Our invitation to be disciples of
Jesus is an invitation to help God deliver the world from sin and death into
love and life. . . Jesus invited the apostles there at Caesarea Philippi; Jesus
invites us in this holy meal of bread and wine.
How can we participate in God's
deliverance? We start by simply being a community that witnesses to the power
of the Gospel to change lives. . . –– Brent Laytham
Matthew 16:21-28
Jesus continues to prepare the
disciples for what awaits him in Jerusalem. Peter's incredulity at what Jesus
foretells stands in for the reaction of all who had eagerly anticipated the
Messiah: torture and death for Israel's savior simply were not part of the
plan. Jesus' rebuke of Peter (“Get behind me, Satan!”) recalls Jesus'
experience in the wilderness where he dispatched the devil with “Away with you,
Satan!” (4:10). . .
Verses 24 and following reveal what
kind of Messiah Jesus is and what kind of followers he calls. Instead of taking
up a scepter or a sword, Jesus takes up a cross and asks the same of those who
would be his disciples: “Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow me.” Self-denial here is not the erasing of one's inherent worth; it is,
rather, the abandonment of all self-assertion driven by fear and the desire for
power. It is, in other words, the complete refusal of violence.
The familiarity of verses 24–26 has
often led to a tepid and confused theology of the cross; one which assumes that
my private anxiety—a difficult relationship, financial hardship, uncertain
health—is my personal cross to bear. While certain forms of emotional or
physical suffering may be redemptive, the cross Jesus speaks of in Matthew 16
and elsewhere does not represent the sum total of our personal worries and
aggravations. It is, instead, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer claimed, the suffering
that comes from our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone.
The cross, Bonhoeffer insisted, is
not random suffering, but necessary suffering; it is rejection for the sake of
Jesus Christ. . . . Verse 28 seems to . . . preoccupy some Bible readers,
causing them to create timetables and offer predictions of Jesus' return. They
would do well to pay closer attention to Jesus' teaching about the way of the
cross and the cost of discipleship. –– Debra Dean Murphy
Jeremiah 15:15-21
The prophets received invitations from God, as well. They
were not always accorded triumphant success, as we well know, but the deepest
joys came to them in the same way Jesus’ followers experienced the call to take
up the cross. God gave Jeremiah delight when the prophet ate the word of God. The
road is not without dangers, but God’s promises are sure: “I will make you to
this people a fortified wall of bronze...” God’s word is strong. Ingested, it
is invincible.
Romans 12:9-21
Building on the first eight verses
of this chapter (last week's text), Paul continues to set forth specific
patterns and practices and a vision of life in the body of Christ grounded in
“genuine love.” As always, for Paul, love is concrete action, not a feeling or
emotion; love does things, behaves in certain ways. . . The commands in these
verses are not a checklist of orders to be carried out (or else), but something
like the contours of a life well-lived in Christian community. . . by the
exquisite self-giving of the cross. –– Debra Dean Murphy
D. Brent
Laytham is the Dean of The Ecumenical Institute of Theology in Baltimore,
Maryland.
Debra Dean Murphy
is assistant professor of Religious Studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Homily Service 41, no. 3 (2008): 178-189.
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