Take up your Cross

August 30, 2020

XX Ordinary Time

Matthew 16, 21-27

“Whoever wishes to come after me must take up one’s cross and follow me.”

(show a face mask) Not a very heavy cross is it? Something that each and everyone of us can do. A small sacrifice, a small sacrifice that we make for other people. Sure the face mask can protect ourselves from the virus but the main reason that we put it on is for others. Most especially for the elderly and the sick; anyone of us could catch the virus, but we wear a mask for the most vulnerable. We have mass here outside, we keep six feet apart from each other, we forego many of the things that we would normally do. We make a small sacrifice so that others won’t get sick. We give something up so that others might live.

No one wants to accept the cross. We can understand very well the reaction of Peter. “God forbid, no such thing should happen to you.” “God forbid, no such thing should happen to me.” It is hard for us to accept a God who suffers. It is hard for us to accept suffering. I complain when the person in front of makes me wait when it says very clearly, TEN ITEMS OR LESS. Can’t he count? Obviously not. We don’t want to suffer.

Today’s Gospel is about discipleship.  Part of being a disciple is to accept one’s cross and to follow Jesus. Part of being a disciple is accepting that Jesus suffered and died upon the cross.

What does it mean to accept your cross and follow Jesus? Despite my example waiting in line at the grocery store isn’t the cross Jesus is talking about. Living in this world with people who are so stupid that they don’t know to turn on their turn signals when they are making a left turn is not the cross the Christian must bear. It is easy to call “suffering” a cross. But the cross is not putting up with any little discomfort that comes our way.  The cross is something different. Jesus calls us to follow him and to put ourselves at the service of others to make our world more humane, more kind and more loving.

A firefighter battling the blazes in Santa Cruz is taking up his cross. First responders in Lake Charles are taking up their cross. Peaceful protesters in Kenosha, WI are taking up their cross. A spouse who goes to work to put her husband to college is taking up her cross. Parents who accept their pregnancy even though it might not be the “right time” are taking up their cross.  I should say in all of these examples that they MIGHT be taking up their cross. Because the key component is suffering for the sake of the other, suffering to make the world better. A first responder whose only motivation is a paycheck isn’t taking up their cross.  A protester destructing property isn’t taking up a cross.  Parents who don’t love their children aren’t taking up their cross. But when one chooses suffering for the sake of the other. When one willing gives up of one’s self to make the world a better place. This is the kind of suffering that Jesus is talking about.

Jesus says to Peter and to all of us, “whoever wishes to come after me must deny one’s self. Denying one’s self is not about forgetting one’s ego to allow others to take advantage of you. It isn’t about giving up, but more importanly it is about freeing one’s self from one’s self so that we can better accept the cross. Carrying the cross means to follow Jesus, ready to accept insecurity, conflict, rejection and persecution because that is what Jesus had to do.

The cross is not about defeat. No, to bear one’s cross is to be a person of hope. The firefighters in Santa Cruz believe they can defeat the fire and keep others safe. The peaceful protesters believe that we can make a more just society here in our world. Parents have children because they have hope. If we lose our life for another, if we lose our life for Jesus Christ we will find it. The God who raised Jesus will also raise us up to fullness of life.