Bible Passage: Mark 8:34-35
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: September 19, 2021

Bulletin September 19, 2021

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

To begin this morning, I want to read for you a passage from Scripture.  It is Matthew 23:26:  They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.  Do you remember this scene?  It is morning on Good Friday.  They are leading Jesus out to Calvary to crucify him.  Jesus began the death-march carrying his own cross.  But weakened as he was from beatings and blood loss, he is unable to carry it the whole way.  So the Roman soldiers grab an onlooker from the crowd.  They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.  Can you picture it?  Jesus leading the way and following behind him was this man carrying the cross.  History will forever remember Simon of Cyrene for carrying the cross of Jesus.

My dear friends, you are Simon of Cyrene.  We say that not because we are trying to make a cutesy or clever point, but because this is the language Jesus uses in our text to describe those who follow him.  When you think about following Jesus, he wants you to see an image that looks an awful lot like Simon of Cyrene.  He wants you to see that as followers of him we are Cross-Bearers behind the Cross-Bearer.

It is late in Jesus’ ministry.  He has withdrawn with his disciples “up north,” away from the crowds of Jerusalem and the towns of Galilee.  He wanted to spend some time with his disciples to prepare them for what was soon to come.  Just before our text we are told, Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the experts in the law; be killed; and after three days rise again. He was speaking plainly to them. (Mark 8:31-32)  No parables now.  No metaphors.  Just plain talk.  Jesus made it clear:  very soon he would pick up a cross and die on it.

The disciples must have missed the part where Jesus said he would rise again, because Peter begins to scold Jesus for talking this way.  But Jesus scolded right back in the strongest possible way, Get behind me, Satan!  You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men. (Mark 8:33)  The death and the resurrection of Jesus to save sinners were the “things of God” that had been spoken of since Adam and Eve fell into sin!  There had always been a cross appointed for Jesus!  And he would take it up!  And on it he would pay the debt of sin for all humanity!  He would be the cross-bearer, or he would be nothing!

But the Cross-bearer is not through talking about crosses.  He calls the crowd and his disciples to come in close for a little “cross-talk.”   If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”  (v. 34)   The Cross-bearer is talking to you, dear Christian.  If ANYONE wants to follow… These words are for any and everyone who would follow Jesus.  Take up the cross and follow.  Here we should mention, picking up a cross and carrying it usually meant you were on your way to die.

Jesus was well-aware of the words he was using.  We do need to die.  Jesus puts it this way, [L]et him deny himself.  We need to die to self.  I was reading something recently in which the author asserted that at the core of each human is an “unrecognized love of self.”  I love me some ME!  And by nature that self-love means we want everything to go our way.  Most conflict arises in our lives – in our homes, in our relationships at work or wherever – when we don’t get our way.  Isn’t that even the way little children learn to assert themselves?  They get angry and little Snodgrass stomps his foot and says, “I can do whatever I want!”  I can…I want.  Indeed.  That is the life many people want to save and hold onto.   That life of “me” and “my.”  Of that Jesus lovingly says in our text, Whoever wants to save his life will lose it (v. 35).  Those who live only for self and what they want will lose it when they stand before the judgment throne of God.

The cross-bearer behind the Cross-bearer denies and loses that life.  “Who am I?  Who cares what I want?  I don’t really care to know this guy!  I want only to know HIM!  I want to follow that one who took up a cross for me!”  The cross-bearer behind the Cross-bearer takes up the cross and willingly loses their life!  “Let that old strong-willed sinner in me be dead, CRUCIFIED!  This is life!  Following Jesus!  I have a new motto!  “His will be done,” not “my will be done.”  Jesus, you lead; I’ll follow!”

Friends, let’s not miss all that is contained in the word cross.  A cross was a violent, painful way to die.  Jesus didn’t say, “Take a handful of sleeping pills and follow me.”  He speaks of a cross.  This denial of self, this dying to self is not easy.  Oh, following doesn’t seem so difficult when Jesus’ will for your life is exactly what you want.  You get a promotion at work and a nice raise along with it.  Thank you, Jesus!  I like following Jesus!  This is fun!  You come away from the annual physical exam and doc says you’d be in good shape if you were half your age.  “Keep doing whatever you’re doing!”  And the dirty little secret is you’re not even doing that much.  Thank you, Jesus!  I like this following Jesus!  This is fun!  You pray to Jesus for a certain thing to happen and it does, just like that, just as you prayed.  Thank you, Jesus!  I like following Jesus!  This is fun!  Doesn’t feel like a cross.

It starts to feel more like a cross when things don’t go our way.  When Jesus’ will for our lives takes a path we would not have chosen for ourselves.  Instead of a promotion and raise you get a pink slip and a two-week notice.  Wait!  Jesus, this isn’t what I wanted!  The annual physical at the doc uncovers a lump, a mass, a blockage, an “abnormal” and “concerning” test result.  Wait!  Not this, Jesus!  This isn’t what I wanted!  You pray, you plead, you beg Jesus for a circumstance or situation to change.  No change comes.  Wait!  This isn’t what I want, Jesus.  The denial of self becomes hard; the cross feels heavier.  We struggle and stumble beneath its weight.

It is when the cross seems heavy that we must remember again who it is we are following and who it is who has lovingly placed the cross upon us.  It is Jesus!  It is THE Cross-bearer!  You are following the one who denied himself and followed his Father’s will perfectly.  The one who prayed when he was in the shadow of his own cross, “Not my will but yours be done.”  And Jesus picked up his cross.  And he gave his life on it…for you.  He did it so that you can live in heaven one day.  Think about that!  Jesus took up a cross so you can go to heaven.  He calls on us to follow, not on some pointless, purposeless, destinationless meandering in this life.  But to follow him to heaven.  And if Jesus is leading you on to heaven, every cross that he lovingly lays upon you in this life must be the best thing for you on your way to heaven.  We come to learn that Jesus uses the crosses of life to teach us to love him more dearly, and to follow him more nearly day by day.

That is why our German fathers had a name for the cross Jesus calls upon us to take up.  They called it “das liebe Kreuz,” the dear cross.  How could it be anything but “dear”!  It comes from our dear Jesus!  And so we gladly fall-in and follow, cross-bearers behind the Cross-Bearer.

Amen.

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