Choose to take up the cross

“And he said to all: ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” (Luke 9:23)

This harsh statement is directed to us from our Lord, and a very true one at that.

After all, we call ourselves Christians — the followers of Christ. We are baptized in His name and thus united with him.

Before his public service, the first thing our Lord did was to invite rather simple fisherman to follow him saying: “Follow me!”

They did.

Through them he issued this invitation to all of us who are baptized in his name. And if we ignore this invitation, he warns us: “And he who does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:38).

As one can see, his invitation to follow him is preconditioned with self-denial, and this is left to our choice.

Do we understand the “weight” of the cross?

In everyday life, we often hear people say: “That is his [or her] cross!”; “He [or she] has to bear it.” As when someone is struck with hardships in life such as losing a dear one, seeing a close friend or relative stricken with a dreadful disease, or suffering great bodily harm.

All of life’s hardships are understood as a “cross” which has to be carried almost as fate. Every life has its “cross to bear.”

All of this comes to us from outside and does not depend on our will to accept or reject it.

It is then obvious that our Lord does not refer to this type of cross.

This befalls us in its own way, which provokes the feeling of self-pity and in many instances bitterness.

We ask the question: “Why me?” There is no question, we suffer.

Christ himself was confronted with such a situation on the occasion of the death of his close friend Lazarus. He wept with Martha and her sister, Mary.

And as he did, at the moment in Bethany, so he does today. His compassion and suffering is with us today.

But we have to understand the call that he directed to us: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

This means we should place our problems and care about our “wounds” in second place.

This has to be done daily, in order to follow him.

Not only do we have to forget about daily pleasures, but the sufferings also, and get busy helping others.

In the time of the temple worship in Jerusalem, the idea of the coming Messiah was portrayed in a popular story. This story told that in order to recognize the Messiah, the people had to go in front of the temple of Jerusalem where all the beggars came for alms begging. To be more successful, the beggars would remove the covers from their wounds and expose them to be seen by the people who came to worship. The one among the beggars who kept his covers intact and did not expose his wounds would be the Messiah. The Messiah kept his wounds covered in order to be ready, at all times, to help others.

This idea of Messiah-servant is depicted in the prophesies of the prophet Isaiah.

The idea of the servant is illustrated in self-denial. This is what Christ asks from his followers.

As it can be seen in the words “... and take up his cross daily,” we are asked to accept this cross by our free will and choice.

This is quite a bit different from our popular concept of the “cross” as it is portrayed in the beginning of this column.

Instead of giving ourselves to a somewhat fate-resigned-like attitude of life, we are to become active participants in sufferings of others; through compassion, co-suffering and direct involvement.

When do we do it?

As we can see, it has to be done “daily.”

Where?

Wherever we find ourselves.

Why do we have to do this? In order to be worthy of Christ.

There is a big difference between the concepts of the “cross,” the popular one, and the “Cross” our Lord demands.

The first one ends with man himself, while the “cross” Christ demands of us results in resurrection and the constant resurrection of life in other people.

Yes, all of us are with sores and the great majority keep those sores open for others to see. The followers of the Messiah are to keep theirs bound constantly in order to be able to help others at any time.

“And he who does not take up his cross and follow me, is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:38) — He warns us.

On this third Sunday of Lent, the Orthodox Church observes the adoration of the cross.

The Rev. Daniel Rohan is pastor of St. Mark Orthodox Church in Liberty.