Take Up Thy Cross

For this 22nd Sunday in ordinary time we have some challenging readings. It is easy to decorate our homes and places of worship with the cross. We proudly display the cross as a piece of jewelry and as a sign of our faith. However, the cross that we are all called to carry is not always easy to take pride in and not considered as glamorous. These crosses, oftentimes hidden, are part of the human condition of becoming dependent on our Lord God. This God of ours sent His only begotten Son into the world to carry the ultimate cross of all mankind as a reminder of His love (Jn.3:16).

What exactly does it mean to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus? With Peter’s admonishment at the thought of Jesus having to suffer with the first prediction of the passion in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says to Peter “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mt. 16:23-24). Peter’s response is all too human – he wants Jesus to take the easier path. Such a temptation reminds us of Jesus being tempted in the desert by the devil to take the easier path. However, Jesus reminds us that taking up one’s cross is a condition of discipleship.

The second reading from the gospel from Paul’s epistle to the Romans reminds us of this Christian mission we are called to:

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. (Rom. 12:1-2).

Most of Jesus’s original apostles were martyred and killed for their faith. Countless early Christians under the brutality of the Roman Empire were slaughtered and died violent deaths. Many Christians to this day continue to be persecuted for their faith. Tradition holds that St. Peter was crucified upside down

However, our own cross may not be one as great that calls us to martyrdom. Perhaps our cross may be showing love and compassion to a member of our family we don’t always get along with? Maybe our cross is dealing with a difficult coworker or aspect of our job we don’t particularly enjoy? Perhaps, our cross may be dealing with an ailment or health condition? Perhaps our cross calls us to evaluate those things that separate us from love of God and our neighbor in the forms of pride, greed or addiction? Whatever our cross might be, we must let go and let God.

I myself have carried many crosses throughout life – some big and some small. As I ponder such an experience I am reminded that the Lord God was leading me to a better place from one of independence to complete dependence on Him. Many times I cursed my crosses and questioned why it was the Lord was allowing such experiences to happen. After carrying those crosses and continuing to carry such crosses I was left with a different perspective and dependence on God that I didn’t previously have. As Proverbs 27:17 reminds us, “iron sharpens iron and one person sharpens another.” Such a biblical metaphor reminds me that those Christian witnesses in my life and Jesus himself wanted to make my soul “sharper” with those moments in life where I questioned bearing my crosses of life. The Old Testament reading from Jeremiah shows us that such a countercultural aspect of being overcome by God is not something a proud man or woman may desire. After all, our culture today calls for one of comfort, leisure and ease. In the Western world we feel entitled to a certain lifestyle. We complain when something doesn’t go our way and don’t know how to offer it up as St. Paul so eloquently states in “offering our bodies as a living sacrifice” to God.

You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me. (Jer. 20:7).

The imagery from Jeremiah is one that reminds us that we are called to humility in the Christian life. Allowing ourselves to be duped or seduced by God where we allow our prideful image of self to be mocked and made fun of reveals the Christian mystery. Ours is a life not of luxury or ease, but one of continuous introspection & self mortification in which we evaluate those aspects of our life that separate us from the love of God and love of thy neighbor. When we think we have things figured out, God’s sense of humor throws us a curveball in which we strike out only to realize that it was an intentional wake-up call to remind us that God is wanting to lead us and guide us on this earthly journey. We must allow a total transformation to take place when we carry our cross in which we can say to God just as the psalmist does, “my body yearns; for you my soul thirsts, in a land parched, lifeless, and without water” (Psalm 63).

When we are weak and are tempted to turn away from God in sin, make the sign of the cross and ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart. Let us ask God for the grace to carry our crosses of life well, journeying with Jesus, our Lord, who is walking alongside us every step of the way carrying the heaviest of crosses and weight of the sin of all mankind upon His shoulders. Jesus reminds us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light in another gospel passage from Matthew (Mt. 11:30). The metaphor and imagery of a wooden yoke is used where the stronger oxen lead the weaker oxen during the plowing of a field. When we surrender ourselves to His presence during those difficult times we are called to take up our own crosses of life, we are never left alone. The stronger ox (Jesus) leads the weaker ox (us) when plowing our spiritual fields in which God’s Spirit wishes to dwell in us during those times of trial where we too must say, “Get behind me Satan!”