24th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 - Take up your cross

 The author of today’s Gospel passage, St. Mark, was not a member of the Twelve Apostles. There’s a little dispute over when he encountered the Gospel One tradition states that he was among the 70 disciples sent out by Jesus during his Galilean ministry, another tradition, held by the third century church historian and bishop St. Eusebius, states the Mark became Christian through the post-resurrection preaching of St. Peter. Peter, after all called him “my son Mark” in his first epistle. So, likely, St. Mark got his information about Jesus from Peter; some ancient writers even called Mark’s Gospel “Peter’s Gospel” for that reason.  

So even if St. Mark was not an eye-witness to Jesus, his Gospel, which we’ll be reading through for the duration of the church year, is based on an eye-witness account, that of the prince of the apostles, St. Peter. 

Like St. Peter, St. Mark eventually traveled to Rome, and wrote his Gospel there around the year 60 A.D.  St. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels: it is clear, precise, orderly, and direct—certainly pleasing to the Roman ear. 

The ancient Romans, to whom Mark wrote, were in many ways like modern Americans.  They were a practical, pragmatic people who emphasized deeds more than words, action more than theory.  The Romans got things done.  They conquered the known world.  And since his audience, the Romans, admired people who got things done, St. Mark emphasized these aspects of Jesus’s life. Throughout Mark’s Gospel, the Lord is confronting and expelling demons, curing contagious diseases, undergoing the terrible sufferings of his Passion, only to rise again victorious over sin and death. 

In the Gospel today, Jesus affirms, explicitly and uncompromisingly—very clearly, so even Romans could understand—that he and all of his followers must "take up the cross"—talk about action. For following Jesus is about more than calling oneself a Christian, to quote same James, “faith without works is dead.” And, the Lord goes so far to say that those who refuse to take up the cross “will lose their lives”—they will lose the promise of eternal life in heaven. Again, you can’t call yourself a Christian without the works that back-up that claim. 

The Lord gives this stark teaching in response to Peter really sticking his foot in his mouth. The Passage begins with Peter seemingly understanding that Jesus is the Messiah—the promised one—the one anointed by God to save us from our sins and restore unity to the fallen human race and restore humanity to right relationship with God. 

But then the conversation takes a turn: when Jesus tells the group that the Christ must suffer greatly, be mocked, and killed, Peter, the disciple, attempts to correct Jesus, the teacher. Big mistake. But who could blame him. Peter doesn’t want Jesus to go to the cross, because Peter doesn’t want to go to the cross. In fact, throughout the Gospel, Peter is often running away from the cross. In the Passion story, Peter denied Jesus three times, so he wouldn’t be arrested and crucified with the Lord.  On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus is talking to Moses and Elijah about going to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die like the prophets before Him, Peter says, no, Lord, let’s just stay here. Peter doesn’t want the Lord to be subject to suffering, because Peter doesn’t want to have to suffer. And again,…who can blame him. Most of us spend a lot of time and energy avoiding or at least minimizing suffering.

“Get behind me Satan”, the Lord says to Peter. You can imagine Mark’s surprise when Peter recalled the events in today’s Gospel: “He called you what?” Why does the Lord offer this sharpest of rebuke? This passage gets to the heart of who Jesus is and what he’s all about. The Lord Jesus wasn’t just a teacher, he wasn’t a community organizer, he wasn’t political leader, he didn’t come to simply encourage humanity to work for social justice. Of course, it’s good to feed the hungry, it’s good to stand up for someone being bullied, it’s good to speak up for the vulnerable. But the Son of God took flesh in order to accomplish something we couldn’t do on our own, the greatest good imaginable: he embraced unimaginable suffering, the greatest suffering, to obtain, to purchase our salvation. 

So when Peter said, you mustn’t allow yourself to suffer, it was akin to Satan opposing the holy will of God to save us from hell. Of course Satan doesn’t want Jesus to suffer and die. The Lord’s Passion freed us from hell’s grasp. And so the Lord rebukes Peter, he rebukes Satan for opposing the salvific plan of God. 

And then the Lord teaches his disciples, that we must, like him, bear our crosses. Fulfilling the will of God is not easy. There is a weight to it, a cost to it. And we know this: it’s good to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. But, we often draw a line, don’t we? We willingly engage in these good works…to a point: and that point usually is, when it costs me something, when I will have to sacrifice something I enjoy or can utilize—cash, leisure time, my favorite television show, my reputation among less religiously fervent peers or family members. When I have to sacrifice these things to build up the Church and to do good works, well, most of us like to leave the hard work to someone else. 

This is a difficult Gospel. Perhaps the most difficult. It was certainly difficult for Peter, so we are, at least, in good company. Peter continues to run away from suffering throughout the Gospel—we run away often. We allow Satan to whisper in our ears, “the cross is too heavy, leave it to someone else, God can’t possibly be asking you to carry this cross, you can carry the next one”. 

But, the Christian life is about learning to carry crosses for the sake of the Kingdom. And just as our Lord brought ineffable goodness from his cross, so to with us. Lives our touched, souls are saved, miracles are wrought, saints are made through the cross. 

There’s the story, which you have likely heard, when Peter finally gets it. After the Lord’s Ascension, of course, Peter labors with the rest of the Apostles to spread the Gospel, in Jerusalem, then to Judea, then throughout the empire. And around the year 64, Peter having been bishop in Antioch for some time, comes to preach and minister to the Christians in the Imperial City of Rome. And for a while Peter knowing that he was likely to be arrested and killed for his ministry, showed great courage preaching the Gospel and ministering to the small community of Christians there. 

When he began to agitate the local Roman authorities, the threat of the cross again loomed too close for comfort. So Peter began to flee Rome. But as he began to flee through the city gate, something happened. He had a vision. Before him he saw the Lord Jesus walking through the gate, into Rome carrying the cross.  Peter, falling to his knees asked him, “Domine, quo vadis?  Lord, where are you going?”  And the Lord replied, “I have come to Rome to be crucified, since you will not.”  Peter recognized that he had been fleeing the cross, yet again., and the Lord’s words struck Peter and gave him the resolve to do what he must do. 

Peter returned to his ministry, preaching the Truth of the Gospel, and for this he was arrested, and like our Lord, Peter was crucified; only he asked that he be crucified upside-down because he felt he was unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. His sacrifice no doubt bolstered the faith of the Roman Christians who would undergo terrible persecution, and has bolstered the faith of the Church for 2000 years because he finally took up his cross.

What will it mean to take up your cross this week? To pray, to fast, to visit the lonely widow next door? Will it be to bear wrongs patiently, without complaint, without seeking to get the last word in when arguing with a spouse, or refrain from talking back to your parents? Will it mean finally forgiving someone who hurt you, or going out of your way to find a intentional act of charity each day, to invite a coworker to pray? Daily upon waking, ask God for the strength and courage to carry that cross, the willingness to pay what is costly for the spread of the kingdom for the glory of God and salvation of souls.