If a man wishes to come after me,
he must deny his very self,
take up his cross,
and follow in my steps
On this weekend after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, both of our readings – the Epistle from the letter of Paul to the Galatians and the Gospel from Mark’s narrative – succinctly present the doctrine of the Cross. Both readings stress what the implications of Christ’s cross are for those who are His followers.
Paul tells us simply that he believed that he was crucified with Christ andthat his life was not his own because Christ was living in him. Paul clearly saw the importance of embracing the Jesus Way of Living. He understood that Jesus was God’s revelation to humankind with regard to how this earthly life must be lived in order to obtain eternal life. Paul realized that Jesus revealed the meaning of human life. We humans are here to learn how to truly be spiritual, human beings.
Mark’s Gospel makes this message even clearer. Mark shares these words of Jesus: if a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and follow in my steps. In other words, to follow Jesus means to embrace the challenges of life as He did and not allow the difficulties of life to diminish our faith and hope in God or our ability to love. His life, and His reactions to the challenges of His life, clearly show us this truth.
Indeed the Cross clearly manifests how Jesus Christ denied Himself and embraced the life given to Him – He freely embraced the Cross because it was His way to reveal to others that what He taught about life was and is what God desired mankind to understand about life.
It is so easy to misinterpret the events of life. Obviously none of us desire to suffer or be disappointed. Life presents each of us disappointments, failures and sufferings. Most humans tend to focus on these forgetting that life also presents certain moments of happiness, times of success and genuine feelings of love. Life needs both in order to help us learn the lessons that life is supposed to teach us.
We need to remember God’s words to Paul: My grace or help is sufficient for you to endure all the things of life and to grow because of them. Only place your hope and trust in Me.
Hope and trust in a loving God Who will be with you through all the events of life is critical for spiritual growth. To follow Christ meansto see the value in all the experiences of life, whatever they may be.