The Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time September 16, 2018
Fr. Albert St. Peter’s, New Iberia
Jesus tells us many comforting things – God loves us, He wants to provide for what we truly need, we can be forgiven – this teaching, however, takes a different approach. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” We like to hear the other stuff and most people like to believe it. But what about this one. Do you wish to “come after” Jesus and are you willing to carry a cross to do it?
Of course, we are all familiar with the metaphorical approach to this passage… to “carry our crosses” in the sense of making sacrifices and putting up with all kinds of difficulties that don’t actually involve being tortured to death. Setting aside our egos to help someone in need, putting up with a difficult friend or family member, or even taking a financial risk to be more generous or step away from something that conflicts with our faith.
But there is more to it than that. When Jesus first spoke these words, there was no metaphor for “carrying your cross.” The only possible meaning was to be publicly executed by the Roman government. And history proves this. Many of the people who first heard these words followed them literally. 11 of the 12 Apostles were killed for being disciples of Jesus, several of them by actual crucifixion. For some of them, it came after a lifetime of not only knowing what Jesus taught, but living it out and teaching it to hundreds and thousands of other people.
I wonder what it would be like to be so effective as a preacher: to not only encourage people to seek holiness, but to even inspire them to the point of being willing to die for me or for what I’ve taught them.
How did Jesus do it? How did this man not only teach, but convince people to die for Him? A possible answer is that people tend to rise or fall to our expectations. Perhaps, by setting the bar so high, Jesus just brought the best out of these people. But then we see how much miserable failure there is. Peter denies Jesus, the others flee. They constantly show doubt and when Jesus does exactly what he said he would – rise from the dead – they are surprised. If Jesus’ secret was making things difficult, these setbacks would have ended everything.
No, it is something else, something much deeper. Really, it doesn’t start with what Jesus does, but who Jesus is. Notice that this teaching, the expectation of carrying the cross only comes after a very important question: “Who do you say that I am?” In philosophy there is the saying “act follows being.” In other words, what we do flows from who we are. Jesus Christ can ask his disciples to die for him because he is so good and true and beautiful that his preaching not only enlightens the mind, but inspires the heart. Who Jesus is flows into what he does.
For human beings, however, the connection between who we are and what we do goes both ways. Who we are is changed by what we do. If I want my ministry to have the impact I desire – to inspire people even to the point of sacrifice – I must first be, like Jesus, a person full of goodness, truth, and beauty. But to become that sort of person, I first have to do the kinds of things that come from goodness and truth and beauty. It’s the reverse of a vicious cycle: if I’m not perfect like Christ, I can’t live like him, but if I can’t live like him, I can’t really become perfect. So, how can I get inside that feedback loop of goodness? How can you?
We die. The reality is you and I cannot be the person worth dying for, cannot be the perfect person. Every single one of us knows in our very core that there is something terribly wrong with us… That the success we want, the happiness we long for feels like it is always just out of reach. And it is. At least, in this life it is. Which explains the redemption and the mission of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t die on the cross because God was mad at us and wanted to take it out on somebody.
No, the reality is that this world, and we who live in it, is broken. And the way to fix it is to break it all the way back down and build it up from scratch. For a human being, that means death. So, if we want to be perfect – to be happy – we have to die. But, we don’t want to die. And it’s kind of a titanic leap of faith to believe someone who says, “you’ll be happy and perfect just as soon as you die.” Because, if they’re wrong or lying, you’re dead and then what? Yet, this is exactly what Jesus is saying here: I can make you happy and perfect, but you have to die. He doesn’t just say it, though.
Jesus Christ died on the cross to show us that he was telling the truth. Yes, his death paid the price of our sins, but as God he could have paid that in another way. Over and above paying the debt of sin, Jesus’ sacrifice also gave us a path to follow. Jesus is literally asking his disciples to die, but he does it first. And he even does it in one of the most unpleasant ways possible just to make the point that it’s worth it.
Once we’ve accepted that ultimate truth, once we believe his promise of the happiness and perfection that come from literally being crucified to death, then we can get to the metaphor of “carrying your cross.” Because it’s also true that we don’t just wait ‘til death to be happy. We certainly don’t do anything to speed it up. Until our time is up, we have a million little “deaths” that begin the process. Sacrifices and acts of love that make us better disciples and better people.
That is the promise of Jesus Christ. Being loved and cared for and forgiven are all part of the package, but we cannot escape this fundamental truth: that perfection – real happiness – comes to us only through death. Only someone who is willing to lose their life can save it. If that’s the case, the cross – literal and metaphorical – is not something to be avoided but is the very key to what we want most. Do not be afraid, though, because Jesus has gone first and Jesus is going through it right now, with each of us. Through the Church and the sacraments, through prayer and through the grace that he offers, Jesus can be with you can go before in every pain, every sorrow, every cross. You have only to deny yourself, pick it up, and follow Him.