Walking the walk

 This week's verses are Luke 9:23-27:

Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it. For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you most certainly, there are some standing here who will not experience death before they see the kingdom of God.”

 What does it mean to carry the cross? In Roman times, carrying the cross was one of the stages of the punishment involved in crucifixion. It wasn't just a physically exhausting thing. It was a form of public shaming, similar to the modern "perp walk," where they make sure all of the local TV stations' reporters are set up and ready to film when the accused (or condemned) is brought handcuffed from the police station to the courthouse.

The point at which you are carrying the cross is also the point where it's clear that you, as the condemned, are not going to get out of this alive. You're not going to make a heroic escape from the armed guards escorting you. The crowd isn't going to riot and rescue you. The judge isn't going to change his mind. In a few hours, you are going to die. If you fight it, it's just going to make things worse.

So how does that make you feel, if you want to be a good Christian, and you hear Jesus say that? "You are going to suffer, and you are going to stand out, people are going to do mean things to you, and then you are going to die." Would you choose a Bible school curriculum that said that? Would you join a church that offered that as a program? If you saw a gospel tract and were considering Christianity, would that be enough to convince you it's the best choice for your life? Think about it.

And what does it mean to deny yourself? Deny yourself what? It's kind of an open question, but I think it means denying yourself the option to do otherwise. If you have the choice, while carrying your cross, to make a phone call and get the charges dropped, is that really taking up your cross? It's just performance art, in that case. Or if you knew you could escape into the sea and swim to safety, and you were just carrying the cross until that bend in the road that overlooks the cliff, is that really taking up your cross? That's more like a weird triathlon.

As Christians, I think we do want to entertain other options sometimes. Maybe you're in the habit of going to a Bible study, but then your pretty friend from Spanish class wants to study that night. Or maybe you're investing in helping the homeless, but you get this great career opportunity and just don't have time to get down there like you used to. We want Jesus, but then we want those other things too. But what does it benefit us if we have those things, even all of those things, and miss out on the one true thing that matters?

When he says these grim words to us, Jesus is talking to his followers in the calm before a vicious storm of persecution. He himself is going to be crucified soon. So are most of them. He's saying to them "Look, if you're only in this halfway, you're not going to make it to the end." If they're not willing to experience death, they're going to reach the end of days and be filled with the kind of regret only quitters can experience: So close, but still a loser, not for lack of ability, but for lack of resolve.

So what he's saying, in a sense, is that the Christian walk is a "perp walk." We're not fighting the accusations. We're not hiding who we are. We accept hostility and punishment. We don't try to escape or justify or lash out. We absorb it, the way Jesus absorbed our sin. We carry it. The road leads to our death and resurrection. We follow him when we follow that road because that's the road he took.

I have met very few Christians, myself included, who are willing to accept even minor versions of the sorts of things Jesus accepted on our behalf on his way to be crucified. We don't even accept it if someone calls us out on our sin, or if we get a bad reputation for taking a Biblical stance on something. We argue, or we waffle, or we pout. But Jesus didn't do any of those things, even though he alone arguably had a right to.

And I think that's part of what he asks us to change about our lives. How do we take abuse and accusation? Are we going to increase the sin in the world in order to defend ourselves and put others in their place? Are we going to dull the gospel by downplaying it so that we can have a good income? Or are we going to follow him and his example by carrying it?

Mentally, we're of the opinion that we want to follow Jesus, that we want to be Christians, that we want to go "all in" and live in the crosshairs of his favor. But do we really? Are we willing to walk the walk? Are we willing to die for it? Do we want to be resurrected, made perfect, or do we want the life we have now?

In a few days, as I write this, it will be Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, everyone who saw Jesus wanted to follow him. People loved him. Mothers wanted him to kiss their babies. People had selfie-sticks made of palm branches and wanted to be seen with their new king. Everybody wanted to hang out. This is the Christianity we sell to the world. "Make some noise for the band and Jesus will give you literally everything you ever wanted."

A week later, people had a different opinion. Nobody loved him. Mothers shielded their children's eyes. People threw rocks. People he considered to be his closest friends wouldn't even admit they knew him. No eye contact. No returned calls. This is the Christianity we're asked to be willing to live out. "Take up your cross and walk the walk."

Obviously not all of us are going to be crucified. That's not the reason why a lot of churches have graveyards around them. But if you can't take an insult, how are you going to take a beating or real persecution? And if you won't admit that you believe something kind of unpopular, how are you going to hold up when there are death threats? It's the same road.

Take some time at the end of the day to ask yourself, "did I take up my cross today?" How is your walk going? When Jesus returns with his angels, will you still be standing around, unwilling to experience death? Or are you determined to follow Jesus to the resurrection?

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