Second Sunday of Lent
Jesus says in Luke 9:25 “If any of you wish to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
At the time, this would have been very strange and quite disturbing for the crowds to hear this from Jesus, particularly the word “cross”. Now, when we hear “cross”, we can’t help but think of Christian Imagery, of Jesus, of Churches and saints and prayer. But back then, at the time Jesus was speaking, He hadn’t yet transformed the cross into the beautiful symbol that we see now. Back then, it was solely an instrument of torture and execution. So, the crowds listening to Jesus and hearing the word “cross” would be a little like us hearing something like: “If any of you wish to be my followers, let them deny themselves, sit in the electric chair daily, and follow me.”
If you found that striking to read just now, that illustrates the point exactly! We get desensitized to the cross because we see it all the time, but when we think about the original audience hearing those words, you can imagine the shock and the seeking deeper understanding of what he could possibly mean by that; and they would find out soon enough.
As followers of Jesus, we are called daily to choose life and love over sin and death. But making that choice is often uncomfortable, painful, and difficult; a little like carrying a cross. We are often called to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, and on a daily basis to deny ourselves. Many saints have even used the expression “die to ourselves”.
What Jesus is saying seems paradoxical; if we die daily, how can we live? This is a good question and one that can only be answered by looking to Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. If the story ended there, none of this would make sense and we would, very correctly, not want to be followers of Christ. But the story doesn’t end there. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead, conquering sin and death by His own death on the cross and modeling for us how we are to live now so that we can experience the fullness of abundant and eternal life.
So, this Lent let us remember the purpose of our daily denials and sacrifices, whether they are saying no to something we chose to give up, like chocolate, or saying no to sin in our lives, let us take joy and hope from our suffering knowing that our small daily “deaths” are steps on the road which leads to eternal life.
