Take up your cross and follow me!

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Take up your cross and follow me!

In last week’s Gospel, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gets it right. In today’s Gospel, Matthew 16:21-28, Jesus reveals his upcoming trip to Jerusalem and his impending crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Jesus predicts his death and resurrection several times before he arrives in Jerusalem — in Matthew 17:22-23, 20:17-19, and 26:1-2. Perhaps repeating the prediction will allow the disciples time to adjust to the idea and learn what is expected of them.

Peter the Rock

When the disciples hear about the upcoming events, Peter is upset and pulls Jesus aside to let him know he doesn’t want to allow this to happen. When Jesus hears Peter, he gets annoyed and tells Peter that he is thinking of worldly things and not spiritual things.

Some scholars believe that Peter, the “Rock,” is trying to be like a boulder in the road that Jesus is about to travel — that he wants to prevent Jesus from fulfilling the work God has set before him, to stop him from his impending death. Some are concerned that Peter may have become too confident with the authority Jesus gave him in last week’s scripture. As we all know, authority can go wrong when good intentions go unchecked.

I like to think perhaps Peter contradicted Jesus out of love. They were close, and it can be difficult to let people you love go out of your life. Peter is a rock, remember? But you can stumble over rocks. The cross can be like a stumbling block too. People can stumble over their cross or crosses. They are unsure of how to follow Jesus and carry their crosses.

How Do We Take Up Our Cross?

Jesus tells his disciples that it’s important for people to self-deny, take up their cross, and follow him. What are we supposed to do with that? The disciples know what it means to take up a cross. They are aware of what death on a cross looks like. But is this what Jesus is talking about, and how does this apply to us today? Or is there a deeper meaning somewhere in there?

If we look at our Second Reading from today, Romans 12:9-21, we will see that Paul tells us some explicit ways that we can take our daily mindset — or cross — and put it to use as an “us” lifestyle. In other words, instead of “you” vs. “me” or “we” vs. “them,” it becomes “us.” In this passage, Jesus says we “should,” and in Romans, Paul gives us examples of “how.” He devotes the entire passage to how to live and be a faithful member of the people of God.

A Way of Life Listed in Romans

I’ve listed some of these and examples of what this means to me. Keep in mind, this is my opinion of what I think it means.

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil. Your love must be real, true, and not fake. Turn away from bad, harmful things — not only to protect yourself but to protect others you love. It can be easy to get caught up in harmful things, the wrong crowd, or be persuaded to go a direction that isn’t healthy for you. Avoid the evil; say no.

Hold fast to what is good. Obey God’s truth and stand firm against deception. Sometimes it is hard to stand up for your beliefs. Some find it difficult to say the words, “I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus,” in a public setting. Hold fast to your convictions. Share the word.

Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Don’t be only a taker of love and caring but give it in return. In a relationship, one-sided love is never a good feeling. It is hurtful and can be harmful. Remember to love all peoples, as we are all children of God. Being respectful to others, even when it is difficult — as mutual respect is the honorable thing to do. Honor those that do the right thing.

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Remember the sermon on suffering? We discussed how hope does not disappoint. When we are under difficult and painful times, we must exercise patience. We must also remember that our prayers are heard. While they may not be answered on our timeline, they are heard and answered in due time, as it is best for us.

Pursue hospitality to strangers. Have you ever reached out to a stranger — a smile, a hello, a meal, money, or clothing? Remember to care for others. When you do these things, you are giving hospitality. Sometimes we are nervous about stepping forward when we don’t know people. It’s not easy for some, yet easy for others. I know I could do better in this area. My suggestion: just keep trying!

Bless those who persecute you; bless them and do not curse them. This one reminds me of my mom. She was such an optimistic and positive person. Even when there were those that she knew didn’t support her, she never gave up on them. She would just smile and most likely prayed for them at day’s end. I remember I would get upset when one of my friends or classmates would be talking about me behind my back. My mom would always say, “You know, don’t worry about it — look at it this way, when they are talking about you, they are letting someone else rest.” Basically, this is about practicing forgiveness in our everyday lives.

Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Share others’ happiness and success without jealousy or envy. It reminds me of my friend Joyce when I shared something good that had happened to me, and while some would have been jealous, I remember her saying, “I’m so happy for you.” It meant so much to me to hear those words. Weeping with those who weep is telling us to show empathy. Sometimes just sitting with someone who is experiencing hardship and pain provides profound comfort. Showing up for someone in their darkest hour can have such a healing impact.

Live in harmony with one another; associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. We need to reject social snobbery and treat people of all socioeconomic and diverse backgrounds with equal value and genuine empathy. We should not be judgmental of others, but respect others in their opinions and pursuits. Do we always have to agree? No, but at least be respectful in our disagreements. No one is better than someone else. We are all God’s children.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. The Apostle Paul encouraged Christians — even though they were persecuted because of their religious beliefs — not to retaliate against others, particularly the Romans. He taught that the way to change the world is through love and prayer and following Jesus, not retaliation.

Remember what is written in Romans 12:19-21:

“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.’ Instead, if our enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.”

I had to look up what is meant by the burning coals. It refers to awakening their conscience, and thus producing deep shame, and leading them to repentance.

All these things are described as a footprint of Christian behavior. Is it easy? Some of them are, and some are not very easy. Are they good behaviors to have? Absolutely. Is it possible to live like this? Yes. Will we make mistakes as we try to do this? Most likely. What makes it so difficult is that we as humans have this huge desire to protect ourselves. We don’t like feeling vulnerable. We sometimes don’t like denying ourselves for the sake of others.

I think most, if not all of us here try and live these things, yet I also know at times we fail — we say hurtful things, be it intentional or unintentional. We can be resistant to necessary change. However, I see us taking care of those with less. We do good in the community. I see a congregation that cares about one another. I truly feel we are good people trying to do good as the Lord would want us to do. This congregation is a people of service and a people of hospitality and grace. For that I think we should say “thank you” to each other. Paul is telling us that if we live in this way, we are following Jesus’ instructions on how to follow him.

A Thank-You Story

I’m going to share a “thank you” story. When I was in Indianapolis, we had a lab day on stewardship — which many people in churches think is only about monetary contributions, but it is not. Stewardship is about a lot more. It’s about all the jobs that need to be done in the church that people step up to do. During this lab time, the presenting Pastor asked each of us to take out our phone and send an email or text to someone within our church just to tell them, “Thank you.”

There are so many in this congregation who give of their talents that it was difficult to decide who I would send mine to. However, I know that Oma and Sissy spend a lot of time here preparing yard sale items and working on various other tasks. So I decided to send a text to Sissy. My text read like this: “I just wanted to take a minute to just send you a text to thank you and your mom for the generosity of all the hours you give to our church! Cindy”

I sent that text at 9:36 AM. It wasn’t even fifteen minutes later that I received this response: “Appreciate the thanks but you know we do it to serve God. Hope everything is going good at school.”

This is just one little snippet into what being a Christian looks like. Not only did the response explain that they were doing God’s work, but she took the time to let me know she was hoping my schooling was going well. I smiled.

What Is the Shape of Your Cross?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him. We just heard about how to live to follow him. But what about those crosses? We know he didn’t mean take up a wooden cross as he did. No, he meant all those many crosses that we experience in our lives — the ones that trouble or burden us, the rocks in our path that sometimes make the road bumpy, that sometimes make us forget that Jesus is close.

Following Jesus, believing the Word, and accepting God’s grace helps us look forward to being with him after we leave this earth. All of us carry or have carried crosses with us. The words below touched my heart so much that I wanted to share them with you. They are titled “What Is the Shape of Your Cross?” by The Reverend James E. Lawrence, a Lutheran Pastor:

Take up our cross, our Savior said, and follow me. But not all crosses are voluntary. Some we would choose, but others are given to us, not requested:

The cross of stress or mental illness, of a hurting loved one; the cross of being born in the wrong place, of the wrong color skin, of abuse at the hands of another. Some crosses we can leave by the side of the road, and should, moving on as best we can. Others are glued to our shoulders. All we can do is bear them with grace and courage. Not all crosses are taken up. Some crosses are given.

But we serve Him best who bear His mild yoke, the poet said. What is the shape of your cross? Did you choose it? Can you bear it? Should you? Is it the cross that your loving God would have you take up? Or is there another?

Take up your cross, he said — and then he did, taking all that is broken and hurting in our world and placing it on his broad, faithful, dying shoulders. The shape of his cross, like the shape of his Father’s love, full of grace that set our hearts free. His cross, our yoke, so gentle and humble, offering rest for our weary souls, rest for our weary souls.

So I invite you to take up your cross or crosses and follow him. Let him give you love, hope, grace, and meaning as you navigate your path in this messy world. Most importantly, let him help you carry your cross — and give you rest.

Amen.