Life, Death and the Way of the Cross

In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Mark, we are told that we must deny ourselves, and take up our cross, and follow the example given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us – His disciples – that if we try to save our lives, we will lose them; but if we will lose our lives for His sake, and for the sake of proclaiming the good news of our salvation, our lives will be saved. He is calling to our attention the inherent tendency in our fallen state to seek to live in this earthly life for as long as possible, even at the cost of life without end in His Kingdom. It is ironic that the more we cling to life in this world, the more likely we are to enter into a life of torment in the age to come; while if we pursue heavenly things, dying, in effect, in this world, we have the hope of life without end in the joyous presence of God.

In the reading today from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church in Galatia, we hear as well something about life and death. The Apostle is writing to a community of the faithful that he had established during one of his missionary journeys. Most of the people who had joined this community had previously been pagans, and so did not know of the Law given by God to Moses; and so had been influenced by some Christians who had been Jews before coming to have faith in our Lord, who were teaching that the only way someone could become a Christian was to first become a Jew, and to obey the Law of Moses as well as the Gospel of our Lord. St. Paul is writing to correct the Galatians, urging them to set aside this false teaching. In doing so, he teaches them about the new reality of our existence when we have been baptized into the death of Christ, and raised to new life with Him. He writes, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me.”

So: Here is how things stand. Before our baptism, we are alive in the flesh, but dead in our sins. When we are baptized, we are buried with Him; and when He rises to a life over which death has no power, He raises us to that same life. We have Christ living in us – a most wondrous and amazing gift! Yet if we do not realize this change that has taken place in us, we will continue to live as we did before our baptism; we will continue to follow the ways of this world, and we will not follow the ways of the heavenly life, and so risk losing that life. Among other things, this is why we must understand our Lord’s command to take up our cross, and follow Him.

When our Lord took up His Cross, He did so knowing that He would be put to death on it; that He would have to endure one of the most agonizing ways of death that the mind of fallen humanity has ever devised. The power by which it was possible for Him to willingly accept this death was the power of His love for us. This same power is available to us, so that we may also take up our cross to follow Him. That is, we are given the ability to turn aside from the ways of this world, dying to the world, and living so that the life of Christ in us may be seen and heard and experienced by everyone around us: our families, our friends, our neighbors, the people we work with, even the strangers we encounter during the course of a day. When we fail to live as we should; when we fail to express to those around us the love of God in Jesus Christ, it is because we love what we have in this life more than we love God; and because we love ourselves more than we love the other people in our lives.

What can we do? How can we become dispensers of the love given to us by God? We can do so by embracing the way of life we learn in the Church. That is, we dedicate ourselves to work to see God in every person we meet, and to respect them, even reverence them, as living icons, better, more pleasing to God, than we are ourselves, sinful as we are. We labor to see our own sins, and only our sins, fighting against pride by seeking humility. We learn to ask ourselves, “Do I really need this thing I want to buy?” while asking God to guide us in the use of the time and talents and treasure He has entrusted to us, so that we may do more to support the work of the Church, and to help those in need around us. We must also fast and pray, for without praying, we cannot come closer to God; and without fasting, we will not have the strength to overcome the desires of our flesh, and the comforts and pleasures the flesh seeks in the world.

Brothers and sisters, let us dedicate ourselves to taking up our cross, dying to the world, and seeking above all the kingdom of God. Let us ask God to give us the grace and strength needed to take up the Cross of His love, so that we may love and serve Him by loving and caring for each other.