A man was out hiking through some mountains one day, when he stopped at the edge of a cliff to admire the sheer beauty of the view before him. The man was so awe struck, so overwhelmed by the beauty and majesty of what he saw, that he momentarily lost his balance. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself dangling from the edge of the cliff! Hanging on for dear life, the man began to frantically shout for help. Just then a voice came from above saying "I am here." The man replied "who are you?" To which the voice proclaimed "I AM God." The man immediately began to recount his story and exclaim that God was the perfect person to offer him assistance. The man then asked "Can you help me?" In response the man heard the voice of the Almighty reply "Let go." A long pause followed, with the silence being broken by the man calling out "...Is there anyone else up there?"
This story, while humorous, gets at the heart of many of the problems we face in life, and serves as a perfect introduction to our scripture lesson this week, Mark 8:31-37. In this week's scripture lesson, Jesus is sharing (for the first time) that he must die on behalf of all people. Peter, upon hearing this, thinks it's unfitting of the "Messiah" to die so soon, and certainly innappropriate to be plainly proclaiming it. Jesus rebukes Peter, even going so far as to call him "Satan", and then promptly gathers the crowd around to make use of this "teaching moment". Jesus informs those around him that in order to be true followers, they must "deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34)
Jesus offers an easy three-step plan to true discipleship, right? Well for many people this is easier said than done, and sometimes even saying it doesn't mean really understanding. I believe most of us understand self denial, and are clear on following the leader, but the second step may prove to be more elusive. What exactly does it mean to take up your cross? Many people confuse this with something that we have no choice about. For example, I am color blind, and often I have heard that that is my "cross to bear". But the cross in this statement is referring to the cross which Jesus will later be crucified upon. It is a voluntary cross, one that is chosen, not forced upon a person. As Christians, we affirm that Jesus was not tricked, or forced to be crucified, but rather that he chose it for the benefit of all humanity, and that he spoke of his impending death several times (Mark 8:31-37, 9:30-32, 10:32-34, 14:12-31 just to name a few). So to take up your cross means to take on something voluntarily. This can look like many things, both big and small, and can include doing something or even refraining from doing something.
Crystal (my wife) tells the story of her first public speaking experience. It was for a youth retreat weekend called Chrysalis. She was asked to give a talk to 20+ other teenage girls about her faith and her experiences as a Christian teenager. If you ask her about the experience she can still vividly recount how nervous she was, and how she thought she was going to faint/be sick. But if you ask her why she did it, she'll tell you because she new it was the "right thing to do." She felt it was what God would want her to do, even if she was incredibly nervous and uncomfortable doing it. Crystal's story is an example of something relatively small that required action on her part. A story from my own childhood will illustrate something larger that actually required inaction.
Many people know that my parents were divorced early on in my life, and I've shared that throughout my life I grew up with them going to court fighting for custody over me. One part of the story I haven't shared, occured when I was right around 12 years old. My father had decided that if I went to the courts and asked to come live with him, they might respect my wishes and give him full custody. He convinced me this would be better for everyone involved and so all that was left was letting my mom and stepfather know of my decision. I still remember telling my mom and stepfather that I had decided I wanted to live with my father and only visit them. They both cried (I had never seen my stepfather cry before) and my mom immediately said she wouldn't let it happen, that my father was a terrible parent, and then ordered me to my room for bed. In hindsight, her response is perfectly reasonable. I can't even imagine what it would be like if one of my own children came to me and informed me they no longer wanted to live with me!
To a pre-teen like myself, her telling me I couldn't go and live with my dad, only made me want to do it more, and so that night I resolved that I would soon be living with my dad, not these terrible, oppressive people! You see my mom and stepfather were fairly strict parents, who made sure they always new what I was up to, and had a good deal of control over what I did and didn't do growing up. This fact makes what happened next even more unusual. The next day when I got home from school, my mom sat me down to talk, and told me that she'd been up the night before praying and pleading with God. She shared that although she thought it was a bad idea, that she wouldn't try to stop me if I wanted to go live with my father. She explained that she felt like God was telling her to let go, to trust God and trust that God would take care of me. My mother understood her "cross" to be giving me up to God. She felt God's call leading her toward trusting in God's wisdom and allowing God to take care of the situation.
To finish the story off for you, I didn't end up living with my father. By refraining from controlling the situation, my mom actually got the outcome she desired. Not because of her wisdom, but because of her willingness to accept God's wisdom. Sometimes taking up our cross means to pick something up, to act. Other times to take up our cross actually means to let something go. In all cases, to take up your cross is supposed to bring you closer to God.
My prayer for each and every one of you is that you not only come to better understand what it means to "take up your cross", to not only better understand what it means to be a follower/disciple of Christ, but that you are able to begin to more fully put these things into practice. My sincere hope is that when you go before your Creator, you are able to proclaim that indeed your cross was taken up (Take Up Thy Cross).
Grace & Peace,
Pastor John
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