Discerning and Bearing Our Crosses

Matthew 16:21-28

When I was in high school, I was in a lot of plays.  90% of the time I was cast in the “old lady roles.”  Then finally, my senior year, I was cast as Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.  One of these old lady characters I played used to complain about her suffering.  When she did, really, she was distorting today’s Gospel lesson.  She would say, “Well, that’s just the cross I have to bear – never you mind.”  And there would be an element of self-pity, or martyrdom that you could sense behind her claim.

Thomas Troeger is a seminary professor.  He speaks of today’s Gospel as one that can either enslave us or liberate us.  It will enslave us if we distort the meaning of the cross as it has often been distorted in the history of the church.  One distortion of the cross appears in the guise of Christian devotion.  Troeger calls this the cross of passivity.  This is like the martyrdom of the old lady I played in high school.  With this distortion of the cross, we might say of someone who endures an abusive marriage or of a group that suffers injustice, “It is their cross to bear.”  The cross becomes a symbol that justifies passive acceptance of wrong.  The cross debilitates our energies for rebelling against evil.  And then we fail to claim the justice and respect that God wills for all people.         

The cross of passivity is an enslaving cross.  It distorts what Jesus teaches us today: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  It’s important that we notice that there is some freedom involved here.  Jesus does not command us to bear the cross.  He does not say, “Take up the cross.”  He says, “If any want to become my followers, let them…”  It is a matter of choice.  And once people have indicated they are willing to shoulder this burden, the cross is not imposed by someone else.  This is completely different from the cross of passivity.  The cross of passivity is accepted as an inescapable fate.  But that’s not what I hear Jesus or Matthew calling us to today.       

One journal article has had a huge impact on my life.  It’s titled, “When Prayer encounters Pain,” by Flora Slosson Wuellner.  It appeared in Weavings, a journal of Christian spirituality.  “The cross that we are summoned to carry,” she says, “is God’s invitation to enter, share, and lift the burden of suffering for others.”  It is not the same as illness or disasters that come upon us against our will.  We always are given the freedom to accept or reject a cross.  If we accept, we enter into the pain of another person or a community with loving, redemptive power as a member of Christ’s risen body.”       

Then she says it is essential to remember two main things about accepting and carrying our cross.  “First, we should prayerfully discern if it really our cross.  If it is truly the commitment to which God invites us, there will be joy along with the pain.  We will feel our strength and our energy being renewed.  We will feel an increasing sense of authenticity.  But if we feel decreasing joy, strength, energy, meaningfulness, and authenticity over a significant period of time, or if we have accepted the task under compulsion, it may either mean that we have picked up a cross intended for someone else or that God may be calling us out of that commitment.”  I have used this paragraph countless times over the years to discern whether I should continue in a given situation or ministry.  And these criteria are actually the reason I’m still here at Holy Cross.  There is so much joy along with the challenge.  I do feel my strength and energy being renewed.  I do feel an increasing sense of authenticity and meaningfulness.

Once we take up the cross, if that is what we decide to do, then we are called to follow Jesus.  That doesn’t mean that we just stand there, or sit still while we’re being crushed by the weight of what we are holding up.  We move forward following Jesus.  And Jesus gives us the example of how to bear the cross.  He does not enter into carrying the cross easily.  He prays – he prays in Gethsemane for its removal (Matthew 26:39).  And he cries out – he cries out his own sense of abandonment (27:46).    

In that spirit, I would like to try something different right now.  Something that might help you to discern whether a relationship or a commitment you are presently involved in or are contemplating is in fact meant to be a cross God is calling you to bear.  This is an exercise called a “guided imagery meditation.”  If you would rather just observe, that’s fine.  Use the time for contemplation about a difficult situation in your life that you are facing right now.  It may be in your family life, your marriage, your work, a friendship.  Or it may be in your relationship to Holy Cross – to this community.

 I invite you to close your eyes if you would like.  Relax your body and breathe gently and slowly.  In whatever way and symbolism is best for you, claim the nearness of Jesus Christ.  Rest in that strong presence.

In that presence, ask if there is a sense of strong calling, or an urgency, or a longing for an involvement with and a commitment to the pain and problem of another person or a community.  Ask if you are truly led into this commitment by Christ.  Does your choice seem to be a free one, or do you feel compelled against your will by inner or outer pressure?  Is there a sense of joy and authenticity?  What is your body telling you as you reflect on this commitment?  Are there feelings of heaviness and dullness, or do you feel a surge of vital energy?

If you accept a cross of loving involvement with others, visualize the living Jesus Christ going before you into the situation, filling and blessing the task before you get there.  Visualize the Christ embracing the other whose pain you share, covering the other with healing, transforming light.

Picture yourself abiding in the strength and life of the living Christ each day, as you go from here.  Think of yourself as a fruitful branch connected with the life giving tree.  Breathe deeply and calmly of this in-flowing life and energy.  Return to this nurturing, re-energizing prayer each day.  In a moment, conclude your prayer remembering that you are following Jesus.  The living Christ goes ahead of you and also walks beside you carrying your cross with you.

 Remember that for Jesus, and for we who follow him, the ultimate outcome of carrying the cross is not suffering and death, but resurrection and life.  Christ did not carry the cross only to be killed.  Beyond Golgotha is the mountain where the disciples worshipped the risen Christ.  In the midst of it all is the coming of the kingdom.           

If we take up the cross to which we are called, then we will not be enslaved, but liberated.  We will “find” our lives.  AMEN.                                                            

Pastor Dana Runestad
31 August, 2008 [A08L22]
Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Livonia

Sources:
Thomas Troeger, “Responding to the Text,” New Proclamation Series A, 1999, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, pp. 202-203.

Flora Slosson Wuellner, “When Prayer Encounters Pain,” The Weavings Reader: Living With God in the World, John S. Mogabgab, Ed., Nashville: Upper room Books, 1993, pp. 86; 90-91.