The Way of the Cross
Then Jesus said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”
Luke 9:23-24
Jesus’ call to discipleship is unequivocal. We are to “deny ourselves” and “lose our lives” if we wish to follow him. This is a hard teaching, so much so that His first listeners either didn’t understand (“There Jesus goes again…what does He mean by we have to ‘take up our cross’ and why does He keep saying that?”), were in denial (“Hey…how about letting me and my brother sit at your right and left hand?”) or they drifted away. (Because of “difficult” teachings in John 6, many disciples left.)
Some believe that contemporary Christianity has sanitized the faith. They believe we avoid talking about the hardship and sacrifice of discipleship because we are afraid that we will drive the uninitiated away. Instead, there is a focus on empowering people for life so that when the hard times come, they are prepared for them. And this is not a bad idea, empowerment, but at some point, we all must learn of the truly radical nature of what discipleship entails. In discipleship, there is this fearlessness in giving of ourselves over to God, emptying ourselves to be filled with God.
Over and over and over again in the Gospels, Jesus speaks of this denial and self-giving, this “Way of the Cross.” What does that look like? As always, we just need to look at Jesus’ life for guidance. Yes, our faith’s foundational story is that of Jesus’ Passion and suffering on the Cross and rising to new life, but we also need to first look at the very act of God becoming human. In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul recites what is believed to be an early Christian hymn, noting the humility of God, willing to empty Godself of all the trappings of being God to take on human form. This self-emptying is required of us all, probably not just once in our lives, but over and over and over again as we learn to follow the way of the Cross.
As we begin to make our way through the final days of Lent toward Calvary and the Cross, how is it that you are being called to enter more deeply into discipleship? How might God be calling you into emptying yourself so that He can fill you more deeply with His Spirit — new life in Christ?
