Take Up Your Cross
Lectionary passages for Feb. 25, 2018
Genesis. 17:1-7,15-16; Psalms 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” -Mark 8:34 -35
Here we are, almost halfway through Mark’s letter and he names the price for our having a relationship with Jesus. To follow one must deny oneself, take up the cross, and follow in the Way. To follow Jesus is to risk one’s life. When I was first interested in becoming a minister I looked for a loophole in this command. Mark seems to be saying, “To live is to die.” And all four gospels follow suit. Well, what does Paul say? He offers small comfort. He tells us that he dies daily for the sake of the Gospel. I once asked our campus minister what “to live is to die” meant. He said, “You are taking the text literally; see this command as a metaphor.” We had been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoffer. He was hanged by Hitler three weeks before liberation. And given his place in German society, he could have easily avoided prison and death, but no! Someone had to resist.
I wonder what the command would look like today if we who follow in the Way would take it seriously. I was watching those young athletes compete on the ice, each person struggling for perfection, having paid an enormous physical and mental price to have gotten this far. (determined)
In an antique store in Mississippi I found a fan, the kind that was used in church on hot Sundays before air conditioning. On the front was the picture of a young man gazing into the future. It was the young Martin Luther King, Jr., recently graduated from the Boston School of Theology. On the back someone had written, “Go to Selma tomorrow.” (committed) My friend Fern Underwood has just turned 103. The last time I visited with her, she was preparing a list of things that “the authorities” (meaning the Bishop and Cabinet) needed to give attention to. (awake and alive) We have a good friend who is battling cancer—she simply refuses to give in to the evil curse. When I was sick in the hospital recently, she came to offer comfort to my wife and our family: she brought milkshakes. (loving kindness) I know a young lawyer who labors day and night, world without end, to protect Dreamer kids from the awful persecution that the President is preparing for them. (resisting evil)
Following Jesus is doing what you can with what you have to make life better each day; it is to resist the go-along-to-get-along culture in which we live.(neighborliness) Indeed, there is a cross for each of us….
Prayer
God, you do not make life easy for us. Always there is some new challenge, some neighbor in need, some evil to resist. But if we shoulder responsibility, the yoke of service becomes our strength. Thank you, God, for these opportunities to serve. Amen.
The Rev. Bill Cotton is a retired United Methodist clergyman who lives in Iowa. This article is republished from a regular email, "Memo for Those Who Preach," that he sends to subscribers. Email him at revcottonhill@hotmail.com to subscribe.