Jesus
talks about the cost of discipleship. In
light of this message, we may ask ourselves: Why would these disciples have
followed Jesus, a man who was about to be crucified? As in our modern society, I am sure the
disciples in Jesus' day had their fair share of rejection and suffering without
taking on more. Objections to taking up
our own crosses and following Jesus would appeal to our instinct for
self-preservation, our longing for security and prominence, for health and a
long life here on earth.
Yet, I think only those who follow Jesus to the cross, those
who carry their own crosses on their journey of faith, will know who Jesus
really is. If we stop half-way and don't
journey to the cross, then we misunderstand Jesus and his teachings. He will just be another miracle worker or
another wise and compelling teacher.
If we don't journey with Jesus to the cross, if we don't take up our
crosses to follow him, what will we really know about the Messiah we profess to
believe in and proclaim. In
understanding the cross of Jesus, in carrying our own crosses, only then will
we truly understand that Jesus is the son of God.
This image of the cross may still seem foreign and strange
to many of us in our modern age. But it
is a crucified Messiah who reveals God as a vulnerable, suffering God. It may be a comfortable thought to desire an
invincible God who shields us from our vulnerability. But Jesus, the son of God who was crucified
and who asks us to carry our own crosses, is the Jesus who hears the cry of the
poor, who defends the immigrant and the unborn, who suffers with others, who
was born among the homeless, who associated with the outcasts, who compared
receiving the kingdom of God to the joy and innocence of a little child.
This is God. This is
God who asks us to take up our crosses, to follow him.
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