Lift High Your Cross
At the beginning of Worship today I asked you all to pay special attention to the
words of the gathering Hymn - Lift High the Cross. That hymn is one of my favorites
and it is filled with so much meaning.
The cross was the place of the ultimate sacrifice of our Lord - and it was a horrible
and gruesome death. Yet from that cross came the glory - sin and death were
conquered forever. The writer of the hymn refers to the cross as a “glorious tree”.
His words celebrate Jesus and urge us: “Come, Christians follow where our captain
trod”. It is believed the inspiration for this wonderful hymn came from a vision
Emperor Constantine had in 312 AD. He was fighting for rule of the Roman Empire.
Prior to heading into the Battle of Milvian Ridge where his troops were
outnumbered two to one Constantine saw a vision of the Lab arum - with the words
“In this sign you shall conquer”
We know the lab arum as the Cross of Christ - a combo of the Greek Letters Chi and
Rho which are the first two letters in the Greek word for Christ. Emperor
Constantine had his soldiers place the lab arum on their shields and victory was
easily theirs. He did become Emperor of Rome and in 313 AD he legalized
Christianity. He himself was baptized as a Christian shortly before his death.
Both Emperor Constantine and the hymn writer recognize the cross a symbol of
Christ’s love - it comes with the promise of eternal life but offers no guarantee of an
easy road along the way. In Baptism, we were all marked with the cross of Christ the “seal of him who died”. Today, we are called to lift high that cross for the entire
world to “draw us all to thee”
Today’s Gospel from Mark is filled with some pretty strong words and instruction
from Jesus regarding the cross. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” These same words appear in
both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke - but Luke adds that we must take up our
cross “daily”.
What prompted these words from Jesus? Jesus had earlier asked his disciples “Who
do people say that I am?” They gave all the expected answers John the Baptist,
Elijah, one of the prophets. But then Jesus asks the tough question - “But who do
you say that I am?” Peter is the only to reply - “You are the Messiah.” It is the first
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time in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus is recognized as and accepts the title Messiah the anointed one who has come to save them.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has no response to Peter’s statement other than to
“sternly order” the disciples to tell no one. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus does
reply to Peter. He blesses him, calls him the rock on which he will build the church,
and tells him that he will be given the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Peter and the other disciples must have been pretty excited about the presence of
the Messiah - the one who would reunite Israel and save them from Rome. But then
Jesus bursts that bubble by telling them of his impending death: “the Son of Man
must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and
the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” This goes against all the
religious expectations and hope of the Jews. Their Messiah can’t die! He was
coming to make Israel supreme among nations once again and bring peace to all the
land.
So again, Peter steps him - it is time to have a heart to heart with Jesus - he takes
Jesus aside and “rebukes” him. I love that word rebuke - it is so intense! Today we
might use language such Peter told him off or set him straight. But none have quite
the intensity of rebuke. I have a vision of Peter putting his arm around Jesus as they
walk away from the others and then telling him everything he thinks is wrong with
the plan Jesus has just described. He did it out of love but without complete
understanding of who Jesus really was - he had not discerned God’s purpose.
We don’t really know what Peter said to Jesus but it sure pushed his buttons. Jesus
rebukes Peter saying, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on
divine things but on human things.” Can’t you just picture Jesus so frustrated that
these disciples still don’t get it? So Jesus lays out his expectations pretty clearly for
them and the crowd: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” He continues: “For those who
want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for
the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
These expectations also apply to us today - we call it discipleship. We too must deny
ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus. That means letting go of the
current world thinking of “what’s in it for me” or “it’s all about me” and focusing on
that cross. It might not be an easy road but it is one worth traveling.
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For those in Jesus’ time and during the years of the early church the cross
represented a cruel method of execution used for enemies of Rome. It was a
symbol of torture and death - in fact, it is estimated some 30,000 were crucified
under Roman authority during the lifetime of Christ. So, when Jesus spoke of taking
up their cross, Biblical people would immediately have a mental picture of a poor
condemned soul carrying the instrument of his execution on his back - a weight of
well over 300 pounds.
Several Apostles were martyred by crucifixion - some hung upside down as they did
not feel worthy to die in the same manner as Jesus. Thankfully, in 337 AD, Emperor
Constantine abolished crucifixion in the Roman Empire. Now, the cross would
become a symbol of Jesus conquering death not enduring it. By the late 4th century
the Church had begun to use this image of the cross in art, buildings, and during
worship.
So what does it mean for us today to take up our cross and follow Jesus?? Simply
put - we must be willing to pay any price for the sake of Jesus. It means not just
being able to answer the question who is Jesus, but showing the answers in
everything we do in our lives.
“Our” cross may mean embarrassment, rejection, shame, and even persecution
because of our relationship with Christ. We might have to miss out on some
worldly things as we stick to our Christian beliefs. We could be hurt emotionally,
physically, or even financially. Stop and think for a moment about Chick Filet
Restaurants or Hobby Lobby Stores and the revenues they give up by being closed
on Sundays. They are taking up their cross and following Jesus.
We will be asked to take care of the poor rather than seek the power. We will be
taking the road less traveled. We will have to welcome those who make us
uncomfortable. We will have to lose our life to save it. We will have to redefine
ourselves as children of God not of the world.
But the good news is - we know the end of the story - we are a resurrection people and we are not travelling this road alone. Jesus speaks the words - “Take up your
cross and follow me” to the disciples and the crowd - to ALL people. He speaks
those words to us! In fact, the word “follow” in Hebrew means “to take the same
road as another does”. It does not mean walk behind all alone but rather it means
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walk alongside, to accompany another person. Or a whole congregation full of
people.
Jesus is telling us everything we do must be in light of the cross and we need to carry
that cross high so it shines brightly over the world. We need to move from focus on
me to focus on God. And then, we need to share our faith with the world.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to be with 19 youth from three area
Lutheran churches at Rock the Universe at Universal Studios in Orlando. Those
youth - including Natalie from Faith - carried their crosses high as they joined with
youth from over 40 different denominations or movements to celebrate the love of
Christ in their lives.
It was a fun time of long, noisy bus rides, lots of junk food and monster drinks, really
cool roller coasters and other virtual rides, great Christian bands and music, sleeping
on the floor of Salem Lutheran Church (if you call that sleeping), and then
worshiping there with new friends on Sunday morning.
The highlight of the weekend was a candlelight prayer service held at 11:00 Saturday
night. It was led from the main stage - and what an awesome sight to see over 3000
candles raised in the crowd as we sang praises to God. I must admit the songs were
unfamiliar - but the emotion was not. For those twenty minutes, all rides were
stopped, all stores closed, and all cell phones silenced. All eyes, ears, and hearts
were focused on the cross - the cross we are asked to take up when we follow Jesus.
The crowd was filled with the Holy Spirit and for a moment God really was first in
everyone’s lives. My prayer that night was for God to always remain first - in their
lives and in my life.
My prayer for us today is that we too might take up our cross and lift it high - daily!!!
AMEN
Tracy Moffatt, Deacon 9.16.12
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