Hodas the Way

Following the King on the Way of the Cross

12/14/2019

Matthew 17:9A, 10-13 As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said in reply, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands." Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

What was the original name for Christianity before it was called “Christianity,” or even before it was called “Catholicism”? Throughout the Acts of the Apostles, the followers of Jesus Christ were routinely and repeatedly referred to “the Way,” in Greek, “hodas.” We find the term “the way” mentioned in Acts 9:2, in Acts 19:9, in acts 19:23, in Acts 24:14, and in Acts 24:22. In fact the Monday evening Bible study I’m helping with on the gospel of Mark is entitled, “Mark the Way.” In that study we have discovered how St. Mark uses “the way,” hodas, as the way of explaining Jesus’ ministry and Messiahship. Put simply, Jesus teaches that the way to happiness and heaven is none other than the way of the cross. Why? Well, because that was the way that Jesus walked himself. In other words, the way of the kingdom is the way of the King, and Christ the King walked the royal road to Calvary to be crowned as king with a crown of thorns.

And that is why most people missed the Messiah, because they missed his way, his hodas. Who wants a king reigning from a cross, unable to move his pinioned hands and feet, forgiving those who fought against him, dying in disgrace naked before the eyes of the world, alone and abandoned, apparently also by the Almighty? In Matthew 27:46, Jesus cried aloud, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” If we do not find and follow the way of the kingdom, which is the way of the Cross, we will not find and follow the way of the King, which is the way of Christianity.

Today, December 14, is the feast of St. John of the Cross, one of my patron saints and personal heroes. If there was one message John preached with his life and legacy, it is the way of the Cross, hence, his name, “St. John of the Cross.” But John did not just teach with a catchy title, the cross characterized his whole life. John was born in 1542 in Fontiveros, Avila, Spain. John’s family was plunged into poverty, and his father died when he was 3 years old, and his brother died when he was 5. Thanks to his mother’s resourcefulness, John studied at a school for orphans, and later at the Salamanca University. In 1563 he entered the Carmelite Order and was ordained a priest in 1567. Inspired by St. Teresa of Avila, John joined a reform movement of the Carmelites who desired a more strict and severe penitential spirituality, the way of the cross! The symbol of their spirituality would be wearing sandals rather than shoes, hence they were called “Discalced Carmelites.”

John and Teresa’s reform movement caused controversy and conflict with the traditional, non-reform Carmelites. Indeed, on December 2, 1577, a group of the traditionalists friars broke into John’s room, and took him captive and imprisoned him in a monastery cell no bigger than 10 feet by 6 feet. Talk about walking the way of the Cross! John was living up to his name.

But when you walk the way of the kingdom, you also walk in the company of the King, Jesus Christ. During those 8 months in prison, St. John of the Cross composed his masterpiece, the Spiritual Canticle, his personal interpretation of the Old Testament book the Song of Songs, the intimate love story between the soul and God. In other words, sometimes when we walk the way of the cross, we feel that’s when God is farthest from us. But St. John found out that when you walk the way of the kingdom, that is when the king is closest to you. I believe that is the main message of St. John of the Cross, just like it was the main message of his master, Jesus Christ!

My friends, are you surprised to find the cross along the Christian path you walk? I don’t know about you, but I sure am. I feel that as a Christian that if I obey the commandments, and love the poor, and say my prayers, and go to church on Sunday, and invite the priest over for dinner, then I should lead a happy, prosperous, and pain-free life. Otherwise, what’s the point of religion? But I would suggest to you that is exactly the wrong way to understand Christianity. Why? Because we have forgotten the original way, we have forgotten the way of the King is the way of the Cross, and so it is the way of his kingdom and all his subjects. In other words, don’t be surprised by the cross, even more, try to be satisfied with the cross, and if possible, even try to seek the cross voluntarily. In a word, Christianity is not comfort-care; it is cross-care. We must care about the Cross, and we must learn to carry the cross like Christ the king did.

I love the quotation with which C. S. Lewis begins his book called “The Problem of Pain.” He quotes his mentor, George MacDonald, who said: “Jesus Christ suffered and died not so that we would not have to, but so that our suffering and death could be like his.” The way of the kingdom is the way of the Cross. And that must be our way, too.

Praised be Jesus Christ!