As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church
In
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
The two most important words in this
gospel passage are "follow me." Thursday at matins this week a
passage from Richard Rohr's Yes and caused me to think about this gospel passage
in a different and unexpected way. Rohr said, we often find it easier to worship
Christ than to imitate him.
The gospels have many scenes where
individuals say they want to follow Christ. When he tells them what they have
to do to achieve their goal, they often hesitate. Nowhere in the gospels does
he say "worship me." He does tell us that the most important
commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,
and your neighbor as yourself. This is what Jesus models for us in his life.
How are we to do this? How do we imitate Jesus? In today's passage Christ says
if you want to follow me you must deny yourself and take up your cross. That is
a tall order.
The first task, to deny yourself, is the
foundation for what follows. I looked up that passage in several different
translations and found many ways to say this. Deny yourself [EOB, NRSV, NIV],
forget yourself [NCSB], give up all right to yourself [JBP], say no to yourself
[CEB], renounce yourself [NJB], turn from your selfish ways [NLT] and
Peterson's The
Message:
"anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the
driver's seat; I am." So, if we're going to let someone else lead,
if we are going to put our faith in someone else's leadership, we have to let
go of our need to be the leader, to be in control, to be first, to be always
right. St. Paul says this to the Galatians: "The life that I am now
living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith
in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." [2:20]. Who loved
me and gave himself for me! The other is the focus. Jesus defined "deny
yourself" by the way he lived and how he treated others.
The second task Christ gives us is to
"take up your cross." He doesn't ask us to take up his cross. He
already has done for us what he set out to do, according to God's plan. How we
make that part of our life, is by taking up our cross, our life, and living it
as God has intended for us. In doing so, we do not escape trials and self
sacrifice any more than Jesus did. We live life in the here and now. As Jesus
tells us, tomorrow will take care of itself. And the ultimate tomorrow is in
God's hands.
When Jesus says to follow him, he is not
saying to worship him. However, to worship and praise the God who gives life to
us and to all creation is not a bad thing. It is necessary to keep our minds
and hearts always appreciating the reality that our life is created and
sustained by a higher power. This awareness must be linked to the "liturgy
after the liturgy," a phrase and concept coined by Archbishop Anastasios
of Albania in the mid 20th century. We make our work, home and daily tasks an
ongoing offering to God. The church does the same by extending its service and
solidarity beyond the church building into the world and especially to the
marginalized and needy. The two modes of worship, if you will, are one woven
fabric. In doing these things we imitate Jesus, we follow him, as he leads us
to our salvation. And as God says through the prophet Isaiah: Those who hope in
me will not be disappointed."
Glory
be to Jesus Christ!
