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August 28, 2005
Marked for Life
Matthew 16:21-28
"We're marked for life." I've known that for a while, but never more clearly than from a sermon by W. M. Clow, a 19th century Scottish preacher. He was very well-known in his day, famous, even. I stumbled on a collection of his sermons at an auction in northwest Missouri more than two decades ago. He goes to the heart of things.
The decisive, indelible mark of a disciple is, like Jesus, to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow him. Clow observes that three words stand out in the Bible for being able to express the dark, difficult dimensions of discipleship with clarity and insight. They are "burden," "thorn," and "cross." When Old or New Testament speak of our "burden" they sum up the inevitable care and strain of our lives; the daily drudgery, the obligations that exhaust us because they are hard or just hang on, the responsibilities that rub us raw-nerved and keep us tossing and turning at night. "Burden" is a word to gather our sorrows of loneliness, poverty, disappointment, the weakness of old age, the weight and care that our sins freight us with.
The "thorn" is another matter. It pricks the soul with an awareness of a keener, deeper anguish. The "thorn" points to a particular trial or test: an illness that changes our lives; a bodily affliction; a disability that makes us bitter; some weakness we can't shed that keeps us from living up to the hopes that we and others have for us; the shame of a skeleton in the family closet; a secret scandal known but to our dearest friends and oldest acquaintances. Who knows our "thorn," except a few keen-eyed observers who themselves must just guess at it? Unique though the "thorn" of each of us may be, one thing is the same about everyone's: we never name it. When the Apostle Paul told of his "thorn in the flesh" he spoke of it, prayed about it, but never once did he name it. The "thorn" may be no secret at all, but we don't want anyone to mention it. That would cut too deeply. So far as we know Paul's "thorn" remained. He asked God to take it away. He had to live with it. So will we. The "thorn's" meaning and purpose in our lives may be known "not now, but [only] afterwards."
The third word is the "cross." We oughtn't confuse it with the "burden" and the "thorn." You probably know people, as I do, who complain that their cross to bear is their work, or the strain and care of daily life, their grief's and sorrows, their shame or weakness. Heavy as all these may be upon us, and however much pain they may cause, they are not the "cross." All such must be borne by all, like it or not. Even as burdens must be shouldered, each has a "thorn" in the flesh to endure. The fiery pain of the thorn is quenched, and the dull, quiet throbbing of the burden stops only when life is over. The cross is different. It can be escaped.
Not all who shoulder their burden, or endure the thorn bear the cross, and some simply refuse to take it up. There are those up to their necks in affluence from cradle to grave who have never spread their lives upon the cross. Obscure men and women control their lives with such care and caution, with such guile and ingenuity, that the temptation to take up the cross never flickers within them, and soft self-pleasing marks their lives. Those who are not disciples of Christ find themselves balancing somewhere between tragedy and disaster precisely because when the cross was set before them they refused it. "If any [one] would come after me," is Jesus' call, "let [them] deny [themselves] and take up [their] cross and follow me." (Matt. 16:24)
Our cross is something you or I can take or we can refuse. It may come to us as a call to share the cares of another human being, even when they seem to be undeserving. We may decline. It may come as passing up our advantage which we can take only by trampling upon friends and our own integrity. The advantage may be taken; the cross refused. It may come when your good reputation is on the line trying to do some good. This, too, can be avoided. It may come in having to give up a chance for self-fulfillment, taking instead obscurity and an unrewarding task. We may go for the gold, and pass up the cross. It may come as the call to speak out against lies and evil when you could have the security of silence. We can silently by-pass the cross.
Everything we can know or need to know about bearing the cross we learn from Christ. Cross bearing begins with definite act: God puts the cross before us to be taken up. Then, we have to act: it is the moment we decide whether to follow Jesus Christ. The moment may not seem like much; our future may not appear to be at stake. Are we asked to stand along side the scorned and afflicted; or called upon to tell the truth when a lie could just as easily run off our lips; or to love the infamous and notorious, the scandalous, the repulsive when indifference would serve us better and keeping our distance would suit us better?
Christ's cross stood on a garbage dump. Ours is sometimes set before us in the middle of trivial times and circumstances. Whether the occasion be small or great, it usually meets us in some specific, searching test. The rich young ruler made the great refusal. He came to Jesus, perhaps in a mood to follow him, and perhaps seeking reassurance of his own goodness. But there lay his cross—the giving up of that wealth that was the glory and joy of his life. And he held on to the grandeur he had made for himself, and left the cross to be borne by another.
Cross bearing is a continuing experience. It can't be done just once for all. It comes to us time and again. We might all be the happier if it were a one-time choice, begun and ended in a moment. The cross can't be taken up just by the decision to attend church regularly, or to pray daily, or to up your pledge, or the like. The Lord confronts us daily with the cross to be borne that day. One morning's acceptance will not do for the day to come.
I think there are at least two reasons for this. One of them is that our lives do not stand still. We are always moving from one circumstance to another, facing new situations, confronting new problems and fresh temptations. Last year you helped someone in trouble, or you were willing to take the flak for something that was no fault of your own. You accepted your cross without letting anyone know your pain. Last year's stress in service of another doesn't credit for this year's trials. Tomorrow's cross will not be filled with today's sacrifice. The choice whether to take up our cross comes daily.
The second reason that we cannot accept our cross once-for-all is that we ourselves change. We grow in our experience of accepting the cross. We learn more and more about the depth of the healing that God's love is able to work in us. We find ourselves more able, even more willing to take up the obedience that Christ calls us to. Bearing the cross makes disciples more sensitive and perceptive. Cross-bearing consciences sit less easily and not so quietly in the face of injustice that comes to others. Bearing the cross makes disciples more conscious of the power of love's arms to hold us together. Disciples grow toward being the people God intends us to be through bearing the cross.
If our cross is to be borne daily, it can be borne only as we follow Jesus Christ. "Let [one] deny [oneself]," says Jesus, making clear the first definite act. "Take up [one's] cross," he adds, underscoring the daily experience. He ends by saying: "Follow me." He is the One who makes the powerful pain of the cross bearing into healing signs of forgiveness and the beginning of new life.
What's the point of it all? Is there more than inspiring imagery? The point is the same as the point of Jesus' cross. He bore it in order to save people, to heal people, to make people whole. Incredible as it may seem, that is what Christ has granted us in our cross bearing. By our taking up the cross set before us others may come to know the healing touch of Christ's love in their lives, and a fresh start in life that comes from reaching out to others, a new center for life. Have no illusions: disciples are not out to save the world. That is God's work in Jesus. But in bearing the cross disciples make plain and powerful in the midst of friend and enemy alike all the healing and help of Christ's cross at work in our lives.
Be assured of this: no one bears the cross without easing someone's pain, preventing another's shame, setting up a bulwark against someone's sin and self-destruction, strengthening someone's weakness, increasing someone's faith, taking to task someone's pride. Whenever disciples bear the cross, it is Jesus Christ men and women are drawn to see, for it is Christ who comes to them on that cross. It is the women and men who have borne the burden and accepted the thorn who have also carried the cross.
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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