Take up the cross

The writer and theologian Soren Kierkagaard, in his book called, "And I looked around and nobody was laughing" wrote this, "I went into church and sat on the velvet covered pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the beautiful stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, "If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me."

As we sit in a pretty comfortable Church, in a country free from any religious persecution, and largely free from any real poverty, I don’t think we can fail to be challenged by this thought. Tonight in the reading from Luke’s gospel (14:27-33), we heard those words of Jesus spoken to a large crowd.

And as this crowd listened they would no doubt have been challenged but maybe also a little confused. This was, of course, pre-crucifixion – and they had no understanding of why Jesus would talk about taking up a cross to follow him. Jesus had already begun his journey to Jerusalem and he had begun to offer warnings about the suffering that was to follow.

But people didn’t really take it too seriously. They looked at him as this great teacher, some maybe even did look at him at this point as a Saviour, but not a Saviour who was going to die on a cross. They would perhaps have put their own meanings to what he was saying, and in reality that’s what we often do today, when we talk about taking up the cross and following Jesus.

But that is the reality of faith. It is a journey which will sometimes take in some very difficult and painful experiences. It is a journey that shouldn’t always be easy… And in this great Lenten verse, perhaps the most famous lent verse of all, Jesus is once again offering a huge challenge to all of us to examine what our faith is costing us. It was Martin Luther who said, ‘A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.’

And so what is our faith worth ? If we examine those words of Luther more closely, we are asked if our faith actually gives us anything. It is a personal question, that only we can answer for ourselves. Put more simply we are being asked if God makes a difference in our lives. The resurrection of Jesus brought an incredible transformation to his followers who were literally filled with new joy, new hope and a new life. They had seen the risen Lord, and it was by his transforming strength that they would live the rest of their lives.

Is our faith making a difference to us, and does it cost anything ? For us in this country we are not likely to have to pay a heavy cost most of the time in terms of risking our lives. The most objection we will face is probably the occasional bit of sarcasm or cynicism, but if we truly put our faith at the front of our lives we will be called upon to speak out for God, and for his principles within the world, and that speaking out will be difficult at times.

And then there is of course the material cost. Financially what is our faith worth ? How important is it to us ?

Luther writes of a faith that suffers nothing being worth nothing. As I’ve said already the suffering in terms of life endangering experiences is likely to be pretty limited in this country, but there is still suffering that we do as we face the challenges of life every day. As we look around the world are we hurting as God hurts for those who suffer, for those who face injustice, for those without food, for those living in the middle of wars and so on.

And as we face our own journey there will be times of suffering perhaps in our families or amongst friends, or perhaps as we hold the hand of someone else going through a tough time. Our suffering is part of the journey we take, just as it was part of the journey Jesus took.

But before thinking our faith is perhaps all about problems and pain and misery, this reading also offers some advice on coping with the difficulties, as Jesus uses this image of the builder building his tower and the king going off to wage war. The builder of course will use bricks amongst his equipment, whereas the soldier will use bullets, and both are useful for a Christian.

The image of a tower at the time of this writing would have been of a safe place, a place where you could lookout for enemies, but it would also have been seen as being a place which was closer to God, reaching up into the sky. And these are all valuable images for us as Christians. We need to find the place where we feel safe and secure under the protection of God, and we need to be on the lookout for those who are seeking to damage our relationship with God, and ultimately we must constantly seek to move nearer to God.

But the image of the battle and the bullets are also useful for us to consider, as we recognise the problems we will inevitably face from those who are seeking to damage our own faith, and the cause of God throughout the world. We, as Christians, need to be ready and armed for the fight to proclaim the kingdom of God and to stand up for his principles and for his good news.

Faith is a life-long life-changing action. It is a long journey and taking up the cross is a challenge for us all as we seek to build the kingdom through our lives, and through the life and work of our Churches. We have a message that needs to be shared, a message that we must work to share, and with his bricks we will build our relationship with him, we will build the places where we feel safe and strong in his presence, and closer to him, and with his bullets we will help to destroy the layers of apathy and hostility that separate people feel from him.

May God give us the strength to take up the cross and follow the way of Jesus into his glorious and everlasting kingdom. AMEN