“He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of G-d.” (Luke 9:21-27)

“We often meet with crosses in the way of duty; and though we must not pull them upon our own heads, yet, when they are laid for us, we must take them up, and carry them after Christ.” I read this statement in one of the commentaries about this text from Luke. We do often meet crosses along the way as we serve the risen Lord. Some are laid in the path we are traveling – others are placed upon us without warning. How we respond when such a cross is encountered by each one of us is our decision. Sometimes we have the opportunity to deny that cross and walk on by. Other times we have no choice but to embrace it and endure it to the end.

What we must be careful of is that we do not purposely bring crosses upon ourselves in the service of Christ with the thought that this will prove to G-d how much we love Jesus. There will be some crosses we have no responsibility to embrace – they will be crosses others must bear. But when the time comes and a cross is laid upon us, to bear or to carry for others, we are called to do so willingly with Christ leading the way through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Dave