"Pick Up Your Cross and Follow"

You and I get sold stuff all the time, don't we? We are often called consumers, as if that's our main identity. And now my computer remembers products I have been interested in and hawks them to me on the side in case I forgot about them. I think sometimes Christianity gets marketed as a product. Believe in Jesus and you'll receive these

benefits. Follow Jesus and watch for the blessings. But Jesus didn't usually sell the benefits of following him- on the contrary, he said it would be a challenge. And in our gospel today, he talks about the cost of discipleship.

In the gospel last week that Mary so beautifully preached on, Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say I am? And Peter bursts out; You're the Messiah, the Son of the living God! And in today's Gospel, Jesus will clarify what kind of messiah he is. To Peter and the Jewish people at the time, they assumed the coming messiah would save them from the Roman occupiers.

So, in today's gospel Jesus begins to explain that his messiahship means suffering and capital punishment by the Romans, and yes, then being raised again. I'm not sure they even heard that last part. Well, Peter isn't ready to have his paradigm shifted. He's still campaigning for Jesus the Political Liberator, Jesus the Conquering Hero.

So Peter takes Jesus aside to set him straight. You're not going to suffer, Jesus; you're not going to die. That's not in your job description. We need you to be something ·else..

There is a movement in this country called the Seven Mountain Movement. It comes from what I believe is a misreading of a passage in Revelation about seven hills, which probably meant Rome. But these Christians in this movement want to take over what they call the seven mountains of education, family, business, government and the military, media, and arts and entertainment. They would like Christians to run all these things.

They want public schools to teach Christianity, they want to take over school boards. This is in spite of having a separation of church and state, this is in spite of our constitution not allowing the government to establish one religion. They want only Christians to hold positions of power in government.

Of course, this will be their version of Christianity. Now, back to Peter. Peter wants Jesus to use his power to do what Peter wants, to get rid of the bad guys. Peter knows what is needed! And Jesus looks at Peter and says, I'm not here to be your conquering hero, to claim earthly power. I'm going to die on a cross, because of who I have loved and who I hung out with, because of the way I criticized the religious powers. And I want you to follow me in that way of the cross. I don't want you to force my way on anybody. I want you to live out my life of love and service and leave the results to God.

So Jesus doesn't mince words- He says to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! He remembers the wilderness, where Satan tempted him to use power for his own gain. Peter, you're getting in the way of the mission God gave me. Because God is going to use my death on the cross to save the world.

Then Jesus says, Let me tell you what it looks like to follow me. If people want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me. Jesus says, Leave your agenda behind, and pick up mine. I'll want you to care about the people I care about and love the neighbor who is different from you and even pray for your enemies, not try to dominate them.

A student in the drama department at Duke University was asked by the campus pastor to memorize and act out the last week of Jesus's life. When he met with the pastor, he had some questions about the text, and the first one was, Do I have to follow the story exactly? And the pastor said, Well, that's usually what we do. What do you have in mind?

The student said, Well, I don't want to remove much, but as Jesus carries the cross to that hill outside of town, there's this small character named Simon of Cyrene, the one the Romans force to carry the cross for Jesus. And the pastor said, Is there a problem with him?

The student said, It's not that I don't like him. It's just that I don't think it fits. It messes up the flow of the story. Things have been so dramatic, with the arrest of Jesus and his trial. And now they're leading him to the cross. And it's all very emotional and moving, and then it gets interrupted by this guy Simon who gets pulled out of the crowd to carry the cross. It just doesn't work, dramatically-speaking.

And, the campus pastor said, Leave it, please. It may not work dramatically-speaking, but it works spiritually-speaking. It works, because that's the way many of us experience discipleship. We're standing somewhere one day, and we get asked to carry the cross of Jesus. We're just minding our own business, and Jesus says, Here, help me carry this.

A month ago, Jesus walked by with a cross. Bridging Cultures needed a place to offer a pop-up food pantry, and in that question you heard Jesus say, Here, help me carry this.

You're with your friends in the lunchroom at school, and one of your buddies starts making fun of another student for whatever, and you say, Hey, that's not funny. Stop it. You heard Jesus say, Here, help me carry this.

You learn that the Oregon Synod offices up near Emanuel Hospital in Portland are on land that was cleared of homes owned by Black families in the early 1970s because of so-called urban renewal, some of which never happened. Those families were not offered a fair price for their forced relocation, and generational wealth was lost. You discover there is a fund to provide some sort of restitution to the descendants of those families and you decide to help. Jesus has walked by to say, Here, help me carry this.

Jesus doesn't spend much time telling you about the rewards you're going to get if you follow him. Basically, he says, This will be difficult. This will cost something. This might seem counter-intuitive to what some people might do- But take up your cross and follow me.

Lou Holtz, who coached football at a number of universities, tells about his first year at North Carolina State. Before he got there, they had won only three games in three years, a terrible record. The first year Coach Holtz got there, they started winning, and they even went to a bowl game at the end of the year.

Two weeks after the bowl victory, the coach went to see the athletic director, feeling pretty good about this tum-around season. After discussing the prospects for the next season, Coach Holtz said to the AD, whose name was Willis Casey- Willis, this is probably an oversight on your part, but you haven't mentioned anything about bonuses for the assistant coaches and me. Willis said, what bonuses?

Coach Holtz said, Well, we did take our team to a bowl game. Our fans filled the stadium for every game. We played regularly on national TV, and that helped increase contributions from alumni and supporters. When a team does all that, the school usually rewards the coach and his assistants with a bonus of a month's salary.

And the athletic director looked at him and said, I want to tell you something- I hired you to do those things. Why do you think I fired the last coach? Because he didn't do those things. So please don't request a bonus for doing the job I hired you to do. Now, is there anything else you wanted to talk about? And Coach Holtz said, No sir, and left the office.

What do we expect to get out of our discipleship? Are we following Jesus for the rewards? There is a distortion of the gospel called the "prosperity gospel" that says that God rewards strong faith and financial donations with wealth and health. It's pretty transactional. If I do this, God will do this. There is some scripture that can lean in that direction. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19 that those who give up things to follow Jesus will be rewarded with houses and relationships and fields- - but we've more often interpreted that to mean that we'll have the rich blessings of being in community. Paul in 2 Corinthians, in a plea to support struggling churches, says, Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

But Jesus more often talks about being content, trusting that God will provide what you need. And he often warns about the dangers of riches. So, when Jesus talks about discipleship here, about what it looks like, he doesn't sell you with goods and services. He says, Pick up your cross and follow me. Those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

So what does picking up the cross look like? Paul gives us a clue in our second lesson today. Paul says, Here's what following Jesus looks like, here's what it acts like, here's what it loves like. Now, the first part of Paul's Letter to the Romans explains what God has done for us. We are justified by God's grace as a free gift through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. We are baptized into Christ's death, so that we may be raised from the dead and walk in newness of life. And what does that look like?

I invite you to look at that Romans 12 text in your bulletin. It is one admonition after another. "Let love be genuine." Think of 1 Corinthians 13- What does genuine love look like? It's patient; it's kind; it doesn't harbor resentments. "Hate what is evil;" notice Paul says hate the evil, not the people doing the evil. That's an important distinction. Jesus doesn't give us license to hate anybody.

"Hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection." Paul is writing to a church here, and he starts with loving each other. Outdo one another in showing honor. What a blessing to point out the good other people are doing. Let's be cheerleaders for each other! We get beaten down enough in life! "Don't lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord." By the way, you serve the Lord by serving people, by blessing creation.

"Rejoice in hope." Why are we hopeful? Because we believe God is always working for good in all circumstances, and that takes the pressure off me- all I can do is all I can do. "Be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer." I'm so glad David sends out prayer concerns each Friday. I'm so glad Donna has a team of prayer warriors. I hope you work that list. Our prayers make a difference. I would suggest all of this is the first circle of love.

Then Paul expands the commitment to the wider community. "Contribute to the needs of the saints." Sometimes when he talks about the saints, he is referring to the struggling church in Jerusalem. Sometimes he means the other churches in Asia Minor. He means believers elsewhere. I'm grateful for our financial commitment to the Oregon Synod.

That money supports ministries all over Oregon, and through the ELCA supports folks all around the world.

Then Paul says, Extend hospitality to strangers. He's moved beyond the fellowship of believers in Rome, he's moving beyond the saints elsewhere, now he's talking about our commitment to strangers. Extend hospitality to strangers. We are at a time in our country when strangers are being deported, when circles are being narrowed. Some leaders are saying that real Americans are those white Americans who have a long generational history here. I'm glad that we are finding ways to reach out to our neighbors here in Canby, to learn from each, to extend hospitality. Extend hospitality to strangers.

Associate with the lowly, he says. I heard a story about Dolly Parton that when she acted in the movie Rhinestone, the other lead in the movie, a male celebrity, would arrive on set and go straight to his trailer. He wouldn't associate with anybody. Dolly would show up, and talk with the lowliest of people on the set; she would eat lunch with anybody and everybody. She didn't just associate with the cool kids.

How else do we pick up the cross? Paul goes even wider- Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. I think of Ruby Bridges who as she walked into a newly integrated school in the South, and was cursed by bigoted white people, and she prayed for them. Bless those who persecute you. A little further on Paul says, If your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they're thirsty, give them something to drink. For by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Paul is quoting from Proverbs, and it might mean that your enemies will burn with shame because you are not returning tit for tat, you are not seeking revenge, you actually want God's best for them. That's what love is, wanting God's best for someone else.

What does this look like in Springfield, Ohio right now? There are 10,000 Haitians in Springfield who are in this country on Temporary Protected Status, and are now bring deported back to a country that our state department says is not safe for American citizens. So Springfield Christians and other people of goodwill are helping Haitian parents fill our power-of-attorney documents so someone can care for their children if they are detained. They are bringing food and diapers to them because they're afraid to leave their homes. When Haitian folks were ordered to show up at a local ICE office, many to have ankle bracelets put on them- a local pastor put communion bread into their hands. This is the body of Christ, and you are part of his body.

And then one of my favorite verses here is verse 16: If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. All you can do is all you can do, right? You can't control other people. You can't make them change. All you can do is all you can do. I know there can be toxic people in our lives and maybe we need to set up a healthy boundary. But in many strained relationships, how can I take a first step in mending a relationship? How can I take responsibility where I can?

There have been a couple times in our lives, living in various communities, where there have been misunderstandings with our neighbors, and there were hurt feelings, and I was the one to bake a loaf of pumpkin bread and take it next door. As far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

All of these are ways to pick up the cross. Pick up the cross, and hate what is evil. Pick up the cross, and love one another with mutual affection. Pick up the cross, and refuse to retaliate when someone does you wrong. Pick up the cross, and overcome evil with good.

Some years ago, a pastor friend of mine went back to the Midwest to preach at the funeral of a man who had been his mentor. This man had battled cancer in his sinuses decades ago. The doctors had gone through his brain to successfully remove the cancer, but the radiation afterwards had damaged the area around his eyes. He lost the vision in one eye. A couple years later, he lost the vision in his other eye.

He served a two-point parish, which means he had to travel between them. When the bishop found out that this pastor was now blind, he told him he would have to retire on permanent disability. But when the bishop showed up to work out the details with the pastor, he was met by a number of congregational members who said, This man is our pastor, and we want him to continue being our pastor.

We will drive him where he needs to go. We will be patient as he finds his way around the sanctuary. He is our pastor. We want him to serve us in the circumstances he finds himself in. That community let love be genuine. That community outdid itself in showing him honor. That community was patient in his suffering. That community persevered in prayer. That community overcame the challenges of life with good.

Here's the good news - We have been saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Everything else is "therefore" -Therefore, how are we going to live? Therefore, how are we going to respond? Jesus says, If you follow me, I don't promise to make your life easy. But I will place you in a supportive community where you can pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me. And in that way you will be a blessing to the world I love. Amen.