At one point in time the most listened to man on the radio was Paul Harvey. Paul had a trademark phrase, remember? He would tell some story of a life-changing event and then tie this story in with a famous person and then conclude with the phrase, and now you know the rest of the story. One of his stories went something like this. A young entrepreneurial man decided to become a partner in a tavern in the 1830’s. It turned out to be a bad idea and after only two months he broke up the partnership. Apparently 3 or 4 months later the tavern went bankrupt, then the former partner died and in a court judgment the young man was stuck with a very large debt-load. He argued with the judge that he should not be held responsible for the debt but the judge was adamant that since the young man had been a partner that the debts were indeed his. The judge advised the young man to learn more about the law before he got involved again with another entrepreneurial venture. The young man made a decision that he would indeed learn the law. And he decided to become a lawyer. He worked hard and paid off the debt. After working as a lawyer for a while he decided that he would run for public office and was elected to the state legislature, and then later he was elected to serve in Washington D.C. in Congress. And then after a number of years he ran for the presidency of the United States and won. Abraham Lincoln became our 16th president. And now you know the rest of the story. Our gospel reading has that sort of aspect to it. That is it has a “rest of the story” sort of feeling to it.
It starts with Jesus asking his disciples who they think he is. Peter, speaking for the twelve, says, “Jesus, you are the Christ.” Then Jesus goes on to tell them the rest of the story so to speak. You see, they were familiar with the first part, that is, a Messiah was to come and show Himself powerful, righteous, and charismatic. Jesus was all that. And now, the disciples were expecting Jesus to begin to do something militarily. After all the primary part of the Messiah’s job in their mind was to bring freedom and independence to the Jewish nation. But then the disciples heard the real “rest of the story.” Jesus told them that as the Messiah, as the Christ he would have to suffer many things. He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes. And finally he must be killed. The disciples were appalled. This wasn’t the rest of the story that they expected at all. But Jesus wasn’t through, the rest of the story included those who would follow him—those who would be his disciples. Jesus said that “If any want to become my followers they need to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” And lest we miss some of the weight of what Jesus was saying, the only time a person would pick up a cross would be when he or she was on the way to be placed upon it, in other words, on the way to one’s execution. This was a pretty shocking and disheartening “rest of the story.” It is no wonder that Peter took Jesus aside to tell him that it is not supposed to work out this way.
But there it is. It is no surprise that this part of following Jesus is not very popular. Remember in August the gospel readings were from John 6 and it is all about Jesus being the Bread of Life. He said in that discourse that anyone who believes in him has eternal life. But now it seems that the stakes have been raised considerably! Now if someone wants to follow Jesus one must deny himself, he must pick up his cross. Is this some sort of bait and switch deal? Is Jesus simply getting tired of the huge crowds that are always tagging along and now they are beginning to bug him and so he starts saying things to drive them away? Is that what is happening here?
No, what we are seeing here is indeed the rest of the story. Christianity, following Jesus is composed of two distinct parts. The first part is that step of faith of belief. This must take place for it is this event that changes one’s heart and mind; it changes one’s inner motivations. The Bible teaches us that if anyone believes in Christ he is a new creation; he is a new creature. Something has been changed inside. Jesus tells Nicodemus that faith causes one to be reborn; it brings one to a new beginning in life. One has to have this take place first because one needs to be a new creation in order to live out the rest. When Peter tells Jesus that he and the rest of the disciples believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, well, he was expressing that first step of belief.
But there is the rest of the story; there is the next step to being a Christian. Being a Christian requires that one denies oneself. Being a Christian requires picking up one’s cross. And that is hard. This is where Christianity butts into our personal lives. And it not only butts in, this part of being a Christian is positively invasive. Jesus is requiring us; note it is not a request, he is not pleading; it is not “well, this would be a good idea.” Jesus tells us that if one is going to be his follower, that is, if one wants to be a Christian, then THIS is what that person needs to do. I suppose it is like if one wants to be a swimmer, one must learn to swim. If one wants to be a runner, one must run. One cannot call oneself a swimmer if that person does not swim. Well, he could call himself a swimmer, couldn’t he? But he would be only fooling himself. And that is what we do, if we call ourselves Christians but have not learned to deny ourselves; have not learned to pick up our cross and follow Jesus. Because according to Jesus one who is His follower, first, is one who denies himself; he is one who has begun to lose sight of his own interests and this person is learning to focus on the needs of others. The word ‘deny’ is the same word that is used when Peter denies Jesus three times. Peter in his denying was saying that he did not know Jesus; Jesus was a stranger to him. The picture then that we are given is that instead of me being the center of attention, instead of me being the pampered favorite whose desires are what are always what is most important, instead of that, I make myself a stranger. As Christians we learn to make ourselves not our first consideration; someone whose needs and wants we don’t consider first. Denial of self is making me not the end, the purpose, but instead I become a means, a channel, in the kingdom of God.
Secondly picking up one’s cross is likewise difficult but necessary to be a Christian. Because of the expression, “Oh, that is my cross to bear.” It is important to say what picking up one’s cross does NOT mean. It does not mean some sort of tragedy in one’s life. It is a tragedy if someone close dies, but it is not a cross. It also does not mean some sort of shortcoming or handicap. So if you have a bad temper or lack patience that is not a cross, if you are blind or lame that is not a cross. A cross also is not enduring in a patient or stoic manner something bad that has happened. It is a good thing to be patient when bad things happen but the being patient while suffering is not picking up your cross.
Taking up a cross and following Jesus is taking up a burden that COULD be avoided. It is doing something that we do not have to do; it is doing something voluntarily; we are under no compulsion to do it except the compulsion of our love for Jesus, except our understanding of God’s great love shown to us in Christ that compels us. It is the choice of picking up and doing something that may be unpleasant or painful but we do this in following Christ who willingly picked up the cross for us.
And as Paul Harvey would say, “And now you know the rest of the story” Let us not only believe Jesus is the Christ, let us deny self and pick up our crosses and follow Him. Amen.