He tells them "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it"--8:34-35. That doesn't sound much like fun and games to me.
But Jesus was simply being honest with them. The life of a Christ follower is not always easy. In fact, it can be down right hard. It's not easy to stand against the pressures of a society that wants you to look, think, and act a certain way when our Lord and master says we cannot. Its not easy to resist temptations to compromise our beliefs and faith. Its not easy to continually ask the Holy Spirit to examine us and to prune away the unfruitful segments of our life.
One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was to say yes to God. When he called me into the ministry I was living a life in a town I had chosen to live in. I owned a home that I wanted to own. My children went to the school that I wanted them to attend. I was a member of a church I loved. But that all changed. It had to.
You see, what Jesus was saying is that our Christian walk is not about us. It is about a relationship with the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. He was saying that salvation is not some future promise. Our salvation compels us to do the things we see Jesus do. In this passage, we hear the words of Christ and we realize that Christian living is about sacrifice, self-denial, and bearing a burden for another.
| Desert Father praying. |
While I was preparing for this week's message to my church, I came across a wonderful story that I had not heard before. It's the story of a man named St. Telemachus. Sometime in the late fourth or early fifth century a monk named Telemachus was fed up with the church. Like many others, he decided to traverse into the desert to live away from the hypocrisy of the church around him. One day while he was in the middle of his daily prayers he felt convicted that he was being selfish. He realized that instead of loving God that he was simply living his life how he wanted to.
So prompted by the Holy Spirit, he began to walk to Rome. He made his way across the miles from where he had been living to the Imperial City. When he got there, he heard a great cry from the Colosseum. He followed the shouts until he reached the arena. Much to his horror, there in the middle of this "Christian" city was a fight to the death. What Telemachus realized was that here were men in the midst of fighting who Jesus Christ had died for. And worse yet, here were men and women shouting for their deaths. He jumped over the barrier and began to plead with the gladiators to stop fighting.
Of course, the crowd was furious. They began to shout for him to move so they could watch the death battle. He refused. The crowd then began to throw stones at him so that the games could continue. After they had killed him, they realized what had happened. The crowd was convicted of their actions and the games came to a sudden stop. Shortly after that episode, the games were permanently cancelled.
| St. Telemachus intervening in the games. Foxe's Book of Martyrs |
I found this story to be fascinating. Here was this man who was called forth from God to go into the world to love humanity. When he did, he was killed for it. Because of his death, others were saved and people turned away from sin. It sounds a lot like St. Telemachus took up his cross. He truly lived the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the call of every true follower of Christ. Until next time...
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