34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
9:1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
Jesus says some hard things, at least, they seem hard to hear on the surface. When we hear Jesus say, "Take up your cross and follow me" we know what Jesus will do for us. We have images of the already violent, brutal, and untimely death of Christ. Christ bids us come, follow, die. Not easy sayings at all. It gets even more harrowing when we see that Jesus has already assigned to each of us a cross to carry; a burden to bear.
In the times of crucifixion, the part of the cross that people carried was cross beam, often through the crowd of people. It just gets harder, not only do we have our own cross to carry, we have to do so in the face of scorn and ridicule. "Great" he says sarcastically.
But that's not the end of the story. For as Christ calls us to take up our own cross, he too knew he would have to take up his own cross. Not only that, we know that the gruesome end is not there. It is only the gateway to eternal life. Jesus is not speaking merely in the terms of this world, but he is speaking of gaining eternal life, all for carrying a cross that resembles, but in no way is equal to the one he has to bear. It is God's kingdom, not ours, that comes in power. Thanks be to God.
Prayer: God of the easy burden and the light yoke, give me the strength to do your will and walk in your way. Amen.
G. Thomas Martin