Sunday, June 19, 2016

Luke 9: 18-24

“Once when Jesus was praying by himself,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist;
others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He scolded them
and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

When I was nineteen the Lord asked me to serve him as a priest. That wasn’t the direction I wanted my life to take. How about a husband and a father I asked. So the Lord gave me what I asked for and made me a husband and a father but in a marriage that could not last. In a short time I was a divorced father on a bad road. God only let me go so far before drawing me back toward him.

Soon I was a husband again in a growing family. Slowly life started going in the direction it was meant to go. The Lord asked me to serve him again, this time as a deacon. Again, I refused, wanting to be the captain of this ship. Things in life continued to go badly. Finances, job, even my health was deteriorating. I was literally one heartbeat away from death and didn’t even know it. I relented and said yes to God’s invitation. Almost immediately my life started to turn around. I received a raise at work. Finances weren’t so tight. An angiogram discovered a heart clogged at 95% and a quintuple bypass gave me a new lease on life.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

I tried to be the one in control of my life. The more I tried to be in control the more of my life I lost. Only when I surrendered my life to God did I start to live. Only when I started to live did I realize what life was all about. Deny myself. Do not live inward. Do not live for the self.

What does it mean to take up my cross and follow the Lord? Each of us is given crosses in our lives that we are made to carry. Challenges to living a Christ filled life. For some it is addiction. Others, same sex attraction. Anger, laziness, gluttony, vanity, slothfulness, each of us has something that keeps us from living the life we are meant to live. A road easily traveled offers the smallest reward. We have to have skin in the game. We have to show that we really love our Lord through triumphing over our crosses.

We have to show that we really love the Lord.

Do you know what the face of real love, sacrificial love looks like? Just look at Christ on his cross. That is as great as love gets. There is no deeper love than to offer yourself as a sacrifice for another. When Jesus tells us that we have to deny ourselves and take up our crosses and follow him he is telling us that we have to love one another in the same measure he loved us. We have to be willing to sacrifice ourselves as he sacrificed himself for our sake.

If Jesus had decided to save himself and come down off of the cross he would have lost his life to death. When he lost his life for the sake of love he conquered death and saved his life. If we truly believe in him and trust in his words we will also give up our lives for the sake of love and live for the other.

Then he directed the Twelve not to tell anyone he was the Christ. He had to be hated and still love for the sacrifice to have meaning. If he performed miracles in a public spectacle people would come to honor and praise him and it could be seen as if he were doing these things for their admiration instead of for their salvation. Likewise, when we serve the Lord we are to do so quietly without seeking praise or admiration. Our good works are to be anonymous. What we do in secret the Lord will reward. If we do good works for praise and adoration praise and adoration in this life will be our reward. Praise and adoration in this life fades as the flower’s bloom after the spring. The Father’s favor is eternal.