Jeremiah 20-7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27
It was in last week’s Gospel that Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, and it was Peter who said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” By the grace and knowledge of God, Peter was right. Before him stood Jesus, the Son of God in human flesh. Imagine the thoughts and reactions of the disciples: their Teacher has gotten off to a humble start, what with this walking from town-to-town and teaching. Nevertheless, He’s the long-awaited Christ. Things are going to get better…aren’t they? He’s only going to grow in popularity and power, and gather the love of the many…right? It’s only a matter of time until He sits on a throne and begins to rule…isn’t it? And how wonderful for the disciples, to be in this on the ground floor and going along for the ride. All of this must appeal greatly to the disciples’ human minds and thoughts.
Today’s gospel is a continuation of last week’s, but the mood changes dramatically. Matthew tells us that “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” Jesus is going to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed? How can that be? How could the Son of God allow Himself to die? Why would He? This doesn’t fit in with the disciples’ preconceived notions.
Ever the spokesman, it’s Peter who pulls Jesus aside. “God forbid, Lord; no such thing shall ever happen to You!” We can’t read the mind of Peter or know his emotions, though we guess at a mixture of shock and incredulity, fear and concern for his Lord. But no matter how sincere his motives, Jesus still turns to him and says, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not thinking as God does, but as human beings do.”
Peter’s head must have been spinning! One moment Jesus calls him the “rock,” the one on which he will build his Church, and the very next moment he calls him “Satan,” one acting against God’s plan. Why? Because Peter’s got the Lord’s life all planned out, and crucifixion isn’t part of the plan. He knows exactly who he wants Jesus to be. But that’s the problem: rather than listen to Jesus and submit to His Word, Peter wants to make Him into something different. He tempts Jesus to be someone different than who he is and to do something less than he came into the world to accomplish. Peter is tempting Jesus to abandon the cross and our salvation in exchange for the popular notion at the time for the messiah to be a great and glorious warrior-king; one who would defeat Israel’s enemies and usher in an age of peace and prosperity.
Peter’s thinking the things of men: the Lord can’t go to the cross and die, because that’s just not right. This goes along well with Satan’s agenda: the last thing the devil wants is for Jesus to redeem the world from sin. But no matter who Peter wants Jesus to be, Jesus is Jesus. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And then, to make things worse, Jesus defines for Peter, for the Apostles, and for us, exactly what it will mean to follow him, to be his disciple. If he is the type of messiah that will be rejected, will suffer greatly, and be put to death, then it necessarily follows that we must deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and surrender our lives.
What Jesus is saying here is so radical and different to our usual way of thinking and acting. We are so used to ‘looking out for number one’ and the attitude that ‘my needs are more important than anyone else’s’ that Jesus’ words fly in the face of the self-seeking and self-importance that is so common in our world.
Jesus commands us to deny ourselves – that’s even radical for Christians because we know just how difficult this is. These are difficult words - "forget yourself, your needs, your ideas, your plans, your need to impress, your fears, your need to be highly regarded in the sight of others, your whatever, and be my disciple".
Now we could do what we usually do with anything that is too hard - ignore it, or water it down, somehow make it a bit easier to swallow. Or we could do just as it says, that is, to follow his example of letting go of being so "me" focussed, and put God and his kingdom first.
This means that nothing, no matter how sacred, is permitted to come between ourselves and God. We place ourselves at his disposal. His plans are our plans, his will is our will, his ways are our ways. In our lives we are committed to only one thing – focused on being Christ-like in our relationships with others, dedicated to being truly his disciples, committed to following God's way and not those of the world, faithful to God's will that love would be our guide in every circumstance. Make no mistake about it, Jesus is saying to his followers, ‘Becoming a disciple is a radical step and being a disciple demands your commitment to forget yourself, as crazy as this might seem to everyone else’.
And then, Jesus goes on to give the formula for the ultimate loser. ‘Take up your cross’, not his cross, but your own cross.
The words, "Take up your cross" can rightly be understood in the narrower fashion. This includes the sense of accepting the "cross" of poor health, grief, loneliness, job loss and so on in the same way that Jesus was able to endure the suffering and pain of the cross with the knowledge that he had a loving heavenly Father who could be counted on.
However, this phrase "take up your cross" seems to have the broader and even more positive meaning of sharing with Christ in the work of showing love and compassion. Jesus has placed the burden on all of our shoulders: to care as he cared, forgive as he forgave, heal as he healed, comfort as he comforted, encourage as he encouraged, accept others as he accepted others, follow God's ways as he did, suffer as he suffered, and give sacrificially as he gave sacrificially. Each of us must take up our cross and follow him.
It doesn’t sound all that attractive does it? Noble…maybe. Valiant…perhaps. But attractive? Not when society tells us to take up the way of the world and follow after ambition, and wealth, and pleasure. And we’re told that if we follow after these things, the stories of our lives will end with success, with happiness, and with a sense of accomplishment.
But following Jesus? Where will carrying our cross lead us? How will our stories end? In suffering? Rejection? Failure? Death?
But I know how this story ends (pointing to the cross):
Suffering is conquered by joy.
Death is conquered by life.
Darkness is conquered by light.
Crucifixion is conquered by resurrection.
Our faith tells us that despite our suffering and sacrifices our stories will all end the same way, if we but pick up our own crosses and follow Him.
