The Sunday of the Cross

Kenosis or Control?

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)

I have read this passage for over five decades and have heard probably dozens of sermons on it including this morning’s (and preached a few myself), . But today I heard the Gospel reading as if I had never heard it before.

The sermon you probably heard was much like all the ones I’ve heard and preached. The main points are: Give up “the world” and endure the pain of avoiding sinful pleasures, gracefully bear life’s inexplicable sufferings, be bold in proclaiming Christianity as the only path to God, be sacrificial in your dedication to the church and attending services and doing your spiritual disciplines, and more mundanely accepting persecution for being a Christian, i.e., don’t be ashamed of publicly saying grace at a restaurant, or being a “Christian witness” in a conversation that involves a culture war topic.

But what is “your self”? What is “the world” and “your life” and “being ashamed of Christ and His words in an adulterous and sinful generation”?

It hinges, I think, on what we think is “the gospel”, “Me and My words”, and the “glory of His Father”.

Hear me out.

First, how does one “gain the whole world” and lose one’s soul? Christ’s temptations in the wilderness defines it perfectly: power, religion, being a flashy “influencer”, having resources and doing whatever it takes to get those things to rule people’s attention, loyalty and obedience.

The Way of Christ is kenotic: not holding on to power, flash, religion, and manipulation but letting it all go, letting go of even being God, and becoming the lowliest of servants to the least, the lost, the lowest dregs of humanity. He gave up His “self-as-God”, we are called to give up our illusion of “being like God knowing good from evil”.

So, what then is “taking up the cross” and the shame of being a follower of Christ in an adulterous generation? Perhaps it is not so much confronting the adultery but forgiving it. What were Jesus’ words that scandalized the religious? The Sundays of pre-Lent give us a clue: “Come down, Zaccheus and I will dine with you". “The Publican went away justified.” “The Prodigal Son was welcomed home with open arms.” In the Last Judgment no one expected THAT!

The Gospel is taking up The Cross and being lifted up from the earth and all earthly cares, religious and political systems, and judgments. The Cross stands above the earth physically and spiritually.

Christ dies on it for sinners and by their hands, the very hands He created, not rules them from it.

Christ prays for sinners on it “forgive them for they know not what they do”, not teaches them a new moral standard or political/religious system by which to live.

Christ accepts the political and religious condemnation and sentence of death silently. He wordlessly bears the burden of the entirety of all human sin in Himself and conquers it by accepting death, not by waging a political and religious culture war and debate with it in the courts of Herod, Pilate and the High Priests.

I think perhaps our “Christian culture” is a spiritually adulterous generation who have left the Gospel of Christ and are ashamed of the Cross, forgiveness, laying down our life, our power, our influence, our control, our religion. We would rather gain control of the world before we will die for its sinners. We will not follow Christ and give up the possibility of our self-determined earthly kingdom into their violent, bloody hands and forgive them for it.

What is the glory of the Father that will shame us? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” and we turned away from living the shameful humility and earthly powerlessness of the Cross’ forgiveness of evil and sin and wielded it as a scepter to reform the world and sinners.

Perhaps taking up the Cross is far more demanding and encompassing than just me and my personal struggles with my fleshly weaknesses, proclivities, attitudes, addictions and ritual observances.

It might just involve forgiving the entire world.