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When this interaction took place between Peter and Jesus, it was getting close to the time Jesus was to be crucified.

Cross Bearing

            When this interaction took place between Peter and Jesus, it was getting close to the time Jesus was to be crucified.    And so he began to prepare his disciples.  In fact, he told them he was going to have to suffer and be put to death.

And as you have heard, Peter was horrified.   To him, this was completely unacceptable. He said:  ‘God forbid.   That must not happen.'

  Then Jesus actually scolded Peter and said:   ‘You are thinking like a typical human being, rather than thinking like God.'

And after that, Jesus tells his disciples once again what the Christian life is all about.  This is a recurring theme in Jesus' teaching:

  This is what one has to do to be his disciple:   Three things are required:

-We must forget ourselves.

-We must carry our cross.

-We must follow Jesus.

Let me say that on our own, we would not in a million years, make the choice Jesus requires...-- forgetting about ourselves.   Self-denial is not the typical first choice we humans make.

In fact, there is something unexpected, contradictory and not instinctive....about the way that leads to life.  It is not our nature to choose the cross....which represents redemptive suffering....or cross bearing.       Given the choice of cross bearing on the one hand and on the other, strong-arming the enemy for Jesus' sake, we would choose strong arming every time. 

God continually reminds us of the two clear options we face and one way brings life, and the other-death.

In saying...'we must forget ourselves'....what Jesus is asking of us is---that we put God first in all our considerations.....front and center...put God right there in the middle of every decision we make.   That means that we take ourselves out as the top spot in our own life, and make God the ruler, the reason, the top priority.

The concept of "front and center' took on new meaning for me after an experience we had this past summer.   We got tickets to see some musical theatre at the Merry Go Round Theatre in Auburn.  Our seats were literally on the front row, in the center two seats.    There was nothing much between us and the actors on the stage, just a few feet away. We could feel the stage vibrate with the dancing.   We could feel the beat of the music from the orchestra pit.   And that made the experience very intense.      

  I think it is the same when we really put God front and center in our lives.   Life is much more meaningful and vivid and urgent.  

  Putting God first means putting ourselves last, and that is certainly not in any way an easy choice.   That means putting God first:  in the choice of the movies we watch;   in the way we spend our money; in the games we play; in the entertainment we choose.

Cross bearing is not an easy choice; it is not an easy life.  

Jesus tells us what Christian living is all about.....and it involves making a choice between the way of the world, and the way of God. One way looks good....but leads to death.    The other way looks impossible, but leads to life.

Another thing we are dealing with in this text is the lure of the easy way. 

These verses follow immediately the ones where Peter answers Jesus question about who he is... saying enthusiastically.   "You are the Christ,   the Son of the living God."

Then Jesus changed the subject.   He began to tell them that the crowds would turn against Him.  He would be crucified, and then on the third day, raised.     

 Those are familiar words to us, but probably the disciples had no idea what he was talking about! 

Peter protests loudly.     "No way could such a thing happen to you;   you are the Son of God!"

And then....Jesus calls him Satan.  I want to say a word about what I think is going on when Jesus calls Peter ‘Satan.'   He was tempted by the suggestion that he take the "easy way".......  The Evil Force is telling him how to be a success  in three easy steps.....

"turn the stones to bread;   leap off the top of the temple, and bow down and worship me."

Nowadays when we think of Satan...rather than seeing an image of a fire breathing beast carrying a pitchfork---a more accurate image might be someone wearing a one thousand dollar suit and offering instant glamour, or  instant money,  or instant gratification.    When we think of it like that......we can see the forcer of evil at work all around us, whenever we are tempted to put our own desires first.    

            When Jesus' closest friend Peter says to him....."No way should YOU have to suffer"-----Jesus sees Satan in those words.....because it is a temptation to take the easy way.....to avoid the cross bearing choice.

Jesus is resisting the easy way,  and also saying the same must be true for his followers:   "If anyone would be my disciple,  let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

When Simon Peter heard Jesus tell what his future would be like,   he thought that his Lord was talking like a lunatic.  That's how it looked to Peter.    And to tell you the truth, that's how it looks to many people even today......even to many of Christ's own followers.

Certainly the Cross Bearing way is not the typical American Way.  

The American Way has historically been based on competition, prideful striving for success,   being number one,   a fierce independence, ---and the unquenchable need to WIN!!!----whether that is gold medals or wars.

Speaking of wars.....when I first learned the place of wars in history---it was an amazing and sad realization.   When we STUDY our nation's history,  that story is told through the history of wars. 

Here are some markers for America:    The Spanish American War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War,   World War 1, World War 2, the Korean War,   the Vietnam War,   the Gulf War, the War in Iraq.

We tell our story as a nation by our wars, and therefore define ourselves by them.

And of course, the way of war always leads to destruction and despair and death.

I might add the observation that every social evil we want to eliminate, we also cast in terms of war:     War on poverty,  war on drugs,  war on terrorism.   

War always suggests the strong-arm approach.     We make attempts to muscle one another into doing what we think is right.        

We like to crack the whip, and lay down the law,  and get tough...whether that is in our families,  or our schools,  or our prisons,

But Jesus says there is another way.    It is the way of forgiveness and sacrifice; 

 it is the way healing and compassion.

I know that people wonder:   Does choosing the Christian way turn people into softies?   

Does becoming a disciple mean becoming Mr. Easy Touch?    Does taking up a cross mean being taken to the cleaners by our enemies?  Or walked all over by our friends?

No!  Absolutely not!!

The whole point of the words that Jesus spoke to Peter and the disciples was to communicate that the unselfish, unexpected, unspectacular, humble approach is the one that will win the day. 

In psychological terms, it means not being driven and dominated by our egos.

God had a plan for the redemption of humanity;   and Jesus was a huge part of that plan.  God's plan.  He had to set aside his ego, his desire for power. 

The cross makes no sense at all until it is seen for what it really is..... a clear, strong choice  .....orchestrated by God himself to lance and heal a huge cosmic wound of human sinfulness.

The cross has a double meaning......it represents suffering and death

It also represents eternal life and redemption and victory over death.

Jesus is the Way.....the key....to real winning.   The kind of winning that triumphs over manipulation, fearfulness, decay, rebellion, sin and death.

When Peter said.....'No way, Lord, will you suffer like that....you are the very son of the living God!!-----Jesus stood his ground.

Because he understood that the world will not be put back together, brokenness is not restored, diseased humanity will not be healed---- with strong-arm tactics.

Jesus is resisting the lure of the easy way.   Listen again to his words: "If any one would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take us his cross and follow me."

Many of us today are making the mistake of following the easy way.  We see it in our homes.  We see it in our workplaces.  We see it everywhere.

True Success in life requires a willingness to resist the lure of the easy way.  

A sound body requires that we exercise, eat the right foods, make healthy choices. 

 A sound mind requires that we read, that we observe, that we continually learn.

  A sound marriage requires that each partner goes into it with the understanding that marriage is a 50/50 proposition, not a battle for control.  

 A sound family means that we will take the time to be sensitive to the needs of our children, that we provide for their physical and emotional and spiritual needs.

   All this requires sacrifice, and perseverance and determination.

In other words, the path to spiritual success is that of self-denial.

We also know that self-denial is essential to the salvation of the world.

Our world faces some tremendous challenges in the years ahead, challenges of deep economic woes,   environmental issues;  limited resources,   challenges of over-population;   feeding the world;    challenges of the need for some peaceful resolutions lest we destroy our earth completely----with missiles,  or chemicals,  or rampant disease.

There is still time to act to change the direction the earth is headed,  if anyone anywhere will simply practice self-denial.

A cynic once said: ‘When the going gets tough, everyone leaves.'   In a way, that is what happened to Jesus.  As the way got harder, the numbers of those who followed dwindled until finally, He died alone on Calvary.'

But those early disciples did come back and picked up the cross of Jesus,  so that we today know the old old story of Jesus and His Love.   

Someone once asked John Wesley..."Do you think it was self-denial for the Lord Jesus to come down from heaven to rescue a world?   Wesley answered:  "Was it self denial?  No....it was love, love that swallows up everything, and first of all, self." 

The cross is ultimately the story of love.  

Our sinful nature is such that we too often make the choice to do it our way.   

I read the following illustration, which I think says a lot about doing it our own way.

A protestant pastor once visited a huge Roman Catholic Cathedral in Minneapolis.    Of course the Protestants were awestruck by the huge Italian marble pillars,   solid oak pews,   the twelve apostles in stone, replicas of those in a cathedral in Rome.

The tour guide arrived and the visitors learned that the building had been raised in 1904 and it had cost two million dollars......a lot of money at that time.     The guide said,   "Maybe it will stand here for five hundred years or more."

Then one young girl had the audacity to ask, "Why do those big square pillars in the front have A and U carved into them.

The pastor looked.  The young girl had noticed what he had not noticed.   The craftsmen and artisans had carved and set into place two huge granite blocks which topped off giant columns.

Into the ornate scrollwork on one of the blocks had been cut the letter A...which of course the pastor understood to be the Greek letter for Alpha.    On the other side should have been the symbol for Omega.  But instead, there was the huge letter U.

There was a lot of ornate scrollwork on both blocks, and the scrollwork actually matched, so you could tell that it wasn't that the blocks were put in wrong.   Still, the Greek letter for Omega had been turned over and had become a U.

It was clear what had happened.    The carver of those huge stone blocks had been given the templates for Alpha and Omega.  And since he did not know the Greek alphabet, he had simply said to himself,   "This can't be right.   They would not want this U to be carved upside down.  I'd be a laughing stock to do it that way.  I know how it ought to be.  I'll do it my way.  And he did.   

So, for perhaps the next 500 years, those who come for morning mass will be able to see the folly of the craftsman who decided that HE knew the way it should be done and did it his way.

The reality is, that the CROSS turns everything upside down.   It says:   Blessed are the peacemakers.     Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.  

  It turns upside our notion of winning.    It turns upside down our notion of God.   It turns upside down all the assumptions we make about the way to live.....because Jesus says:  

The first will be last, and the last first;     those who want to save their lives will lose it;   those who lose their lives for my sake will find it.

Jesus says:  "If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, carry his cross and follow me."

That is his call to your life and mine today.  Can he count on you?   Will you join the company of the committed?

Will you take up the cross -----and find your life?