the parables we discussed for our Lenten study on Wednesday night was the parable of the mustard seed.  The parable teaches us that we should not underestimate the potential of the mustard seed, which Jesus reminds us will grow into a shrub providing shelter for the birds.  We learn that faith as tiny as a mustard seed will move mountains. 

But, too often, just as we underestimate the potential of the mustard seed, so we underestimate the power of God.  We make God a small god who resides comfortably within our expectations.

The God of the book of Genesis is not a small god of comfort zones.  In our Old Testament lesson from Genesis, we learn of the covenant established with Abraham This covenant includes God’s pledge to Abram symbolized in the changing of Abram’s name to Abraham.  In exchange for Abraham’s commitment of faith, God pledges to make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations.  It’s a great account of the power of our awesome God.

From this morning’s lesson, we learn that Abraham, now at the age of ninety-nine, and his wife Sarah would give birth to a son.  Jumping way ahead with our story, this son, Isaac, would father the twins Esau and Jacob.  Jacob would become the father of twelve sons and be given the name Israel.  Thus, Abraham’s progeny would become the chosen people of the one God.  From the people of Israel, as God promises in our lesson this morning, kings would come, most notably, King David, and, generations after that, the Messiah.  Yes, this God of Abraham is the same God who, centuries later, sent his Son to live among us in human form and to die for us on the cross.  This God is no small god.  This is not a God who is satisfied to remain in our comfort zone.

This is the message that Peter is beginning to discover in our Gospel lesson.  In this morning’s lesson from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus rebukes Peter essentially, we could say, for making God too small.  As we do too often, Peter would like to keep the status quo – to stay with what is familiar.  Peter is setting his mind on human things rather than divine things.  Peter joined up for the disciple piece, but the cost has become suddenly fearsome with the mention of suffering and death.  Wouldn’t it be better to “lay low” for awhile and let some of this controversy with the religious leaders pass over.  That’s what a small god would do.  But, Jesus recognizes Satan’s role in using Peter to keep God too small – and he rebukes Satan’s exploitation of Peter’s fear of the unknown as he shouts the order, “Get behind me, Satan!”

We, too, make God too small.  We make God too small when we keep him at a distance through our own misconception that we know what is best for us and that we can carry on through the day without acknowledging our dependence on God and without seeking God’s guidance from the minute we open our eyes at the dawn of each new day.  Would you head out into a snowstorm without a coat? 

We make God small when we ignore his presence in the noise and in the silence and in the eyes of a stranger, or a hurting family member, or a difficult co-worker.  

We make God small when we neglect to pray for the people in our lives who are difficult to love and neglect to pray for our enemies who seek to destroy us.  We make God small when we discount God’s ability to bring peace to our daily relationships, peace in the face of violence and death in our schools and neighborhoods, peace to the entirety of our war-ravaged world. 

We make God small when we refuse to acknowledge that the anger we carry in our hearts destroys us from within.  Thus, we fail to acknowledge that the only way to be fully forgiven of our sins against God and our neighbor is to forgive those who have sinned against us fully and completely.  A wound that heals on the outside continues to fester underneath.  This may or may not include resuming the relationship. 

We make God small when we dismiss our responsibility as his own children by not looking at our own hands and hearts as the hands and hearts through which God brings healing to the world. 

We love our comfort zone, our routine lives in which we define our little God on our own terms.  Would Jesus say to us as he said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things but human things.”  How and when does Satan exploit our fear of the unknown just as he did Peter’s?

Satan veils our better judgment.  We can pass laws against weapons on school property and elsewhere; we can require our school officials and protective services to profile, evaluate, and report high-risk behavior from the children they are charged to educate and protect.  But, we cannot legislate against the anger that wells up inside these maligned young people who choose a shooting rampage to assuage their pent up bitterness.  And, we cannot legislate against the brokenness of the dysfunctional home life that allows these young people to slip through the cracks and become murderers. 

When we hide behind our fears, the murder rate grows among our youth on the streets of our cities and in the “safe zones” of our schools.  When we hide behind our fears and deny that, for each of us, our first and most necessary action is dependence on God to guide us in intervening in the lives of broken children, we make our God small.  Standing back and casting blame only exacerbates this critical issue; we are not people of a God who is too small to rescue wayward children.  It is up to us to recognize our dependence on God’s guidance for every thought, word, and action in the lives of our children.  We cannot stop trying even when the task is monumental and so many seem so hopeless.

In the name of the Church, you are invited to the observance of a holy Lent.  This road to the cross is not in our comfort zone.  For every breath and for every step along the way, we will keep our focus on God and his Son Jesus Christ through prayer, Bible study, worship, and taking up the cross of Christ through the sharing of his suffering in our society.  You see, we cannot rejoice and sing Alleluia at the Resurrection if we have not stood at the foot of the cross, confessed our sins, and watched our savior suffer and die all because we neglectfully make our God a small god.