Carrying the cross is essential for discipleship
Matthew 8:18-22
When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross
to the other shore. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will
follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of
the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another
of his disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But
Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”
Did you ever watch that television sitcom
called, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”? Don’t
worry, I didn’t see it either. But I
really like the title which reminds us not to get super-excited about things,
to keep things in proper perspective, and to frequently do a reality check with
our projects. Whenever I see a
commercial selling something over-zealously – they’re usually car ads, where
the volume on the T.V. mysteriously increases – I feel like saying, “curb your
enthusiasm.” It’s just a car. I love that line in the movie Princess Bride,
where Wesley says to Princess Buttercup: “Life is pain, your highness, anyone
who tells you different is trying to sell you something.” Whenever someone tells you they can make life’s
pain and problems magically disappear, they’re selling you something. You see, life is always an admixture of
pleasure and pain; those who forget that need to curb their enthusiasm.
In the
gospel today, we see Jesus reminding people to take a more sober look at
following him. One scribe gushes
excitedly, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go!” Jesus gently reminds him it won’ be easy to
follow him, indeed, he will have to abandon creature comforts he’s used
to. He will have to carry his
cross. To another Jesus sounds almost
harsh in saying, “Let the dead bury their dead.” Jesus isn’t being cruel, but he does caution
anyone who follows him that pain will be part and parcel of discipleship. Jesus tells all his over-zealous followers
today: “curb your enthusiasm.”
One of the most vexing questions of
all human history is the problem of pain, and more poignantly, why do the
innocent suffer. Have you ever felt like
you suffered unjustly? Have you had to
watch the pain, illness or suffering of another without being able to alleviate
it? How often we hear people cry out,
"Doesn't God want me to be happy?!"
An insightful book on this topic is the classic, “When Bad Things Happen
to Good People,” by Rabbi Harold Kushner.
It’s a good book but I disagree with Kushner’s conclusion. I prefer what Scott Hahn says about
suffering: “God loves you just the way you are.
But he loves you too much to let you stay that way.” In other words, God knows we have to grow
throughout life, and the only path to true progress lay in the land of pain and
discomfort. As the Sunday School rhyme
goes: “Pick up your cross and follow me, if you would my disciple be.”
The next
time you hear someone excitedly offer you some panacea for all your problems,
anxieties and aches, just tell them, “curb your enthusiasm.” The only path to perfection and peace, that
is, to, heaven, is the royal road of the cross.
Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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