Greetings friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James or Friendly Neighbourhood Monk in dogs.
Welcome to another session in our Invitations of Jesus series.
As always,
As we begin,
I invite you to stop and become still.
Just become fully aware of where you are.
The sounds around you,
The movement around you,
If there is some.
If you have your eyes open,
Just the sights that you see.
Just bring your attention fully in.
Start to take notice of your breathing.
Your heartbeat,
Maybe even hearing the sound of your blood.
That little ocean-type noise we hear in our ears sometimes.
And become aware that Christ is present.
Here.
Now and the invitation of prayer and meditation and reflection is always an awakening.
To that presence.
And as we continue this journey through the invitations of Jesus,
We come to words that I think have been misunderstood and maybe even abused.
By some.
For many people,
The phrase,
Take up your cross,
It's become associated with simply putting up with suffering.
Others have heard it as an invitation to die,
Anything that brings you joy.
And others still have experienced these words being used to justify abuse and oppression.
Or unhealthy self-sacrifice,
But none of these truly captures what Jesus is inviting us into.
Today's invitation.
Isn't an invitation to seek suffering,
It's an invitation to discover what love looks like.
When it costs us something.
And so listen carefully to these words from Luke.
Chapter 9 versus 23.
To 25.
Jesus said.
If anyone wants to become my followers.
Let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily.
And follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it.
And those who lose their life for my sake.
Will save.
What does it profit them if they gain the whole world,
But lose or forfeit?
Themselves.
Now the cross has become so familiar to Christians that it's easy to forget how shocking these words would have sounded to Jesus' first listeners.
For us,
The cross is often a symbol worn around the neck or displayed in a church.
But for those who were listening to Jesus when he said these words,
It was something entirely different.
It was an instrument of execution.
A symbol of humiliation.
Of imperial violence.
Of complete vulnerability.
When Jesus speaks of taking up the cross,
There's no romanticising suffering here.
He's describing the consequences of living a life shaped completely by love.
Long before Jesus carried the wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem.
He'd already been carrying another cross.
The cross of radical compassion.
The cross of forgiving our enemies,
The cross of welcoming those who'd been rejected.
The cross of speaking truth to power.
The wooden cross wasn't the beginning.
Of Jesus' self-giving love.
It was where that love eventually led,
And that's an important distinction.
The Christian faith.
Has never taught that suffering itself is good.
Jesus spent a good deal of his ministry relieving suffering.
He healed the sick,
He fed the hungry,
He comforted the grieving.
He liberated those who were oppressed.
He never glorified pain.
Instead,
He revealed that when we commit ourselves to love,
Suffering sometimes becomes unavoidable.
And that's because love makes us vulnerable.
To forgive.
Is to become vulnerable.
To tell the truth.
Is to become vulnerable.
To stand beside those who are excluded is to become vulnerable.
To remain faithful.
When it would be easier to walk away,
Is to become vulnerable.
Love always.
Carries a cross.
And again,
This is not because God desires our suffering,
But because genuine love refuses to protect itself.
At the expense of others.
Jesus actually begins with a very unexpected phrase.
He says,
Let them deny themselves.
And maybe these words have often been understood as rejecting ourselves,
But Jesus consistently affirmed the dignity of every human person.
So what,
In fact,
Is being denied?
I don't think it's the self that God lovingly created,
But I think it's the false self,
The self that always has to be right or admired or successful or in control.
The false self spends enormous amounts of energy protecting its image.
The true self.
Rests in being loved by God.
So to deny ourselves isn't to become less human,
It's actually to become more fully who we truly are.
Freed from that exhausting need to build our identity around achievement,
Reputation.
And control.
Jesus also says that we're to take up our cross.
Daily.
And that single word.
Really makes a significant difference.
Most of us will never face the dramatic choices that the first disciples faced.
But every day offers quieter opportunities for self-giving love.
Listening patiently.
When we'd rather interrupt.
Choosing reconciliation over resentment.
Speaking kindly instead of harshly.
Remaining present to someone who's suffering,
Giving time.
When our own time feels scarce,
Choosing honesty.
When deception had been way easier,
These ordinary acts.
Aren't the ones that make the headlines,
But yet.
They are the daily shape of the cross.
The kingdom of God then grows through countless unnoticed acts of faithful love.
And did you notice the paradox in Jesus' words too?
He says that whoever tries to save their life will lose it.
And whoever loses their life for his sake.
We'll find it.
Seems a bit backwards.
And that's until we notice how often we spend our lives.
Trying to protect ourselves.
Protect our image,
Our comfort,
Our security.
Our status.
But when life becomes centered on self-protection.
It actually becomes smaller.
Love does the complete opposite.
Love opens,
It expands us,
It freezes.
The more generously we give ourselves away in love.
The more deeply alive we become.
It's one of the great mysteries of the gospel.
That life isn't found by cling and holding on,
Life is found by letting go.
And giving.
The saints understood this well.
Think Saint Francis of Assisi.
St.
Teresa of Calcutta.
Or Saint Oscar Ramiro.
None of them sought suffering.
Each one was simply seeking love.
The suffering came because love often confronts injustice,
Selfishness,
And fear.
Their lives remind us that the cross is ultimately not about death,
But about love.
Love that refuses to stop loving.
And because love belongs to God,
The cross is always followed by resurrection.
Self-giving love is never,
Ever wasted.
I think that's at the heart of today's invitation.
To ask.
What does love require of me today?
And who knows where that question will lead,
Maybe to generosity or forgiveness.
Maybe courage,
Maybe setting up some healthy boundaries.
Love is sometimes tender but love sometimes has to be strong.
That love is always.
Life-giving.
The cross is simply the shape that love takes in a broken world.
So once again,
Just allow your mind to return to your breathing.
And as you settle into this time of stillness,
Just imagine yourself walking beside Jesus.
On a quiet road.
No one's speaking,
You're just walking together.
And as you walk,
Jesus turns towards you.
With beautiful deep kindness in his eyes.
And then he asks.
.
.
What does love look like for you?
Today.
Just sit with that question for a moment and see what comes to the surface.
Maybe there was a person who came to your mind or a situation or a decision.
Whatever it was,
Just hold it there for a moment and ask yourself this second question.
Where?
Have I been protecting myself?
Instead of loving.
And then.
.
.
This question.
Where have I been carrying burdens?
That are not.
Mine.
To carry.
And notice that these are different questions.
Jesus doesn't ask you to carry every burden.
He asks you to carry the cross of love and there's wisdom in knowing the difference.
So now just imagine placing your life into Christ's hands with trust.
Walk beside him,
Notice his steady pace,
His quiet strength,
His gentle courage.
And just remain there resting in that love just for a few moments.
Lord Jesus,
You have shown us that love.
.
.
Is stronger than fear,
Stronger than hatred.
Stronger even than death.
Teach us to take up the cross of love each and every day.
Free us.
From the false self that clings to control,
To recognition,
And to security.
Help us to become people who are willing to forgive,
To serve,
To tell the truth,
And to love generously.
Give us the wisdom to know the difference between faithful self-giving and unhealthy self-sacrifice.
May our lives reflect your compassion,
Your courage and your humility.
And when the way of love becomes costly,
Remind us that resurrection always has the final word.
And may grace,
Peace and love go with us and remain with us today and always.
So as you go into your day,
Friends,
Just carry that simple question with you.
What does love require of me today?
And you might discover that taking up your cross isn't actually found in some sort of extraordinary act,
But in the quiet,
Faithful choices that shape it.
Ordinary life,
One conversation,
One act of forgiveness,
One moment of courage,
One generous response.
It's those places that are quite often the places where Christ continues to carry his cross through us.
So until next time,
May you walk in the way of self-giving love,
Trusting that wherever love leads,
Christ has already gone before you.
Bye for now.
