Of Pisces and Misunderstanding - Mark 8:31-38

When I was in college I used to wear a fish pin on the lapel of my denim (ugh!) suit. I wore it as a faith symbol, as in icthus, the English transliteration of the Greek initial letters for Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. So, imagine my disappointment when someone came up to me and commented, "Nice Pisces pin!" Never having been much of a fan of, or believer in the signs of the Zodiac, I was heartsick. I took the pin off the lapel and never wore it again. Fortunately, I also stopped wearing that denim suit not long after that. The whole incident got me to thinking about how easy it is to wear a pin which represents some aspect of one's faith, and how difficult it is to explain that faith. I was caught off-guard by the astrological reference and was probably less than graceful in my explanation of my rationale for wearing the fish pin.
We are much more comfortable sometimes with bumper stickers than we are with the real message of our faith. Lent is our reminder that some folks would consider the central tenet of our faith to be somewhat un-pretty. In Mark's gospel, Jesus states that those who follow him should be ready to surrender all, including their lives. Peter did not care for that interpretation, and made his displeasure known. Apparently, Peter did not care for the return he was getting on his emotional and spiritual investment. He had hoped that there would be something more akin to the Jesus Christ Superstar mode of messiah. We resist the thought that discipleship must necessarily be costly. But that costly discipleship has an up side. Bishop Ken Carder has stated that "by following a crucified Christ, we can face our own vulnerability." We don't like being vulnerable if we can avoid it. It is easier to have one's guard up and at the ready, because we don't want others to see the uncertainty of our faith that we see daily. If only we could take comfort in the knowledge that God not only knows of our uncertainties and secret suffering, but God is a "fellow sufferer who understands" in the words of Alfred North Whitehead. Then we would have nothing to hide. I remember feeling somewhat sheepish at having to explain the real meaning of my lapel fish. I no longer feel embarrassed at revealing myself as a person of faith. Instead, I feel a great responsibility to get the message right. Thanks be to God that God knows me well enough to encourage me, even when I stumble over the explanation.