“Take up your cross and follow me,” says Jesus. Well, if going through this pandemic is not taking up one’s cross I don’t know what would be. It’s a cross to be socially distant from everyone. It’s a cross to have to wear a mask. It’s a cross to have so limited an option of attending Mass. It’s a cross that so many don’t have a reliable internet. A closer look at the saying of the Lord shows that taking up one’s cross is part of a process. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny oneself, take up their cross, and follow me.” All of which serves as a reminder that for Jesus taking up a cross has a purpose, has a meaning. We don’t take up our crosses because we like bearing the load but because it has something to do with our desire to be disciples of Jesus.
First, to follow after, to be a disciple we must “deny ourselves.” The usual time we talk about denying ourselves is during Lent when we give up candy or cursing or cauliflower – something we like. This kind of self-denial is designed to make the season of Lent bite a little bit. But there is a more basic understanding of self-denial that is part and parcel of human life. Parents deny themselves and what they would like to do for the sake of their children. Spouses deny their individual lives in the interest of the deeper and wider life they have in common. Marines deny the personal plans in order to promote unit cohesion. Students deny themselves the focus on their needs in order for the class as a whole to learn. Drivers deny their tendency to drive fast and be reckless in the interest of others on the road. Citizens deny their individual rights and wear a mask during the pandemic in name of the common good. In fact, society would not function if it weren’t for people denying themselves. What in fact makes the world go round is that we deny ourselves so that we can become a family, a marriage, a unit, a class, a society. There was a song Sammy Davis, Jr. (whose name is honored on 31st Street for some reason) sang a few years ago (a few in this case meaning 50!) entitled “I’ve got to be me.” That song does not get it exactly right. The necessity of self-denial for authentic human existence teaches us that the correct song should be “I’ve got to be WE.”
The saying of Jesus then can be understood “whoever wishes to come after me must become the we of me.” Those who are part of our circle of care, those who are our “we” – such as spouses and family members – share a set of values, a way of behaving. For example, when I was growing up all adults were addressed as ‘”sir” or “ma’am” and do not refer to your mother with a pronoun. Never “She said to brush your teeth.” Always “Mother said.” Your family, no doubt, had its own customs and expectations. Similarly, for those who wish to come after Jesus as part of his “we” there are certain expectations he has of us such as “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28). If you watched any of the political conventions you know that these Jesus values are not part of our mainstream culture. The politicians have divided the world in such a way that those who disagree are evil and must be expunged. Since we are part of the “we” of Jesus we must resist the ways society acts and instead walk in the Jesus way.
Think about it this way: when Jesus taught us to pray he said Our Father. Your Father and my Father, your God and my God. Jesus wants us to understand that being part of his “we” connects us with God since He was always connected to God. As St. Paul puts it, what he was by nature, we are by adoption; a child of God. AND that “our” of the Our Father includes all of us. We say that prayer together, as people whose connection with Jesus connects us with one another. If we wish to come after Jesus and follow him we don’t do it as the Lone Ranger. All of us are part of his “we” which is why compassion and forgiveness are part of walking in the Jesus way. Maybe we don’t have to forgive Jesus but we do have to forgive the rest of the children of God who sometimes can get on our last nerve. Maybe we don’t have to show compassion to Jesus but we do need to understand that people we are connected to sometimes need me to reach out and touch them with the daily bread of kindness and generosity. All of this is included when we say “Our Father.”
Which brings us back to the word of the Lord: take up your cross. You see, Church, the cross means that faith in Jesus is not a hobby, not a sometime thing, not a pastime, not something you work into your life when you can spare the time. The cross is a complete re-orientation of who we are and whose we are. We take up the cross whenever we join Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and say to God “They will be done.” We take up the cross when we see the face of Jesus in those sheep who are hungry and the thirsty and naked and sick. We take up the cross when we join in solidarity with the immigrant, the victims, the abused, the depressed because we recognize in them a brother and sister. Take up your cross, Jesus says, come up Calvary’s Hill with me, and see the transformation from death into life. Take up your cross and exchange it one day for a crown.