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Embracing the cross as we follow Jesus

02/28/2018

Matthew 20:17-28 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, "What do you wish?" She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom." Jesus said in reply, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can." He replied, "My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Have you ever been tempted to take a shortcut? I know I have, and I gave in to that temptation. But I have learned that most (if not all) shortcuts end up being long-cuts, that is, they hurt you instead of help you. When I was training for a marathon several years ago, I ran with a group and we had a coach who hated shortcuts. When we were on a long training run of ten or twelve miles, we would see a shortcut through a park or someone’s backyard, but he would say, “You are just cheating yourself.” And he was right: in the actual marathon, at mile twenty, we were dying; we wished we had not taken that shortcut because it only ended up hurting us not helping us. Do you know how many books CEO’s and executives read on average? They typically devour one book a week, or basically four to five books a months, which translates to roughly fifty two books a year. But the average American Joe reads about two or three books in an entire year. The reason most people never become leaders in business (or other areas of life) is because they look for shortcuts to study.

What is the difference between a good homily and a boring homily? Shortcuts. By now you have probably heard hundreds of homilies, some of them had you on the edge of your pew, while others had you snoring in six seconds. You can easily tell when a sermon is well prepared and when someone took a shortcut and just copied something from the internet. The same holds true in virtually every area of human endeavor: a delicious meal requires three scoops of love which takes time and effort, a meaning friendship demands patience and perseverance, and cannot be rushed, outstanding athletes (like Roger Federer) become legends because they said no to anabolic steroids. There are no shortcuts to success.

The temptation to take a shortcut is nothing new, the apostles are trying to find a shortcut as they try to follow Jesus. Two apostles, James and John (urged by their mother), try to find a shortcut to spiritual success. They ask to sit at Jesus right and left in heaven. They want the glory without the grunt work of discipleship. Now, notice who the other ten grow angry with James and John, not because these two brothers were looking for a shortcut, but because they had found it first. The other ten thought: “Hey, we want that shortcut too!” But Jesus sits them down and explains like my marathon coach explained to us: “You are only cheating yourself.” There are no shortcuts to success in the spiritual life: you must drink from the cup of suffering. If there is one thing that sort of sets a true Christians apart it is his or her refusal to take a shortcut around the cross. There are no shortcuts to salvation.

I am so proud of each of you for coming to Trinity Junior High. This school is not easy, and it is not supposed to be easy. As I have said, that is the worst complaint I could hear about our school: it is easy to attend Trinity. You have to go to mass every Wednesday, you wear these weird uniforms, you pray in Latin, you have loads of homework. As you go through your three years here, I hope you begin to catch on that we are not just teaching science, computer programming, history and AP Spanish, important as all those things are. We are teaching you that true success – in every area of life – has no shortcuts, and that is why you will not find any shortcuts here at Trinity. It is true you could go somewhere else where things might be easier. But I would tell you the same thing my marathon coach told me: “You are only cheating yourself.”

At Trinity, we want to teach you how to read up to fifty-two books a year, and even enjoy it while you do. We want to prepare you to be tomorrow’s leaders, not tomorrow’s followers.

Praised be Jesus Christ!