Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our rock and our redeemer.
Amen
In every thing about God is…. good, faithful, and just. In every thing God is love and graceful, forgiving and caring…. In every thing God is patient and long suffering, and his mercy endures forever
Most people react to the Cross of Jesus Christ in a negative fashion; they recognize the face of suffering and of death in the cross and so, even when they know about the Resurrection, they want to avoid all talk about the cross. Most people, in other words, react to the cross like the Apostle Peter reacted to Jesus when he spoke for the first time to the disciples about what was going to happen to him.
We hear those words in verse 31 of today's reading:
Jesus began to teach his disciples saying: "the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again."
"What is this" - Peter must have thought. "A good man - an innocent man -a man of faithfulness - a man who is my friend - must suffer and then be killed!"
Peter felt that this was wrong! And so he argued with Jesus!
We read in verse 32 that he took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him - and while we do not know what he said, we can well imagine it - can't we? Don't talk this way Jesus - it's wrong! No one who is good should have to suffer.
God rewards the righteous and punishes sinners, and you – you Jesus - you are not a sinner! You are the messiah - the promised saviour of Israel. You should not have to suffer, you should not be rejected and killed!
But Jesus - as we read in verse 33, looked at Peter and the other disciples and then he rebuked Peter, saying to him: You are not thinking like God, You are in fact speaking like Satan would speak -trying to get me to avoid what I must do, trying to corrupt me into thinking only of myself and my own survival.
Jesus turns back to the disciples and to the people assembled there with him and says: If anyone would come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their crosses and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.
We don’t know how the disciples reacted, but we do know that the early church took these words of our Lord very seriously - so much so that they were willing to die for their faith. But what about us today? What do Jesus' words: "If anyone would come after me, they must deny themselves and take up their crosses and follow me", really mean for us who want to be his followers?
I believe that it is fair to say that most of us are not called upon to suffer and die for what we do in Christ's name today. While in some parts of the world people are being killed because of their faith in Christ - because of their belief in the liberating word of God, most of us are not called upon to make this sacrifice.
So what does denying ourselves and taking up our crosses and following Jesus entail for us? Well - it involves primarily how and why we make our daily choices. It involves whether or not we choose things on the basis of what is convenient and easy and self-serving or on the basis of what is right and good and loving.
What does it mean for us seating here this morning? To take up one's cross here means to forget one's own opinions about things and about people, to forget one's own righteousness and goodness, and to do what Christ would have done, to do what he did on the way to the cross, and take into one's arms all the lost and lonely little ones and to bless them.
It is so simple - yet it can be even harder to do than to actually die for Jesus. To die for Christ we see is relatively easy -- the issues in the case of being told you will be killed if you continue to worship Jesus and to tell others about him are pretty clear.
But to simply be in a situation where we must choose either to follow Christ's example or not:- the Christ who was rejected because he was good to prostitutes and tax collectors, and other sinners and outcasts, well that is often much harder.
We are kind of attached to our opinions - that's why so many of us spend so much time telling others what they are; and most folk would rather choose to let others know who causes problems in the community and who should be avoided and who is not quite "up to snuff" than do anything loving for them. They would rather pass comment upon others than do even something as simple - and as transforming - as pass time in prayer for them.
It is so easy to slip into the ways of the world, into the ways of the those who walk in darkness. No lights flash when we are in a situation where we must choose Christ, our yourself. No bells ring when we are faced with either judging someone or loving them.
It is easy to go along with what others are saying, - or to let it go by for the sake of their so called friendship, it is easy to choose to save our own life - all we have to do is go with the flow. Don’t interrupt rhythm of things … we are told. Just go with the flow.
The way of the cross is - by and large much harder – it is a road less traveled. For it is a way that contradicts the easy way of the world, a way that often earns us the hatred of those who are evil, and calls upon us the hostility of those who do not like the light to shine upon their acts.
The way of choosing to deny oneself is difficult because our self is reluctant to die -- reluctant to allow God to work in us and through us --reluctant to trust that God can and will work a wonderful work in us when we follow in his path.
This is the cross that most of us are called to carry each and every day. This is, for most of us, what is involved in denying oneself and choosing to follow the master: to give up our own opinions, our own selves, and, if need be, our friends, for the sake of caring for the defenseless, vulnerable children - those in the womb as well as those in the crib - both young and old, the feeble, and the strorng – those on the fringes of life that others judge.
Now, do you see how this talk about denying oneself and picking up the cross and following Jesus works? It is not about being the kind of martyr who was killed by the Roman authorities for speaking about Jesus. It is not even about going from door to door telling people about Jesus and asking them if they are saved – as did the evangelists and the apostles.
No, it's about being the kind of witness to the faith who strives to forget his or her opinion of who is bad and who is good, and instead strives to treat all people with love, dignity, and respect.
Its about being the kind of witness who risks the disapproval of his or her friends because he or she will not listen to their judgments, but instead seeks to bless those being criticized.
It's about giving to strangers, prostitutes, and to welfare bums and to convicts the same kind of love we give to our coffee buddies and play mates, and it's about choosing to follow Jesus, knowing that we will have to change, that we will have to forget ourselves and what is easiest for us and remember instead what is the good and true and loving thing to do….
But the marvel of it all is this - just as Jesus received a new and glorious life on account of his faithfulness, just as the Martyrs who were burned at the stake and fed to the lions in the Coliseum are seated at Christ's right hand, so those who forget themselves in the little ways I have described - those who pick up the cross of Christ and follow in his path - receive a new and glorious life, one in which the Son of Man is not ashamed of them - but rather shines brightly through them.
In every thing about God is…. good, faithful, and just. In every thing God is love and graceful, forgiving and caring…. In every thing God is patient and long suffering, and his mercy endures forever.
Thanks be to Christ - who denied himself, and picked up his cross, and followed in the path of God - the path that leads to resurrection and eternal life.
-- Amen--
Rev. Samuel King-Kabu
September 17, 2006