On the Worshipers Path at the Community of Christ Temple

Introduction

It is probably not surprising that on this Thursday before Good Friday my personal reflections are focused on the meaning of the “passion week” of Jesus Christ. Below are the thoughts that emerged today as I considered the meaning of the cross.

My Reflections

When Jesus announced that the way he had chosen to respond to God’s call would lead to public ridicule, suffering, and death, his disciples vehemently protested. Their hope for who he was and how he would accomplish his mission did not include public embarrassment, suffering, and death. I suspect they also began to wonder about their own fates if they continued with him.

Suffering and death sounded like weakness and defeat. Peter was so offended by the idea that he chastised Jesus for even entertaining such thoughts. Sometimes even those who think they are closest to Jesus just don’t get it.

After responding fairly sharply to Peter, in essence Jesus said to his disciples: “You simply don’t know how God really works. God works through sacrificial love that does not know any limits. Not even death can stop it.”

Then he uttered the words that have become one of the foundations of the Christian faith. “Whoever will come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8: 34-36).

What does that statement really mean for me?

I don’t think Jesus is talking about literal death on a cross for most of us, although more than a few disciples over the centuries have literally sacrificed their lives for the cause of Christ. Could I? Would I?

When Christ said that we must take up our cross and follow him, I think he was mostly speaking of an inner, ongoing, spiritual transformation. He was speaking of a process of dying to an old way of being that is characterized by self-centeredness, fear, and hate while being born into a new way of being that is grounded in the love, generosity, and peace of God.   

How do I do engage in such spiritual transformation?

I must journey with Jesus to the cross and embrace his experience there. Embrace the cross and it will reveal eternal truth that will redirect, heal, and transform my life.

If I embrace God’s continuing revelation through the cross my life situation and direction will be clarified. I begin to see aspects of my life that run counter to God’s will and eternal purposes.

The cross confronts me with the truth that I am a participant in the misdirected human condition that reacts to the message and mission of Jesus Christ by killing the messenger. And, then it dawns on me that there are particular aspects of my life that deny Christ’s vision for creation that includes healthy and righteousness relationships grounded in God’s love, justice, and peace.

There is need for continued confession, reconciliation, and transformation. The cross cuts through the fog of illusion of self-righteousness and clarifies the real condition of my life.

But, as soon as I better discern the condition of my life, and desperately cling more tightly to the cross, I experience liberating truth. The cross does not speak condemnation to me although some continue to use it to try to condemn others. It speaks compassion, forgiveness, and healing. The suffering love that flows from the Creator’s heart through the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ embraces me with the eternal grip of grace.  

But, I sense that this is not cheap grace that easily allows me to slip back into life as it was before. This is compelling grace that seeks my changed life for engagement in a divine cause. The call is to take up Christ’s cross—my cross— and daily follow Jesus Christ.

The cross not only reveals the condition of my life and the compassion of God, it sounds Christ’s call to give myself completely to his mission of proclaiming the liberating truths of the gospel, demonstrating God’s expansive love through compassion, and embodying Christ’s whole vision through justice and peacemaking. 

The paradox and transforming truth of the cross is captured in the teaching of Jesus—that if I am trying to find my life through my own efforts, aspirations, and strategies, I will ultimately lose it. But if I continue to lose my life in Christ I will find life beyond my wildest expectations.

In surrender and taking up the cross of Christ there is ultimate freedom.