All Saints Lutheran Church
Pastor Raita Neely
Lent 2B March 16, 2003
Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16; Mark 8:31-38

Over thirty years ago, my husband Jack and I toured Europe. I had lived in Germany as a refugee and he had been in the US Army stationed in Germany during the Hungarian uprising. So we visited places we had known, but also visited some places we had never seen. One place that has left a lasting impression on me was the small town of Altotting in Bavaria. It is the location of the shrine of the Black Madonna, to whom many miracles of healing have been attributed. We did not witness anyone healed, but we did see some other things that are memorable. For a week, we stayed in the guest house of a small convent. We worshipped with the nuns, we ate meals with them, we visited the classrooms of orphans whom they taught and cared for. Prayer services began at four in the morning and the last service was at ten in the evening. It was a privilege to be there with them, there was something very moving and beautiful about the voices of women who had prayed, sung and lived together for many, many years. Their harmony in faith, word and deed created an atmosphere of trust. Their love for God was lived out daily. Their hospitality to us was remarkable.

Every day, there were visitors to the shrine of the Black Madonna. Most were like us, awed by the notes witnessing to healing that were pinned on all the walls, at the same time put off by the commercialism as hawkers of trinkets vied with each other to offer us souvenirs.

One day, the scene was very different, among the visitors was a gaunt, young man. Scraggly hair and beard, cheeks sunken as though he had not eaten for a long time. Just his appearance drew all eyes to him, but he did not want our attention, he was totally self absorbed - with eyes lowered, his back bent under the load, he dragged a huge wooden cross round and round the shrine. Was it conviction of sin, or was it his way of interpreting Jesus' words - take up your cross and follow me? I do not know, but I can't hear Jesus' words, without remembering this man.

But is this the truth created by Jesus' words to us this morning? We think we know what it means to say that someone has a cross to carry in life. But do we really understand that phrase based upon the command and invitation of Jesus: "Take up your cross and follow?"

Often we speak of the cross someone bears as a burden inflicted by nature or circumstance. Harriet was born blind; that is her cross. Jake has lost his job because of down sizing and he is too close to retirement to find new employment; that is his cross. But this is a misuse of Jesus' words. Neither arthritis nor your mother-in-law is your cross to bear.

Such circumstances of physical disability, broken relationship or poverty are indeed very heavy human burdens which should elicit both our compassion and our assistance. But these are not the kinds of things the gospel for today is talking about.

The cross Jesus calls us to take up is modeled upon his own cross. And his cross had two notable characteristics, he took up his cross willingly and he took it up in sacrificial service to others. These two characteristics help us define our life of discipleship as cross bearers.

First: The cross of which Jesus speaks is something we voluntarily decide to do. It is not inflicted on us without our consent. It is not some unfortunate difficulty that befalls us. Jesus tells us to take up our cross. This cross can be evaded. On the other hand, it is a struggle, and Jesus himself goes through the struggle in the garden of Gethsemane as he prays to God to let this cup of death to pass from him, but ends up saying not my will, but your will be done, oh God." That is Jesus' prayer, that is our prayer if we would take up the cross with him.

This cross we are called to take up is always for the sake of others. It is not some suffering we accept so that people will pity us, or praise us. It is not an act of penance. The cross is suffering we take up willingly and passionately in order to help others, even as Jesus went to Calvary on behalf of the world and each one of us.

The cross is carried by those who willingly minister to cancer victims, when they could avoid it. The cross is carried by those who show compassion to persons with AIDS whom they do not even know. It is borne by those who accept the scorn of others who think most adult AIDS patients deserve no empathy, but only condemnation.

The cross is borne by those who voluntarily work in soup kitchens or shelters for the homeless. The cross is borne by those who call for higher taxes or a reduction of spending on armaments in favor of social services. Those who take such stands will be maligned by those who want taxes lowered or military spending increased, They voluntarily take these stands for the sake of life, for the sake of the vulnerable. For the sake of the gospel.

During World War II the Nazis invaded and occupied Denmark. In solidarity with the Jewish people and to protest the arrests and executions, King Christian of Denmark wore a yellow star of David along with Jews. That is cross bearing.

Rhonda Lawson was 49 when she made a life changing, cross bearing decision. Her last child would graduate from high school in three months. Even with the frustration of the divorce nine years ago and juggling visitations between three teenagers and their father with her nursing shift, Rhonda still thrived on being a single parent.

Friends commented on her apparent ease in parenting the twins and their brother. A natural nurturer, they said. It was her bent for organizing that freed her to focus on the boys, not smothering or over-managing but listening for what they needed. Besides, Rhonda liked kids. She loved to be part of the opening up of a life. The social worker at her hospital suggested that she become licensed as a foster care home. She had thought about it, but what pushed her into cross bearing was opening her door one Thursday morning, and finding on her front porch in a plastic clothes basket an hours-old baby swaddled in bath towels.

What made it even stranger was that another newborn had been left on the convent steps in their town only a year or so ago. These events left Rhonda wondering if the town, a mile from the interstate, were to become a drive through repository for unwanted babies. Nevertheless, here she was on her doorstep cradling an infant in her arms. Somehow Rhonda has the feeling that the social worker was an emissary of a more powerful source. Her clear statement of need for a foster care home tugged at Rhonda. For years, the foster mother in their rural county had provided a temporary home for at least one child at a time, but she was retiring. Considering Rhonda's experience in nursing, the social worker's presentation emphasizing the need for foster parents who could cope with unique medical problems was especially powerful for Rhonda.

When God has something in mind for you, do you really have a choice? On the one hand, Rhonda made her own decisions. But she was also so aware of all she had been given. She trusted her gifts for nurture and nursing as evidence of God's promise never to desert her.

Rhonda had never seriously considered becoming a professional mother. She laughed at the timing. Certainly, a younger couple would be more appropriate. She was launching her last chapter before retirement. Switch all-nighters with teens for babies?

Yet, another side sensed that God had something in mind for her. Why did this infant in her arms call to her so intensely? While she had not acted on the need for someone to love abandoned babies, Rhonda admitted now to the seed of concern planted in her heart some time ago. Would caring for these babies be her promise that they not be deserted? The nudges of the infant and the social worker forced the issue. How could she not help this next generation of babies get a good start. It was unthinkable not to care.

Following Jesus is not for the faint hearted, and it is never for our glory, but for service to others in the name of Jesus and for the sake of the gospel. As Martin Luther said, we are to be little Christs to our neighbor - and if this means some inconvenience, or even suffering, good suffering is to choose to do for others, it has nothing to do with being dumped on.

Most of us are not very inclined to take up the cross. We don't even want to watch someone else do it. But this is the call of Jesus. This is true Lenten living, not giving up some pleasure, but taking up some difficult work for the sake of others.

Look around in your world-what are the crosses ready to be taken up? What can you do for the vulnerable in our community, in our world? What can you do without thought of personal reward or even satisfaction, but also without regard for the criticism or misunderstanding that may come from your family, friends, and even other church members? Here may lie the cross you are called to carry.

You cannot do it alone. The power to see, to understand, to know God's will comes from our crucified Lord and Savior, who by his body and blood given us in his Holy Meal strengthens us. The way of Christ in this world is the way of suffering and death. It is not sacrifice for its own sake, but sacrifice for Christ's sake and the gospel's. The cross is a taking hold of death and life, bound together in a sacred equation: Cross death equals cross life. Nothing short of total devotion and obedience to God will do. Abandonment of self equals death, but this "death: also signals a way of life.

There is nothing new here. What it all points to is : human suffering shared. We are to enter into another's pain, to become vulnerable to those who need us by their side. When we talk about taking up our cross, we lose any claim to authenticity, which is perhaps why Jesus commands those who would follow not to talk about a cross, but rather to take up the cross .

Dear people of God, we don't have to go out looking for a cross to bear. If you're faithful to Christ, the world will offer you one sooner or later. In today's text, Jesus invites you to go with him to the cross. He promises that where the cross bearers are, there he will be also. He has walked down that road before, and he walks that road again and again, whenever the faithful bear their cross. Having borne it before us, Christ now bears it with us.

If you want to be with Jesus, you will have to walk the way of cross bearing, for there is no other way he walks. The good news is, if you are near the cross, you are also near to Jesus. Amen.