The disciples got precisely that
kind of disturbing message when Jesus Christ told them that He was not a
Messiah Who would set up an earthly kingdom and be successful according to the conventional
political standards. In response to
Christ’s prediction of His rejection, death, and resurrection, St. Peter had
tried to correct him, to explain that such things would never happen to God’s Anointed
One. The Lord famously corrected St.
Peter, saying “Get behind me, Satan, for you are not mindful of the things of
God, but the things of men.” And that is
where today’s gospel reading picks up, with the Savior teaching that to be His disciple
requires taking up a cross, denying oneself, and losing one’s life in this
world. He warned His followers that it
was no benefit at all to gain the whole world and end up losing one’s own
soul. To live that way is to be ashamed
of Christ and turn away from the eternal life that He has brought to the world.
It was not until after our Lord’s
resurrection that the disciples really understood Who the Savior was or what it
would mean to take up their crosses for Him.
It was very hard for them to give up the political and military hopes
that the Jews of their day had for the Messiah.
To accept that the One they hoped would liberate Israel from the Romans would
be rejected by the leaders of Israel and executed by the Romans was extremely
difficult for them. For the disciples to
give up their hope for a religious leader who would give them earthly power in
a new regime was surely a struggle. But
in order for them to share in the blessing and joy of the Savior’s Kingdom and
His victory over the corrupt powers of the world, that is precisely what they
had to do. They had to die to their
ultimately self-centered desires for glory and to take up the crosses through
which they would participate in the life of the resurrection.
In other words, they had to accept a
new form of politics that stood in sharp contrast to the ways of their
“adulterous and sinful generation.” They
had to embrace the politics of the Cross, which required dying to their
cherished hopes and dreams and redefining themselves in light of a Kingdom that
does not operate according to conventional standards of hatred, division, and
violence. Whether in first-century
Palestine or today, those who desire worldly power often seem happy to do
whatever it takes to get that power, regardless of their alleged philosophies
or loyalties. The last thing that they
want is to deny themselves, for that would mean putting something before their
pursuit of their own exaltation. Even as
the Lord said that it was hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God, it
is surely also quite difficult for those who rule the world-- or at least their
small part of it.
As best I can tell, the members of
our parish do not rule the world. We are
not powerful politically, at least not in a conventional sense. We do not gather to worship or place our
ultimate trust in earthly rulers and their parties or kingdoms, though we do
pray that God will guide our civil authorities according to His will and
purposes. What we have in common,
however, is the politics of the Cross, a way of relating to God, one another,
and our neighbors that is shaped by Christ-like self-denial. When we follow that path, we are not ashamed
of Him or overcome by the ways of “this adulterous and sinful generation.” When we live this way, we lose our lives in
order to save them.
Some in our society define “their
people” by characteristics such as skin color, ethnicity, country of origin, language,
or political opinions. That is obviously not the case in our parish, where
people who differ in these ways embrace one another as family. Some in our world think that everything boils
down to how much money or status someone has or does not have, but in our
parish we do not define ourselves like that. Whoever can help those in need does
so, giving time, attention, food, clothing, and resources to their brothers and
sisters. I have told people many times
that as best I can tell there are no divisions in our parish, which is a sign
that we are making progress in embracing the politics of the Cross, in dying to
the prideful divisions of our corrupt world. Our answer to society’s problems is not a
bunch of words, but our example of what it looks like when perfectly ordinary
people take up their crosses in love for Christ and one another.
Of course, it is much harder to take
up our crosses by living chaste and sexually pure lives than it is to make
comments about the behavior of other people or simply to say what we are for or
against in debates defined by our confused culture. Fighting our passions and opening our lives
to the healing energies of God is a struggle through which we are
transformed. The same is true when we go
out of our way to help pregnant women in difficult circumstances welcome their
children or when we befriend someone in a nursing home, someone with a mental
disability, a prisoner, or a refugee.
When we deny ourselves out of love for the suffering people with whom
our Lord identified Himself, we take up our crosses and follow Him in ways that
change us and bless others.
Unlike simply saying that we agree
with this or that idea, taking up our crosses actually requires something of us
personally in a way that transforms us, in a way that makes our lives offerings
to the Lord and our neighbors. It
requires something costly from us and joins us to the ultimate offering that
the Son of God made on the Cross. It has
nothing to do with cultivating the hate, fear, and love of domination that so
often drive conventional political movements, whether in the first century or
today. It has nothing to do with
building ourselves up in self-righteousness so that we may feel justified in
condemning those we deem to be our enemies.
In His Cross, Jesus Christ specifically rejected such idolatrous forms
of religious politics. That is why He
said “Get behind me, Satan” to St. Peter.
Our brothers and sisters in Syria,
Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, and many other places are literally taking up their
crosses and making the ultimate witness for Christ at the hands of people who
want to kill or enslave everyone who does not agree with their religious views. The Cross stands in total and complete
contradiction to such blood-thirsty idolatry, and we must do all that we can
support the suffering members of Christ’s Body in prayer and generosity, as
well as to pray for peace and reconciliation throughout the Middle East. We
must also not be afraid to take up our much smaller crosses each day in ways
that will enable us to participate personally in the great victory over the
corrupt powers that our Savior has achieved through His Cross. As His disciples, that is our true politics,
and if we do not live it out, then we will have nothing to say to the world—or
at least nothing worth hearing.
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