The Myths About the Crosses We Bear
Have you ever lost yourself? Has there ever been a time when the person walking around in your body was not you… and you knew it? Some of the most depressing stories I heard as a counselor were stories about people who had lost their identity… their sense of who they were… their integrity… in the unrelenting pressure of the demanding and often heartless world in which we live. The most painful stories I heard were the stories of those who believed they had betrayed themselves… that they had sold themselves out… and betrayed the values they had been raised on just to get ahead in life… or to protect what they had. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge is just such a story. When we, as the audience, travel back in time to see the young man, Ebenezer, and come to know him before he became the lonely curmudgeon of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas tale, we realize that the choices he made to meet the demands of life forced him to leave his authentic self behind and become the miserly man that we meet at the beginning of the story. “Does this happen to all of us?” we wonder. It can. I, personally, believe that, from time to time, all of us slip… and even fall. But do we allow that one slip to pull us down into an abyss from which we can never escape? That is the key. At what point do we sell our souls?
Competition is the name of the game. We are taught, from a very young age, that the good things in life… be it money… wealth… power… recognition… fame… the good things in life come to those who strive for them… compete for them… and triumph over others to achieve them. Our school system teaches us to compete for grades and honors. Our sporting events teach us that winning is the only thing that is important. How often are we told that no one ever remembers who came in second? So, we spend our lives working and fighting for each opportunity that gives us an advantage over someone else… each chance to be in the limelight alone… each occasion to take home the prize. Many times, we are tempted to compromise our integrity… to bend the rules…to manipulate the outcome to our own advantage. And sometimes, we do just that.
Do you remember the scandal that rocked the Military Academy at West Point in March of 1976? Cadets at the Academy were caught cheating on a final exam. A subsequent investigation brought charges against two hundred (200) cadets, of which one hundred and three (103) were found guilty of cheating. The final report of the investigation concluded that more than four hundred (400) cadets had actively participated in giving or receiving assistance on this examination… or had actively conspired to conceal or cover up violations of the Honor Code in this incident. These violations of the Academy’s famed Honor Code could not be tolerated. Eighteen cadets voluntarily resigned. One hundred and thirty-four (134) others were separated from the Academy. The question that was asked over and over again was, “Why?” “What would drive a cadet to violate the Honor Code… a code upon which the Academy prided itself?” Following the investigation, the answer came back simply, “the desire to succeed at any costs.” This desire to succeed caused these cadets to sacrifice their honor… to cheat on this examination… in order to pass the class… in order to graduate from the Academy. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
These cadets lost themselves… lost who they were… lost what they valued…in the quest for success. I would love to hear from those cadets today… thirty years later. How did that incident change their lives… or change them… I wonder? What impact does it still have on their lives today? Was it worth it? Of what value are the intangibles of life… intangibles like honor… and duty… and call? Jesus rebuked Peter saying, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." And then, he said to the crowd and his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
“You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things…If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” This passage has often been quoted… and it has often been misunderstood and misused. I have heard many Christians talk about the crosses that they bear in life. Some of these crosses include such things as great tragedies in their lives… the loss of a child… the death of a friend …a devastating accident …the loss of employment. Other crosses Christians speak of are burdens they bear, such as caring for a chronically ill person… or raising a child who is profoundly retarded…or living with an alcoholic spouse…or coping with a significant disability or debilitating disease… or caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s Disease… and other such things. But any of these things, while honorable, are not the kind of cross that Jesus was speaking of in our text today.
Jesus had been talking to the crowd of his followers about how the Son of Man had to undergo great suffering, be rejected by the religious leaders of his day, be killed, and after three days rise again. When Peter began to rebuke him for talking about these things, Jesus rebuked him, telling him to get behind him. Whether Jesus was talking about Peter’s physical position or his status as a follower, we do not know. What we do know is that Peter simply did not understand what would be required of those who wanted to call themselves followers of Jesus. So, Jesus tried to make it clear. “You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things…If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Three things become clear in this text. First of all, the cross that Jesus is talking about must be something that is of divine origin… not of human origin. It is something that God calls us to do… not a challenge that life throws our way. Secondly, in order to take up this cross, we must first deny ourselves. That means that none of our human desires and motivations can be a part of this equation. We can, in no way, benefit from taking up this cross… either in monetary terms… or in human relationship terms. The only benefit that can derive from taking up this cross is a benefit for the kingdom of God… for the cause of Christ. Finally, taking up the cross means the deliberate choice of something that could be evaded… taking up a burden that we are under no compulsion to take up… except… the compulsion of the call of God. “You are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things…If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
The cross, for Jesus, was his deliberate choice of giving his life as a ransom for many … his deliberate decision to be obedient even unto death… his response to God’s call to live for the sake the gospel… the good news about God… despite all he was asked to give up… all that he had to accept from others… and all that he had to suffer for that great cause. One of the things that becomes clear in the gospel of Mark is that Jesus was severely tempted three times: at the beginning of his ministry, at Caesarea Philippi where he was partially unmasked by a disciple, and in the Garden at Gethsemane. Each time, the nature of the temptation was for Jesus to avoid what God wanted Jesus to do and to be.
We, too, are tempted to do and to be other than that which God wants us to do and to be. The world in which we live tempts us daily to move away from God and toward self. God calls us to deny self for the sake of the gospel. So, what is this cross that we are asked to take up? Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German theologian who was killed by Adolf Hitler in the waning days of World War II, said in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, “When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die.” The first death is not a physical death, but a death to earthly desires… to temporal things… a death to self. According to the great mystics, this death is the most difficult death of all… for to deny oneself is to kill that part of us that is the most basic… the most primitive… the most elemental. Once that part of us that seeks solely the preservation and advancement of ourselves is dead, then it is possible for us to give our all for Christ and the gospel message. We do not know what might be demanded of us… it may be our very lives. But, if all is demanded of us… as it was demanded of Dietrich Bonhoeffer… then it flows from that which is the focus of our lives… not self, but God.
God gives the gift of his Son… a gift given in love without any strings attached. But if we are to be followers of Jesus, then much is asked of us… for we must first deny ourselves, then take up the cross and follow him. The cross we pick up we pick up alone… for the choice to do so is ours alone. There is an old spiritual which goes, “Jesus walked this lonesome valley. He had to walk it by himself. Oh, nobody else could walk it for him. He had to walk it by himself.” The second stanza of the spiritual tells us that we must walk this same lonesome valley… and it is the same, for the cross that we take up is that which emanates from a heavenly realm… a holy calling to serve. We hear God’s call… and we respond… denying ourselves for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. And if we live… and if we die… we do so by choice to the glory of God.
Yet, unlike Jesus, we are not alone. God has bound us together in a community of faith so that we can share the weight of this burden together. We do not have to walk this lonesome valley alone. The investigation into the cheating that took place at the Military Academy at West Point concluded that the cadets were not the only ones at fault in the Honor Code violations. It also faulted the officers at the Academy who failed to participate in the Honor Code. The final report concluded that the Honor Code and the Honor System at West Point… and I quote… “must be considered the joint responsibility of all cadets and all officers at the Academy… No one “owns” the Honor Code. Everyone must work to insure the effectiveness of the Honor System.”
Am I my brother’s keeper? Yes, clearly I am. While the responsibility for taking up the cross belongs to each individual, we are also bound together to help each other bear that burden. Those of us who truly desire to follow Jesus are all called to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to follow him. But, unlike Jesus, we are surrounded by a community of faith… a cloud of witnesses… and all the saints of this day… of days past… and days to come. We do not have to bear this burden alone. Jesus said, “Those who want to save their life will lose it,” and the Greek word translated “life“ here can also be translated self… inner life… innermost being… and soul. “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake… and for the sake of the gospel… will save it.” God calls us to deny ourselves… to take up our cross and follow him. What will you do? Only you can answer that question. May God hold you in the palm of his hand as you seek his face. Amen.
Mark 8:31-38; Romans 1:8-17
http://www.west-point.org/users/usma1983/40768/docs/borman.txt