The Direction In Which We TravelMark 8:31 - end

It isn’t really surprising that Peter’s expectations about Jesus were a bit off-beam. According to the writer of Mark’s Gospel, Peter’s time with Jesus had been action-packed. He had witnessed miracles by the bucket load – healings, the calming of a storm, casting out demons, feeding vast crowds of people, walking on water – to name but a few. Surely Jesus must be the Messiah, the Christ – the victor in the battle over the forces of evil, and the one who would decisively establish God’s rule of peace and justice on Earth? All the evidence was there – and Peter was convinced by it. Only what Peter failed to recognise was that Jesus was not going to overcome evil and establish God’s kingdom with a decisive show of power and strength that would leave anyone who opposed him quaking in their boots. He could have been that kind of Messiah, and his time of testing in the wilderness was his opportunity to consider whether or not he would use his power in this way. Jesus certainly has to wrestle hard with that question. He could have chosen to use his authority as the Son of God to lead a violent insurrection against Rome. Some of those he is addressing in the crowd may well have been hoping that he would choose just such a path. But Jesus seems to have a very clear sense of his calling to be a different kind of Messiah to the one that Peter seems to have been hoping for. His calling is to a life of love and self-sacrifice that will ultimately lead to victory but only via the horrors of crucifixion. It can be so hard for us to grasp the idea that giving everything up means that we gain the whole world. Yet by doing just that, Jesus identified with, and somehow took on himself, every human experience of suffering, degradation and humiliation that there has ever been and ever will be, so that nothing would ever again be able to separate us from the love of God. Jesus will not allow Peter, or anyone else for that matter, to change the direction of his travel. His course is set for Jerusalem and he will not be dissuaded from it.

So what did Jesus mean, then, when he said that people who follow him must also deny themselves and take up their cross? Well, let’s start with what I think he is not saying. Too often, Jesus’ words have been taken to mean that we ought to patiently and stoically bear the burden of suffering because that is what followers of Jesus do; they put up and shut up. As a consequence, people can find themselves feeling unable to speak openly about the struggles they face, sometimes with devastating consequences. In some situations, suffering that is caused by the actions of others is ignored, tolerated or legitimised because it is believed that victims ought to willingly bear the burden of suffering because that is what

Jesus did. Rather than the idea of self-denial leading us in the direction of life, all too often it has resulted in a diminished sense of self-worth and a lack of self-love.

However, I am convinced that Jesus is not saying that suffering per se is a good thing. I am certain that he is not saying that we should all be glad when we suffer because somehow, this makes us better Christians. Jesus spent his ministry doing the opposite of that – relieving suffering wherever and whenever he came across it. He talks about bringing life to people in all its fullness. He talks about freeing people from the burdens they are carrying. He talks about the absolute steadfastness of God’s love and grace. He talks about the hope and promise of life in the eternal care of God. Instead, I think that Jesus is saying is that in order to follow him, our lives must be centred on God, rather than our own needs and desires always taking priority. This might sound daunting, but we need to remember that if we put God at the centre of our lives, we are choosing first and foremost to believe that we are loved and cherished by him. Everything else flows from that. So the picture that Jesus gives Peter of someone taking up their cross really means to embrace the truth of God’s love for us and then live life accordingly, even if the choice to travel in that directions leads us through times of struggle and suffering. I think that Peter didn’t really grasp this at this point in his journey – his own needs and desires took priority. Maybe he wanted Jesus to be victorious so that he too, could revel in the glory of that victory. But to follow Jesus means being God-centred, trusting in his love for us and then using that love to guide the way we live and respond to others. What might this direction of travel look like for us? For example, I think we are God-centred every time we make contact with a difficult family member who is lonely but really hard work; we are God-centred every time we sacrifice our own leisure time to care for our children or grandchildren; we are God-centred when we make the first move to resolve an argument; we are God-centred when we put the kettle on for someone else to have a cup of tea; we are God-centred when we patiently listen to someone else’s troubles, even though we have troubles of our own. In these and in a multitude of other ways, big and small, we take up our crosses and follow Jesus, placing God at the centre of our lives and allowing his love for us to shape the way we live and set the direction in which we travel.

Loving God,In Jesus, the servant King, you reveal the depths of your love for us. Help us to think each day about how we might shape our own lives to mirror the pattern of his. Lord, we know that there will be times when we fall short, but empower us by your Holy Spirit to offer ourselves as best as we are able, in loving service to others.

Amen.