Double Talk, by Daniel H. Kuhn, Jr. 15060917 
James 3:1-12 and Mark 8:27-38
Elon Community Church, United Church of Christ, 17 September, 2006


The Psalter reading today is Psalm Nineteen. From that psalm, I pray this prayer, “Let the words of 
my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.1 

A number of years ago, I was fortunate to be able to visit Israel. From the Sea of Galilee, we rode 
North about two hours through the village of Kiryat Shemona. We began to wind our way high up into 
the mountains. On the peaks of Mt. Hermon, we could see snow. Our bus finally came to a stop at the 
sight of the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi. The hills around were a lush green. The amazing thing, 
though, was to see the huge river of rushing water. 

This river did not have tributaries flowing into it. There was a rock wall– a steep-sided mountain. 
The water just poured out of the rocks in the ground. Here was a gushing spring, there was a gushing 
spring. It all came together and formed a mighty river. This was the source of the river of Jordan, a river 
of life in a dry and barren land. 

Caesarea Philippi is high on a mountain and overlooks the valleys below. It has a commanding view 
of southern Lebanon, Syria, and Northern Israel. It was at this spot where Peter made his great confession 
of faith in Jesus: “You are the Messiah” the “anointed one” the “Christ,” the “Savior.” Peter’s confession 
is the basis of our own confession of faith, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, 
and I accept him as my savior.” 

The conversation began with Jesus’ asking a simple question: “Who do people say that I am?” The 
disciples responded, “some say ‘John the Baptist;’ and others, ‘Elijah;’ and still others, ‘one of the 
prophets.’” 

The conversation began with that simple question, but it ended with Jesus’ telling the disciples to 
deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him. Who do you say Jesus is? This sounds like an 
easy enough question. We know what we were taught, but who is Jesus really, to you? 

Be careful! To confess Jesus as messiah means following him to the cross. To “take up your cross” 
does not mean you go to the jewelry store and buy a pretty cross to pin on your clothes or wear around 
your neck. 

To “take up your cross” does not mean you have some burden in life to share. “Oh, this bum knee, 
that’s just my cross to bear in life.” 

“Oh, my husband, he’s my cross to bear.” 

Those are not what Jesus meant. We all have unpleasant things to bear in life. Taking up the cross of 
Jesus is a choice to follow Jesus to an ignominious end. It means giving up your life so that the poor, the 
lost, and the hopeless can have life abundantly. 

“Deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me,” said Jesus. That is not easy for us to do. It is 
difficult to think of others before thinking of the self, especially in our Western culture. 
Besides, we do not have many true Christian role models to follow. Mother Theresa died nine years ago 
September 5. 

There is a sort of double talk when it comes to being a Christian. If I were to rely on television and 
the popular books about Christianity, I would understand that to be a Christian, I will be able to wear the 
latest fashions, I will be blessed with lots of money, and I will be a success. According to Joel Osteen, I 
will live in health, abundance, and victory. And of course, I will be raptured up at a particular given 
moment, leaving my uncontrolled car careening into others to cause death and destruction. 

Is that what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and 
follow me.”? Too much “Christian” speech is double talk: meaningless gibberish coming out of the 
mouths of wealthy powerful men looking for ways to keep their wealth and their power. They confess 

1

Psalm 19:14 


that Jesus is their savior, but then curse a woman who has to make a difficult choice about bringing 
another baby into the world, curse a poor jobless person who can’t pull himself up by his own bootstraps, 
and curse the earth and air by objecting against putting pollution scrubbers on factory smokestacks. 

Too much our time and energy in church has been wasted on arguing about abortion, homosexuality 
and stem cell research. Those issues weren’t important to Jesus. Jesus was concerned about the poor, the 
widowed and orphaned, and the quality of life of children. We need to be more involved in achieving 
peace, ending poverty, and saving the environment. 

According to Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, “climate change is 
the moral issue of our day.”2 If we, you and I, don’t do more to conserve energy, and to make our auto 
manufacturers adhere to higher gasoline mileage standards, I don’t know what kind of earth our children 
and grandchildren will inherit. There is incontrovertible evidence that glaciers in Alaska are receding at a 
rate as never before. Google “Alaska glaciers” and check out the USGS website with its photos of 
retreating glaciers. Greenland's glaciers are sliding towards the sea much faster than previously believed, 
scientists have told a conference in St Louis, US.3 The amount of ice dumped into the Atlantic Ocean has 
doubled in the last five years. And we are not alarmed enough about this phenomenon to put a stop to 
global warming. You and I are called to be stewards of this earth that God created. 

Remember that Jesus’ work was with the poor, the lame, the widows. Today, Jesus would be with 
Sudanese refugees, and with the welfare mother who’s trying to scrape by to support her children, 
without getting involved in illegal activity. 

Is Jesus your Messiah? — The one sent by God to give life. The question comes, though, how can 
we confess with our tongues Jesus as the Messiah, and with the same tongues, disparage other human 
beings? The author of the book of James wrote about the power of the tongue. It’s like the rudder on a 
ship. Rudder is relatively small, but it can steer the course a huge ship.4 The tongue is rather small, 
compared to the rest of the body, but it has a lot of power. 

Double talk: Meaningless speech that consists of nonsense syllables mixed with intelligible words; 
gibberish. “I love Jesus” says one bumper sticker, while the other one says, “My kid beat up your honor 
student.” That’s double talk. James says, “With [the tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we 
curse those who are made in the likeness of God.5 

Human beings are made in the image of God. How can we praise God, but with the same tongue, 
curse any human being, because humans are made in God’s image? That’s double talk. 
James doesn’t really offer any solutions to the problem. Perhaps we ought to consider simply keeping our 
mouths shut! Perhaps we ought to consider leading a life like Mother Teresa did: 
“Just do it!” 

Who do you say Jesus is? Take up your cross and follow him. If you confess Jesus as Messiah, it 
means following him to the death. The only way to the resurrection of Easter is the cross. There is no 
easy peaceful way of avoiding conflict if we take up Jesus’ cross. 

Our confession of faith in Jesus will be to us as that gushing river flowing out of the rock at Caesarea 
Philippi: a gushing spring, a river of life in a barren land. We will be able to carry life to those around us: 
to make the world green and lush. 

2

Christian Century, September 5, 2006, page 15 

3

BBC News 16 Feb., 2006 

4

James 3:4 

5

James 3:9