Galatians 2:16-20; Mark 8:34-9:1
As we continue to
celebrate the Elevation of the Holy Cross, we must remain on guard against the temptation
to corrupt the Christian faith into a soothing piety that requires nothing of
us because the Lord Himself has already done all the work. Through
His Self-Offering on the Cross, Christ has conquered death and brought
salvation to the world, but for us to share personally in His great victory, we
must take up our own crosses, deny ourselves, and follow Him each day of our
lives. Refusing to do so amounts to
being ashamed of Him and wanting no part of His Kingdom. No matter what we believe or how we feel about
the Lord, refusing to take up our crosses means continuing in the old ways of
death and rejecting the call to enter into the joy of eternal life.
Today’s gospel reading
follows Saint Peter’s attempt to explain to Christ that dying on the Cross had
nothing to do with being the Messiah.
That is when the Lord famously said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For
you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” The Savior did not fit Peter’s expectations
for the Messiah, whom he expected to be a righteous military leader like King David. By His sharp response, Christ demonstrated
that following Him is not a path to success according to the conventional standards
of this world, but a calling to embrace the deep struggle of offering ourselves
for growth in holiness, no matter the cost.
The
calling to take up our crosses also stands in stark contrast to the persistent
temptation to use religion to exalt ourselves in our own minds and condemn a
segment of our neighbors. It is blasphemy to corrupt the great sign of
our salvation into an instrument for fueling our self-centered desires and
illusions. To the contrary, our Lord’s
Cross calls us to do the hard work of refusing to gratify our passions as we unite
ourselves to His great Self-Offering for the salvation of the world.
In our epistle reading from Galatians, Saint
Paul opposes fellow Jewish Christians who relied too much on their own ability
to obey the Old Testament law and would have required the same of Gentile
converts. Refusing to trust in his own ability
to obey religious rules, he writes that, “I have been crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave Himself up for me.” Paul took
up his cross by enduring many struggles and difficulties out of faithfulness to
the Lord, ultimately dying for him as a martyr. He wrote to the Colossians that “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the
sake of His body, which is the church.” (Col. 1:24)
There is
obviously nothing deficient in our Lord’s great Self-Offering. All that is lacking is our taking up our own
crosses in obedience to the Lord’s calling to deny ourselves and follow Him.
Because of our passions and the brokenness of our world of corruption, the
struggle for healing inevitably requires suffering, but not as though pain were
somehow pleasing to God. Such suffering results from the inevitable
tension we experience in embracing the struggle to offer ourselves fully to
Christ. There is so much within each of us that does not want to do that. Truly
taking up our crosses means fighting the difficult battle of confronting our
own personal brokenness each day as we reject thoughts, desires, and habits that
would keep us serving ourselves and the false gods of this world.
Christ prayed the night before His crucifixion, “Father, if You
are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.”
(Luke 22:42) He ascended the Cross in free obedience, and no one forces us to
take up our crosses either. So many
problems and pains come upon us without our asking for them in this life, and it
is so easy to refuse to suffer in a spiritually healthy way. As Job’s wife
suggested, we can “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) in response to deep frustrations
and disappointments. We can refuse to
offer our wounds to Christ for healing by finding ways to ignore them or
convincing ourselves that we are still better off than the people we like to
condemn. Doing so is simply a dead end
that will fuel our passions, blind us with spiritual pride, and demonstrate how
ashamed we are of Christ and His Cross.
Since freedom is
an intrinsic dimension of being in God’s image, no one can make us take up our
crosses. Only we can unite ourselves to Christ in His Great Self-Offering for
the salvation of the world. Regardless of the circumstances, we have the freedom
to refuse to fall into despair, for any instance of suffering provides an
opportunity to purify the desires of our hearts as we learn to entrust
ourselves more fully to the Lord. Difficulties
by their nature present challenges to which we may respond in a Christlike way
or according to our passions. He offered
up Himself fully upon the Cross and refused to respond in kind to those who
hated and rejected Him. Likewise, we may
unite ourselves to Him in every dimension and circumstance of our lives,
including those in which we are sorely tempted not to respond as He did. Illness,
broken relationships with others, worries about the future, regrets about the
past, crushed hopes, and even the worst losses imaginable all present
opportunities to grow in “love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Saint Paul wrote that “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires.” (Gal. 5:22-24)
Our self-centered and distorted desires usually
rear their ugly heads quickly when we face trying circumstances. If you are like me, you sometimes react like Jonah
when the vine that gave him shade was eaten by a worm. That was a very small thing, but Jonah became
so angry that he literally wished he would die. (Jonah 4:5-11) Other
times we face circumstances so grave that we must struggle mightily not
to fall into despair about life itself. Whether
in matters small or great, we have the opportunity to take up our crosses daily
as we struggle to find healing for our souls.
Doing so usually
does not require anything dramatic or extraordinary. It is normally a matter of
focusing on the basic disciplines of the Christian life, such as refusing to
accept sinful thoughts into our hearts, forgiving those who have wronged us,
and trusting that nothing “will be
able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Rom. 8:39) The more that we open our souls to the Lord’s healing strength
through prayer, fasting, serving our neighbors, and otherwise responding
faithfully to the daily circumstances of our lives, the less time and energy we
will have for stirring up the impassioned thoughts that lead to sinful actions. The less that we cultivate worry, fear, and
resentment, the more we will be able to pray to God from our hearts to grant
what is best in even the most broken circumstances. We must follow the
Apostle’s teaching, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to
God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will
guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
To share in
Christ’s victory over death, we must embrace the struggle of dying to all that would
keep us from uniting ourselves to Him in holiness. Our hope is neither in our own willpower nor
in being superior to anyone else, but in the gracious mercy of the One Who
offered up Himself for our salvation purely out of love. Through the Cross, He has brought life in the
midst of death, light in the midst of darkness, and joy in the midst of
despair. We will receive His healing in
even the most difficult dimensions of our lives as we persistently offer ourselves
to Him in humble faith, no matter what challenges, pains, or disappointments
life may bring us. That is how we may
die to the corrupting power of sin and enter even now into the blessedness of
His Kingdom. It is how we may learn to
say truthfully with St. Paul, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives
in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” It is how we show that we are not ashamed of Him and His Cross, which
remains a weapon of peace, a trophy invincible, and the great sign of our
salvation.
