Saint James Blog

In my last post on Mark 8:34-9:1, I wondered what Jesus was telling us in today’s terms when he tells us to take up the cross. The word “martyr” originally comes from a Greek word that means “witness” and not so much the “dying-for-a-cause” kind of thing. Yet as more Christians died for their faith in the first couple hundred years of the faith, it came to mean witnessing to faith through a willingness to die for it. Of course being willing to die is a far cry from seeking out death as a way to prove faith. Even Jesus (arguably) did not seek out death as a way of proving anything but willingly accepted the way of living that led to death for him. I am convinced that Jesus does not want me to seek out death for him but to seek out living for him.

In the Mark passage and since roughly Mark 8:26/27, Jesus has set a new course and there is a different flavor to his teaching, about sacrifice and giving away life so that others may live. Perhaps it is this very willingness to share my life, to give my life to others, that is a piece of what taking up the cross is all about…

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Mark 8:34-9:1. Following Jesus is not a walk in the park- my translation (loosely) of Jesus words about taking up the cross. As USAmericans trying to practice our faith, most of us will never be asked to choose between life and death for the faith we have. The cross from Mark’s perspective would have been an instrument of death, state-sponsored death. I’ve heard talk about “giving up my life” or “death of the old self” but neither of these really measure up to the idea of facing death for faith. Don’t get me wrong- I know there are many people who face real persecution for their faith over the rest of the world but I have not known of any here in the U.S. in recent history.

The question will then boil down to the relevance of this text for us today, hence the title of this blog entry. How do I take up the cross today? Or is this one of those “that-was-then-this-is-now” sayings my friends tell me about? I feel that I need to take it more seriously than that. This text is reassuring for people who are facing death for their faith; it points to the fact that they have found themselves where Jesus said people of faith are going to be, taking up the cross. Is it taking up the cross to act in a way contrary to what others are doing? By that I mean when I choose a different set of behavior patterns about the way I treat people, whether I am willing to cheat or lie to get ahead. How do I lay my life down in my relatively normal, everyday-kind-of-life?

Another interesting piece of this saying/teaching by Jesus is that he does not reserve it for the already-followers; he calls the crowd over and tells them. The disciples may think of this as another bad PR move- who wants to join up with a group that is marked by self-denial and taking up a cross? Yet it is in the aftermath of the cross, in Jesus’ willingness to give his life away, that we begin to understand the meaning of his life. Can it be as we begin to give our lives away that we find meaning ourselves?

These are some of thoughts I am working with this week as I wrestle with the Bible reading for the weekend.

Tags: Bible by James
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