Although not as popular in the Catholic consciousness as it once was, the virtue of “picking up one’s cross” is an essential element in the life of a disciple. While the three synoptic Gospels each record Jesus using this expression, it is uniquely Lucan to add the expression “daily.”
Carrying one’s cross, then, is not merely a singular event but one that is necessary to the life of discipleship. While we all have “our crosses to bear” they can often be seen as a punishment or a test that is handed to us from the outside. Sometimes they can be viewed as impositions – something happens in our life that becomes a burden – or a cross – and we endure it for the sake of spiritual perfection or as acquiescence to a punishment.
Luke seems to suggest that our taking up of the cross is a conscious and willful experience that we do daily. It must also be true that taking up ones cross is not simply a response to some sort of suffering. The cross of discipleship need not be a burden but it does demand that there is a sacrifice. We must be conscious of the choice to do this rather than that; to be a disciple rather than a person of the world; to do the good and to avoid evil. Therefore we are called to live out lives of discipleship in the most basic and ordinary ways of our lives.
We seek first to follow Jesus. This really is the forgotten element of this passage. We take up the cross because we follow Jesus. Once we, like Peter, recognize who Jesus is we are compelled to make a decision. Having heard Peter’s profession, the other 11, and at this point in the ministry of Jesus even Judas Iscariot, continue to follow Jesus. They have accepted the cross, even though they may not have understood what that would mean in their lives. Each of them, minus Judas, carries that cross to the end.
Still we must not allow the carrying of the cross to become a simple routine. We take up our cross – whether it is the burden of health or age, station in life, vocation, or the ordinary task of being an active disciple – each and every day. When I was a college seminarian the Dean of Men would always remind us as we were heading away for a break that, “there is no vacation from your vocation.” This is true for all of us.
The weekly obligation to attend Mass, the practice of daily prayer, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the giving of alms, and the exercise of the other corporal and spiritual works of mercy constitute in themselves the cross that we are called to carry.
It is certainly true that many people carry greater burdens. The care of a terminally ill child, the persecution of those who live in places hostile to the faith, or the struggles of the elderly living alone are some examples of the crosses that afflict many people.
Not everyone who is so afflicted chooses to carry their burden in faith and as a cross. Some carry that burden in resentment, anger, or bitterness. All suffering is not the cross and the cross is not always great suffering. The heart of the challenge that Jesus places before us is to live the life we have as disciples of Jesus, knowing that always in the midst of the world there is an element of the cross in everything we do.
Let us commit ourselves to carrying our cross every day, consciously living as a disciple of Jesus.
June 26 – We are all on the journey to Jerusalem
There is a point in life when we need to decide exactly what and who is important and what and who is not. This might sound harsh but we do indeed go through stages in life as we begin to think of the inevitability of our own mortality and of the mortality of others.
In the Gospel for this 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Luke tells us that Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” As he moved forward there was no turning back. He knew full well why he was going there, even if his disciples and those who followed had other plans.
The snippets of dialogue along this leg of Jesus and the disciples going up to Jerusalem gives us an important insight into the meaning of our life as disciples.
There are three distinct resolutions which Jesus challenges us to make as we move through this passage.
First we are called to let go of our ego – of that overwhelming sense of self which engulfs us who we are and what we do. The disciples who preceded Jesus to the Samaritan community were roundly rejected there. They asked Jesus if they should call fire and brimstone upon them as a punishment. Luke tells us that Jesus rebuked them, the actual content of his remarks are not recorded here. They, as us, need to set aside a sense of self-importance in order to be an effective disciple.
The life of ministry to the Church is ultimately not about any individual or group of people, it is about Jesus Christ and the pilgrimage to eternal life. We must set aside ourselves and work for the Gospel. Without a doubt, we all have those experiences when we would love to call fire and brimstone on those who mock the faith or rail against the Church. Our role is not that of judge, it is of disciple. Judgment belongs to God alone.
Secondly we are challenged to let go of stuff. If we truly want to follow Jesus we need to do so in with a sense of abandonment. Many of us see our legacy to the world as what we leave behind. Jesus tells us that it is not about what we have here, it is about eternal life. We are on the mission to lead others to eternal life. When we are distracted by the possessions we have and the things that get in our way we are losing sight of what it means to be a disciple. In reminding his disciples that: “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” Jesus calls us to total abandonment. This runs contrary to the Gospel of self-reliance, wealth and power. Jesus calls us instead to a radical poverty of life – not destitution – but to the realization that all of this wealth and power mean nothing if we are not prepared for eternal life.
Thirdly, Jesus warns us that the emotional bonds we have with others – even with our closest relatives – can get in the way of discipleship. “Let the dead bury their dead” he retorts, reflecting what Elijah says to Elisha in the First Reading. If those around us are not committed to the same journey we can get lost. We must nurture relationships with those who are on the same journey as are we.
Being a disciple of Jesus calls us to a radical life one in which we daily take up our cross with the realization that: “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.