BEARING OUR CROSS TODAY
Opening Prayer
Lord, may I never deny You, even in the slightest degree.
Read MATTHEW 10:32–42
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“‘Take up thy cross,’ the Savior said, / ‘if thou wouldst my disciple be; / deny thyself, the world forsake, / and humbly follow after me’” (Charles William Everest, 1814–1877).
Think Further
Reading Jesus’ words in the peace and safety of Australia, I know this description of Christian life seems alien.These graphic descriptions of the cost of discipleship sound surreal. That is why we should take these stern words as a call to re-examine our own comfortable Christianity and ask whether we have made God in our own image. Have we refashioned the Christian faith to our own tastes and inclinations? Is it possible that we have so changed our priorities that what we practice is barely recognizable as the Christian faith? Where do our new priorities lie? Do our corporate structures matter more than our witnessin the world? Are we more concerned for our comfortable lifestyle than for a suffering humanity in need of the knowledge of Jesus?
Matthew has given a full account of Jesus’ teaching on the cost of discipleship in a hostile world. It must have been important for the life of his late first-century community, struggling to maintain faith against increasing opposition. It is no coincidence that in this passage Matthew first mentions the cross. To take up our cross and follow Jesus (38) is what we all must do and what the church must be seen to do. That is what the Christian life is: bearing witness to God’s saving grace to us in Jesus; living as if the end time is near, with a deep concern for mission in God’s world; letting go of material possessions and thefear of what others might say or do to us; placing loyalty to Christ above all other loyalties, even loyalties of home and family; living a life of non-resistance to violence; trusting fully in God and in God’s future for us.
Apply
“Lord… Teach me… to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, save that of knowing that I do Your will” (Ignatius of Loyola, 1491–1556).
Closing prayer
Lord, giveme the fortitude to take up the cross You have for me and to follow You all the days of my life.
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