Sermon Mark 8:31-38 February 28, 2021 Second Sunday in Lent yr B

Take Up Your Cross and Follow

In the sanctuary at Naomi Makemie we see the cross hanging there. Here at Francis Makemie we do not have a cross but the symbols of pulpit, font and table to mark our church as a Christian church. Many of us wear a cross around our neck as a reminder that we are Christians. The cross is an important symbol across all denominations as the witness to the redeeming work of Christ.

We understand as Paul Tillich taught that the cross is a symbol that points beyond itself by shining on the reality to which it points-the saving love of God.

The cross we look to during this season of Lent is the cross on which our Savior died. It is something many of us are uncomfortable talking about and many of us uncomfortable singing about. We don’t like to sing the songs that mention the cross and especially not songs that mention blood. Eww.  And we are even more uncomfortable trying to explain the cross, blood and death to ourselves, our kids, or our friends.

Yet, we cannot have a resurrection without a death.

We cannot have spring without a winter.

We cannot have bright flowers without the darkness of the soil.

All of our life is a cycle of which we all take part.

Birth, growth, aging, death are our ways of creation from generation to generation.

During Lent we try to take seriously our relationship with Christ. We leave behind the excitement of the baby Jesus coming into the world to make us all new and full of the presence of God. We start to realize the depth of the presence of God with us as we walk through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As we travel through the scriptures of the life of Jesus we learn about all he did in his life.

The seriousness of his presence in the world then and now begins to hit home. His sacrifice, his suffering, his rejection, all begin to sink in to our thoughts as we realize what he gave up for our lives to be free in love.

But, while we sing of the cross and we sing of what Jesus did, these verses in Mark’s gospel call us out. The hardest part of scripture is when it turns to those who follow Jesus and reminds them of who they are.

Jesus calls out Peter for telling him he can’t suffer and die. Jesus has already been tempted in the desert and doesn’t need his followers to tempt him to go against the plan that God has for him. Peter like so many of the followers of Jesus and so many of us today had their own idea of what Jesus the Savior should look like and act like. Peter and so many followers expected Jesus to be a strong, rebellious leader and overthrow the government of the day. Peter wanted Jesus to take a crown and sit on a throne, but Jesus told him to stop. Jesus could not and would not be a Savior to the demands of others.  He had to tell Peter to back off, just as he tells us to do the same when we turn him into a god of our choosing and desires.

That is not who Jesus was or is today. Jesus lets the crowd know that they are ALL called to be his disciples. Jesus calls the whole crowd to come to him to hear his words. But, the stakes are high. They and we are called to take up our own cross.

What was Jesus asking of his disciples then? And how does that apply to us today?

Jesus was asking his disciples to let go of their ideals. He was telling them that they could not make him be the rebel leader they wanted.

They needed to realize that if they really wanted to follow him they had best be ready to lose their lives in the same way he had.

It meant that they would need to be willing to stand up for the least of these.

They would need to be willing to heal the sick and broken hearted.

They would need to be willing to leave their homes to share the message of the gospel of Jesus beyond their backyards.

They would need to be willing to stand in the way to protect the widows and orphans. And in their willingness to deny themselves,

to lose their lives they would gain their life

and so much more.

When we pick up our cross we too gain so much more.

In Christ our self-esteem is lifted up. When we deny ourselves into the grace of Jesus we discover a God who adores us and tells us how magnificent we are because we are his creation. When we choose to lose our lives over to the message of the gospel we discover the Light of Jesus that seeks to shine through everyone and everything so that all we see is the glory of God in each face. And finally, well probably not finally, when we pick up the cross Jesus gives us we discover how it is not a burden but the sign of Christ’s completion in us.

Oswald Chambers says, ‘If a man or a woman is called of God, it does not matter how untoward circumstances are, every force that has been at work will tell of God’s purposes in the end. If you agree with Gods’ purpose God will bring not only your conscious life, but all the deeper regions of your life which you cannot get at, into harmony.

This season of Lent the theme is Take Up Your Cross. It is a theme for a reason this year. We have been through a lot in the past 11 to 12 months. We’ve seen our friends lose their jobs, we’ve seen our friends die. We’ve seen our family suffer with the isolation and restrictions. It has been a time of suffering, turmoil, anxiety, and so much more. We have not been able to ignore this or make it go away. It has definitely been a cross, a burden, to bear. And probably the last thing we want to hear about in this Lenten season is to take up a cross of suffering and pain. We might look to Jesus, and say nope, not doing it, been there, done that.

Perhaps, that’s why it’s so important this year to look to the cross of Jesus and to hear him one more time ask us to take up our own cross.

Because as we take it up this year we can remember

all the times he has been with us.

We can remember all the good that we’ve discovered in the midst of the sadness.

We can remember that the cross we carried wasn’t as heavy as we thought because there were those around seeking to help us along the way.

We might never know our strength of faith if we don’t’ follow Jesus’ calling and pick up the cross he’s set before us. We give up our life to Jesus in order to gain life. When we commit to being his disciple we are overwhelmed with opportunities to live sacrificially in our acts of love, compassion, reaching out, and serving. There is an everlasting love that is lavished on us as we offer ourselves to Jesus and follow him.

We can do this. 

He’s calling us. 

Look to the cross, 

take up yours, and 

Let us follow. 

Amen.

Resources: NIB gospel of Mark Pheme Perkins, Feasting on the Word year B W. Huelett Gloer & Paul C. Shupe 

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