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.’ And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’

- Mark 8:31-9:1

Jesus here tells his disciples what is to happen to him: his rejection, his crucifixion, trial and suffering - and resurrection. Peter takes him aside and rebukes him - for which Jesus in turn rebukes Peter, and tells him that he's thinking of the human things only and not the divine.

We often ask ourselves, and each other, what it means in our own terms to suffer for the sake of the spiritual, to follow in Jesus' footsteps and take up our own cross, as Jesus tells us we all should, in this passage. Most of us will never have need to practice this literally, no doubt (I would hope none of us do) as did Jesus and many of his early followers. But for us, I still read this message very clearly: for me, I see this taking up the cross, this suffering for the sake of the divine things, as being a part of the choices that I must make every day. We all have the choices between selfishness and compassion or generosity. We know what it is to hold ourselves back from temptations that involve behavior that is merely self-centered, as opposed to behaviors we consider to be the better path, and better for those around us.

But I feel there are even deeper choices than the sort of daily moral code or ethical or good behavior we know of. In prayer, we can make connection with the "divine things" and ask for direction for our lives. Often we are called upon to make choices where good and bad are not so clear. I'm certain that Peter thought Jesus' choice - in this particular scene we are given - was not good at all for the morale of the followers! But Jesus' choice is for His Father's will, the things that are divine and not merely human. This choice to die on the cross is not an obviously good choice by human standards. It is perplexing, and it will serve as a stumbling block, a model of foolishness - so we are told elsewhere. So there is a depth, I feel, that each of us are called to in which we engage in prayer to find our way forward. This is a focus on the "divine things" to which Jesus refers, when we seek discernment and our own way to do what God asks of us as individuals.

When we seek to put aside our "shoulds" and "musts," and seek through dialogue and prayer the way to know what God asks of us, then (I believe) we are taking up our cross. In this way we let go of our lives, deny ourselves and take up His cross, and follow Him.