A sermon/reflection for The Second Sunday of Lent – Year B
The readings for this Sunday are those of the Second Sunday of Lent:
- Genesis 17.1-7
- Psalm 22.22-30
- Romans 4. 13-25
- Mark 8.31-38
You might like to use the link below to find the above readings, and click on any of the reading above that you wish to use: http://www.katapi.org.uk/CommonWorship/CWLectionarySelV.php
Collect of the day
Let us first spend a few moments in silence to centre ourselves,
to gather ourselves in our souls,
to come before the Lord just as we are with our joys and sorrows,
our hopes and our fears, our loves and our pains.
Let us just focus our minds and hearts on Jesus
who is the answer for every problem.
Let us pray that the Spirit will work through our lives
to bring Christ to the world.
Silence is kept
Almighty God,
you show to those who are in error the light of your truth,
that we may return to the way of righteousness:
grant to all those who are admitted
into the fellowship of Christ’s religion,
that we may reject those things
that are contrary to their profession,
and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same;
and by following in his Way we may come to share the glory
in Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Prayer before the Sermon
Loving Heavenly Father,
we thank you
for the words you have given us today.
We know they are words of life and salvation.
Open our hearts Father,
touch our souls,
help us to respond to your word
and know that you are indeed our Lord and Saviour.
May we experience in our hearts
your love and your presence always.
Amen.
A homily based on the readings of today is given below:
“Take up your cross daily and follow me…”
Introduction
The key words of Jesus that we want to reflect on today are: “If anyone want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8.34)
What do these words of Jesus mean for me?
What is Jesus wanting to tell us?
Some of you might guess what I might be saying. But each of us will have his/her own interpretation of these words of Jesus. We don’t have time in a sermon to find out what each one thinks of these extraordinary words of Jesus, although it would have been wonderful and inspiring.
Jesus speaks about the ‘cross’
The ‘cross’ might remind us of ‘Good Friday’ and all that happened on that day two thousand years ago – the passion, suffering and torture and crucifixion that led to the death of Christ on the cross.
Today, paradoxically, as there are so many paradoxes in today’s world, the ‘cross’ is also a fashion symbol, a punk symbol, even a stylish sign of rebellion or provocation … you find gold crosses, silver crosses, all types of ornate crosses of all materials….
I wonder how many of us know that 2000 years ago, the cross was an utterly distasteful sign and symbol, one of punishment for the worst crimes…wonder how many today know that a man named ‘Jesus’ died on the cross for our salvation, that he gave up his life for us…
What about the ‘cross’ in our lives?
Which are ‘our’ crosses?
Does the cross answer the ‘big why’ of human suffering and pain?
All of us have our own crosses, big or small, but we have them. For some, it is an unexpected or long drawn out lack of physical or emotional well-being. For others, it is a problematic child in the family – may be a son/daughter who is a drug addict….or rebellious or challenging….it could be a child who has a ‘down’ syndrome or any other invalidities…we all have our crosses….for someone else it may be the place of work that is terribly unhealthy….a manager who is authoritarian and unjust….for someone else the cross may come in the form of a chronic illness or addiction to something….or a marriage that has gone wrong…or the death of a loved one that makes us cry to heaven with that heart-wrenching ‘why’…..or the pain of ‘waiting’ for someone or something to happen, a new job, owning a new house, paying off a mortgage or loan…we can go on and on…the list will never end…but the fact of the matter is that crosses, oh don’t we have them!
‘Take up your cross’
What does Jesus mean that we have to ‘carry’ our cross if we want to follow Jesus as if there is a choice! In other words, we are asked to accept the crosses of our daily problems, duties, our tasks, responsibilities…old age… a difficult relationship…The cross is ‘the daily life of every day’… not an easy thing to accept the ramifications of our life of faith in God and to trust God in the midst of our sufferings and challenges in life!
Following Jesus …
But Jesus says that if we want to ‘follow’ him as a disciple, as a Christian, we have to carry our cross. But it is not just a question of taking up your cross, no not at all, it is about ‘following Jesus’. To follow Jesus, we have to take up our daily crosses. That is the clear sign of a disciple of Christ. It is a double commitment: to ‘take’ up the ‘cross’ and to ‘follow’ Jesus.
Many of us try to avoid ‘the cross’ in our lives!
We forget that pure gold that is ‘the very best’ is refined in the flames of the hottest temperatures. We forget too that the great Christians are formed and refined in the crucible of suffering and pain through their faith in Jesus.
In chapter 11 of Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, Saint Paul speaks about ‘so great a cloud of witnesses’ who underwent all types of trials, all types of crosses, mocked or scourged, stoned, sawn in two, killed by the sword, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, wandering over deserts and mountains? And he writes in Hebrews 12. verse 1: “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, (2) looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God…(4) in your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood…” And comparing with earthly fathers, he writes, “(10) but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (11) For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
What actually is the meaning of ‘following Jesus carrying the cross’?
It means obedience and surrender.
It means love and acceptance.
It means waiting and patience.
It means doing things we have to do or accepting the exigencies of our life ‘in order to follow Jesus and to be like him’…. Like him who carried the cross, died on the cross and rose again in glorious resurrection and power, there is the same ‘potential’, the same ‘possiblility’, the same ‘miracle’, the same ‘blessing’ hidden behind our crosses.
Like the cocoon is a passage towards being a butterfly, the cross in our lives could become a bridge to pass on to glory and heavenly vision and the kingdom of God, to light when we accept it in order to follow Jesus…when we do that, people ‘see’ us and they see ‘Christ’, they see God reflected in our lives….
The cross in our lives is like a piece of carbon through long period of intense heat and ultimate compression turn out to be the most glorious diamond, or the oyster that breeds in the in the bottom of the sea of the sea where it breeds for food or for tends within itself and producing the most lovely pearls inside their shells…
The cross of suffering and pain when accepted in loving obedience, abandonment, acceptance and surrender for the love of Christ could become the source of good things, the highest and the best in human beings and Christians….
Conclusion: ‘Joni’ – an example of one who carried her cross and followed Jesus
Joni Eareckson Tada at the age of 16 had that tragic jump in to a pool that left her quadriplegic for the rest of her life. But she became a ‘living symbol’ of Christian faith and her story has reached millions who have heard her or read her books.
In her early years of coming to grips with her quadriplegic situation, Joni used to be inspired by a poem by Madame Guyon. Madame Guyon was a French noblewoman. This saintly woman was arrested in 1688 and falsely accused of heresy, sorcery, and adultery by jealous church officials. She was convicted and spent the next ten years in prison. During those long and weary years of her confinement, she penned the poem below, an eloquent expression of the strength God gives to the suffering heart that waits on Him.
A little bird …
A little bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air;
And in my cage I sit and sing
To Him who placed me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be
Because, my God, it pleases Thee.
Naught have I else to do;
I sing the whole day long;
And He whom most I love to please,
Doth listen to my song:
He caught and bound my wandering wing,
But still He bends to hear me sing.
My cage confines me round;
Abroad I cannot fly;
But though my wing is closely bound,
My heart’s at liberty;
My prison walls cannot control
The flight, the freedom of the soul.
Oh! It is good to soar
These bolts and bars above,
To Him whose purpose I adore,
Whose providence I love;
And in Thy mighty will to find
The joy, the freedom, of the mind.
(Madame Guyon, quoted by Joni in her book “A Step Further”)
Joni writes: “Oscar Wilde wrote: ‘In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.’ To paraphrase his thought, “I suggest there are likewise only two joys. One is having God answer all your prayers; the other is not receiving the answer to all your prayers. I believe this because I have found that God knows my needs infinitely better than I know them. And He is utterly dependable, no matter which direction our circumstances take us.”
If these were my words, you might have doubts really. But these are the words of a beautiful young girl tragically brought down in her 16th year and who ploughed through her pain and her suffering and finally discovered God’s purposes even in the most terrible crosses that came her way….so you can accept her words….
There are so many others who accepted their ‘cross’ in obedience and faith and far surpassed the highest limits their crosses becoming springboards to glory and Christian witness and holiness….we don’t have to look far…we have neighbours who cheerfully carry their crosses daily and follow Christ…these are real believers, real Christians who change the world ….They carry their life crosses and follow Jesus steadfastly. And they know that faith in Jesus overcomes all, even the heaviest of life’s crosses! Joni’s story assures us that we too can carry our life crosses and follow Jesus and fulfil our lives!
Pause to pray …
A further Prayer you can say now:
Lord Jesus,
I believe you are the Son of God.
Thank you for becoming one of us.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
Thank you for rising from the dead
to give me hope and the gift of eternal life.
I repent of my sins
and invite you into heart and life
as my Lord and Saviour.
Please grant me your Holy Spirit
so that I may know you, love you
and follow you every day of my life.
Amen.
[Revd Dr ST Mattapally, Rector, Springline Parish, Diocese of Lincoln]