Big Cross Or Little Crosses, But No Other Path To Joy

Second Sunday in Lent 2024

St. Mark’s Gospel tells us today that “after six days” Jesus and His three lead apostles went up a high mountain. Why is “six days” important to remember? We need to go back to the previous chapter to see. The story line follows St. Matthew’s Gospel very closely, which makes sense if the narrator was shortening Matthew for the congregation in Rome.

What happened just before this? First, in Caesarea Philippi, an area in the north of Israel, Jesus asked the disciples what popular opinion was about His ministry. After some speculation from the crew, Jesus asks them “who do you say I am?” Simon Peter speaks up authoritatively and confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, something Jesus does not want any of them to broadcast. Immediately Jesus tells his disciples that He must suffer and die at the hands of the leaders of His own people. Peter objects and Jesus scolds Him for not thinking like God. Jesus would go to His suffering and death willingly, because He is doing it to be the True Paschal Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, as John the Baptist testified.

But Jesus goes even further. He tells His disciples and the crowd of seekers “Whoever wants to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ.” That is the sure path to holiness and joy. Finally, Jesus predicts that some are standing with Him right then and there who would not die until they see the kingdom of God coming in power. So the scene here on the mountain of Transfiguration fulfills this prophecy made six days earlier. Jesus is transfigured, in a sense turned into a Great Light, appearing with the great lawgiver, Moses and the great prophet, Elijah. Luke tells us–we’ll hear it next year–that in that great light, Jesus spoke about His own Passover with Moses and Elijah. It would be a personal Passover to be celebrated with the annual Jewish Passover just a few days later in Jerusalem. And Jesus Himself would be the sacrificial Lamb offered for all humanity to the Father. Abraham did not have to show his faith by slaying his only Son, Isaac. God the Father, however, did not hold onto His only Son, Christ Jesus, but accepted His sacrifice and rewarded it by making Jesus the Resurrection and the Life. We can all have that life and resurrection sacramentally through our unwavering following of Christ, even if it means carrying a big Cross, not just the little crosses we have to endure gratefully every day. On the seventh day there was Transfiguration; on the eighth day of Holy Week we will celebrate Resurrection.

As the psalmist sings, “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His holy ones.”

So St. Paul can claim that if the Father did not spare His only-begotten Son, but gave Him up for us, and if we through our own baptism die to sin and are raised to live in Christ, just what more will God hold back? He justifies us in Christ, the God-man Who constantly intercedes for us because He knows from His human experience just how weak we are.

Not only will there be no condemnation, no, indeed. As sons of the Father–adopted sons and daughters of the Creator, we can lay claim to everything that is Christ’s. We need to understand what that means. Christ’s mission is to the Church, but then He directs us to be His voice and presence to the world. Why would the world listen to us? Because every single human being, no matter how insignificant or unimportant or naturally good, has a huge hole in the personality. It is the God-sized, God-shaped hole we inherited from Adam and Eve. Only Jesus Christ can fill up that void. If we want it filled, we have to give ourselves over to following Him, so that however long we may live–or short those lives may be–we can be complete when we fall asleep in this world for the last time. Complete means as an image of Our Lord Jesus Christ.