The way to glory!

Luke 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’ Then to all he said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’

Food for thought!

Jesus said (and says) to his disciples that things will get worse before they get better. He knows that he is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day. Jesus is talking of himself, yes, but also he is talking of every human. Suffering comes before victory; indeed, there cannot be victory without a fight; no crown without a cross; no Easter Sunday without Good Friday; no day without a night.

This is why Jesus exhorts us to take our cross, our struggle, our fight every day and follow him, because this is the way we can ever make a difference in the world. Here Jesus lays down the conditions of service for those who would follow him.

He says that we must deny ourselves. What does that mean? A great scholar comes at the meaning in this way. Peter once denied his Lord. That is to say, he said of Jesus, "I do not know the man." To deny ourselves is to say, "I do not know myself." It is to ignore the very existence of oneself. It is to treat the self as if it did not exist. Usually we treat ourselves as if our self was far and away the most important thing in the world. If we are to follow Jesus, we must forget that self exists.

He says that we must take up our cross. What does that mean? To take up our cross means to be prepared to face things; it means to be ready to endure the worst that man can do to us for the sake of being true. As we said yesterday, whenever we do the right thing, we are bound to be criticized and "crucified" by others.

He says that we must spend our life, not hoard it. The whole gamut of the world's standards must be changed. As yesterday's message put it, the questions are not, "How much can I get?" but, "How much can I give?" Not, "What is the safe thing to do?" but, "What is the right thing to do?" Not, "What is the minimum permissible in the way of work?" but, "What is the maximum possible?" The Christian must realize that he is given life, not to keep for himself but to spend for others; not to husband its flame but to burn it out for Christ and for men. This is the way to glory, according to Jesus.