Take Up Your Cross

but he doesn't stop there it's not just the love demanded by Jesus that is radical at the end of his discipleship discourse it's also the sacrifice that's demanded by Jesus that is radical so what is he saying these next verses he says whoever doesn't take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me and that whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for his sake will find it alright so what does that mean well I think given the passage of time we've come to regard Jesus's words here in Matthew 10 as a kind of metaphor for accepting the the sufferings that Life brings to us right so someone gets ill or they have a financial struggle or they're having difficulties in life we could exhort them you know take up your cross and follow Christ and that's completely a legitimate interpretation of Jesus's words disciples are to lovingly and generously accept the suffering that comes their way as part of being United to Christ crucified but in its original context again it would have had more meaning than that because for Peter and James and John the first disciples the cross wasn't yet a metaphor for suffering the cross was a Roman method of execution that was widely known as the most brutal the most shameful the most painful and most disgraceful way to die and in that sense Jesus is telling them here be willing to be executed for my sake and if you're not willing to be executed for my sake if you don't willingly suffer the shame and the pain of the cross then you're not worthy of being my student you're not worthy of being my disciple so Jesus here is putting suffering and the loving acceptance of suffering at the as a kind of criterion for even being one of his students at the very essence of what it means to be his follower and then when he makes this statement whoever finds his life will lose it what he's basically doing there is elaborating on what that means to take up the cross so if he says someone finds his life what does that mean well when you find something it means you're seeking it right okay so you if you find your wallet it's because you were looking for your wallet you had lost it so when Jesus says whoever finds his life will lose it when he's describing there is someone who is seeking to preserve and hold on to natural life to hold on to physical life and so if that's your goal that's where your heart is if you're entirely focused on finding and keeping and preserving your natural life you're actually gonna lose it okay but whoever loses his life in other words willingly gives up their natural life for his sake that's the qualification and elsewhere and the other Gospels say and for the sake of the Gospels we'll find it right it's the paradox of the Cross in other words it's precisely by laying down his natural life on the cross and being willing to suffer and die that Jesus then gets it back through the gift and the grace and the glory of his resurrection on the third day when he's raised to new life that will never die and in which he will no longer suffer and that's what he's really promising to the disciples here he's introducing them to the cost of the Cyprus ship and to the paradox of the cross that the reason the cross is at the center of the Christian life is not because Christianity is some sadistic religion that takes joy in pain and suffering but because rather that Christ by going to the cross has transformed suffering into love and that love is the only way to heaven love is the only ladder to heaven the cross st. Rose of Lima says is the only ladder to heaven and therefore you can't be a disciple of Jesus without the cross there is no Christianity without a cross and there is no discipleship without being willing to lose your life of the sake of Christ and for the sake of the gospel so again Jesus is bringing the the discourse on the discipleship and their side Bishop and mission to a dramatic and climactic closing here by putting the cross right at the center of his message now what about the last lines though this gospel text after laying that out you can you can imagine that the balls might be a little afraid to go out on mission because effectively what Jesus does has done is given them a death sentence right which by the way most of them will end up suffering okay the majority of the disciples with the possible exception of st. John there's some debate about that in the early church all met a martyrs end right Judas killed himself of course but the other eleven disciples with John as an exception all went to their deaths by martyrdom so when Jesus think about this when Jesus calls the disciples to be his apostles to be his primary students he's calling them to death he's calling them to suffering and to death because they're going to imitate him in the most perfect way which is through martyrdom and that's really at the the reality of what it means to be one of his apostles now with that said though he doesn't leave it there he also ends the discourse by talking about the rewards that hospitality toward the Apostles will bring and so he says to them whoever receives you meaning you twelve receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me okay a couple of brief points about that notice here that the Apostles do not go out and proclaim the gospel on their own authority they don't send themselves they don't Commission themselves they receive their authority from Jesus and so when they come and bring the gospel whoever receives them isn't actually receiving them they're actually receiving Jesus himself this is an extremely important principle for us as Catholics to remember in the context of apostolic succession that the Pope and the bishops of the Catholic Church are the legitimate successors of the Apostles in other words your bishop or your priest had hands laid on him by a bishop or who had hands laid on him by a bishop who had hands laid on him by a bishop who went all the way back to the Apostles so whenever you receive a priest or really receive a bishop in hospitality you are in fact receiving Christ because they have that authority from Christ to be identified with him and not just from Christ but from the Father himself from God since what Jesus is saying right I'm sending you the father sent me so whoever receives you is actually receiving God is receiving the father it's a powerful image of the missionary in a sense then the the missionary apostle is a kind of and I put this in quotes a kind of sacrament of God like that he brings Christ he brings God into your midst by bringing the authority and the message of Christ into your midst and so Jesus is saying that to the Apostles you're not going out alone you're going with my authority and therefore whoever receives you is going to receive rewards it's going to receive blessing so it gives these example whoever receives a prophet receives a Prophet's reward and whoever receives a righteous man receives a righteous man's reward and whoever gives a cup of cold water to a disciple receives a reward now I'll pause there for a second because if you look and go back here this is where the Gospel reading links up with the first reading for today so if you if you go back to the first reading the first reading might seem a little strange it's from the Book of Kings 2nd Kings chapter 4 it's the story of Elijah or Ali show you'll hear it pronounced all different kinds of ways I tend to alternate it the Hebrew is actually le sha for the accent on the end but nobody says it that way so I'll just say Elijah who is the disciple of Elijah right so Elijah and the Shunammite woman and this is what the story says in second Kings 4 verse 8 and following quote one day Elijah went on to shoot him we're a wealthy woman lived who urged him to eat some food so it whenever he passed that way he would turn in there to eat food and she said to her husband behold now I perceive that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way let us make a small roof chamber with walls and put there for him a bed a table a chair and a lamp so that whenever he comes to us he can go in there and one day he came there and he turned into the chamber and rested there and he said to kaha see his servant call this shunammite and when he had called her she stood before him and he said to him say now to her see you have taken all this trouble for us what's to be done for you would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king or the commander of the army she answered I dwell among my own people and Elijah said to her what then is to be done for her and gauzy has servant there answered well she has no son and her husband is old and he said call her and when he had called her she stood in the doorway and Elijah said at this season when the time comes round you shall embrace a son and she said no my lord o man of God do not lie to your maid sir but the woman conceived and she bore a son about that time the following spring as Elijah had said to her right pause there all right so what's going on there and why does the church choose this reading for the first reading for the 13th Sunday well I think the connection is obvious here what the church is doing is it's giving us an example of hospitality toward a holy prophet of God in the Old Testament as a kind of anticipation and background for Jesus's words about hospitality towards his disciples who are also prophets and holy men in the New Testament so just as when the Shunammite woman offered a room and board and food to Elijah the Prophet on a regular basis she was rewarded with the blessing of a child right so - now Jesus is saying to the Apostles look not only does whoever receive you receive me but whoever receives you receives a reward whoever receives a prophet receives a Prophet's reward whoever receives a righteous man receives a righteous man's reward and whoever even gives you just one cup of cold water for my sake right will receive a reward they're not going to lose their reward there so okay so what's the what's the meaning of all this what does this have to do with us what what kind of message does this have for us today I can't help but think here about the fact that Jesus knew in advance that his disciples who are going to be missionaries we're going to need hospitality they were going to need places to stay they were going to need food to eat and what he's doing here is encouraging a program of generosity and hospitality on the part of what today we would call the laity right people who live in the married state of life right who have a home who have family toward those who have consecrated themselves to the religious life or to missionary work like priests and religious nuns right sisters missionaries because those people have given up the the blessings and the comforts of home and family life and stability of the lay state in order to go out and preach and proclaim the gospel so I think that the work the message for us today at least I would say the message for for me in particular as a layman as a husband and father and for those of you out there were families is to ask yourself the question have you opened the doors of your home to your priest to your pastor to nuns or religious that unit might know obviously if they're not cloistered right if they're if they're religious living in the world or missionaries do you know any religious or any priests in your life that you could welcome into your home in order to show them hospitality and in order to show them generosity in order to show them gratitude for their commitment to the gospel for their commitment to bringing the good news of the kingdom of God and of the Jesus Christ to your family and to the world so this is something that is a real practical way for us to practice what else where Jesus is going to talk about as almsgiving right as being generous not just with our time but also with our possessions and with our food and drink and whatever else might be needed there with with money as well to give to missionary organizations so we can help them in the spreading of the gospel so that might sound like a really kind of practical application but I think that's really what Jesus has in mind here he's letting the disciples know that they need to encourage people to open their doors to him to them not just to receive material blessings but to receive the spiritual benefits of welcoming Christ into your home in the person of one of his disciples [Music]

Channel: Catholic Productions

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Keywords: brant pitre, catholic productions, take up your cross, discipleship

Id: 4ZCO4PW8Vyc

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 12 2020