Jeremiah 20: 7-9
Psalm 63: 2-6, 8-9
Romans 12: 1-2
Matthew 16: 21-27
What gets you all fired up? What do you love doing so much that you lose all track of time? What makes life just *that* much better for you? Maybe it's reading or gardening, exercising or cooking, building something in a workshop, or any job that you truly love.
If you think about that thing, you can get just a small sense of Jeremiah's dilemma. Deep down, his call was to be a prophet of the Lord, deep down- that's what gave him life ... and yet he struggled because the outcome was less glamorous and more dangerous than he was ready for. (Sort of a "Dirty Jobs: BC Edition")
Peter, too, had a different plan for what it meant to have an 'in' with the Messiah. Fame, power, prestige... all those temptations Jesus had successfully faced down in the desert after his baptism. And so Jesus is very direct with him, in redirecting Peter's expectations for discipleship!
But in the midst of what seem very harsh words, consider this... what if 'losing one's life for my sake' means that in spite of the hardships that arise, discipleship brings you so much joy, absorbs so much of your positive attention (like reading, or gardening, etc) that you find abundant life precisely in following the ways of Jesus Christ?!
Deny ourselves, take up our crosses, follow Jesus.... we're not promised a life without pain or sacrifice, but by being true to who we really are (people created in the image and likeness of God) our sorrows and thirsts, misunderstandings and obstacles can be transformed by the Divine Perspective, by hope, and by the promise of the resurrection.
- In the crosses you have carried during your life, what part of yourself did you deny?
- In this carrying of the cross, what life did you gain?
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