Mark 8:31-38 (Take up your cross.)

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "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. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?  

Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

A famous Lent hymn says, ‘yet cheerful he (Jesus) to suffering goes…’. It’s a great hymn but that line is not good. Maybe the composer meant ‘willingly’ but felt that ‘cheerfully’ sounded better. I don’t think anyone goes to suffering cheerfully. Buddhists have a view on suffering. They believe life it full of it, and the goal of life is avoid suffering through detachment from the illusion of life. There’s nothing cheerful or desirable about suffering but at the same time Christians don’t take the view that it should be avoided at all costs. There are times when we have to willingly face up to suffering. 

Jesus knew that his chosen path was going to sadly lead to crucifixion. The cross, therefore, became a symbol of self-chosen suffering. In this way he invited his followers to adopt the same attitude to life. There were troubles in life that could only be dealt with if his followers were prepared to deny themselves their rights and privileges and face up to them. A bravery was being called for because self-sacrifice is never an easy option and suffering is almost inevitable. But there is good news as well.

There is a reward, even a glory, if doing the right thing. It is not necessarily a material prize and a return of lost property. The reward is strangely hidden within the rightness of doing the right thing. There is a satisfying glory in knowing that we have risen to a challenge and lived up to the very best of human virtues. As Jesus so strikingly said, ‘For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?’

What does your cross look like? In common parlance we sometimes hear the phrase, ‘We all have our cross to bear’. Do we? Do you? What’s involved? Does it involve standing up for a noble cause? Or maybe it includes being generous to the ungrateful? Being patient in the face of provocation? Being loving towards the hostile? Every situation that comes to mind reminds me of an incident in Jesus’ life. He is the supreme carrier of the cross, and in this way he becomes our inspiration and strength every time we take up ours.