The Gospel for today from St. Mark, Chapter 8, Verse 34, begins with the words: “When He [that is, Jesus Christ] had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whosever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” In keeping with the opening words of this gospel, I have called this sermon, “What happens when you take up your cross?”

There are two immediate surprises in this gospel passage for me and perhaps for many of you. First, Christ is talking to all the people as well as to his disciples. That is unusual. A common approach in the Gospels is for Christ to draw His disciples aside and to bring them insights that the people are not yet ready to hear. Also, Christ often speaks to large gatherings of people. However, on this occasion Christ considers His message so important that He wishes both the people and his disciples to hear it together at the same time. This suggests that Christ believes that all the people—that all of those who wish to follow Him, including each of us—are now ready to hear this message.

The second surprise is that Christ is asking each of us to take up our own crosses, not His cross, but our crosses. I was stunned to read those words—“your cross” or “his cross”—six times in the Holy Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark and St. Luke. There is no doubt about it. In the culture of first century Palestine, Christ refers to each man taking up “his cross.” However, in the twenty-first century, whatever country in which we live, that challenge from Christ refers to each of us—men, women and children. Take up your cross now.

Children, what is your cross? Perhaps it communicates better to say, “What is a problem that you have?” The first thing to do is to decide whether or not you have a problem. Is there something in your life that you need to share with your parents and friends, in order to face that problem? You don’t need to tell me or the whole congregation what your problem is; but it is important to consider any problem that you have in your own life and to try to work out a solution. That’s what parents and friends are here for. To help you grow up.

Now adults, we often think we have grown up, don’t we? But have we really grown up into the full stature that Christ intends for each of us? First, we have to identify what is our cross? What is a problem in your own life, which you need to face? Well, you might think, “My problem is none of your business.” That attitude is especially prominent in England. As an American, now also a British citizen who has lived in Britain for more than 50 years, it is only in the last year that I have learned the difference between “English politeness” and “American politeness.” In England when you meet someone for the first time, you talk about the weather. Often, the second and the third time you meet them you also talk about the weather. Only then is it polite to begin to relate to that person as a person. In the United States, when you meet someone for the first time, you ask about their life: “How are you doing? What are your hopes? How can I get to know you?” My British wife calls that being nosy. Perhaps she is right. One does have to adapt to different cultural practices.

OK, so in England, you wait a while before you try to relate to someone you have just met. However, it may well be that whatever our different cultures and approaches to life, we share a single problem. We may all face the same cross. That cross is self-will—seeking to please ourselves. The Hebrew word is râtsôn meaning “self-will.” The word is first used in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis, Chapter 49, Verse 6, when the dying Jacob does not bless his sons Simeon and Levi, because “in their anger they killed men and in their self-will, they [brought disaster upon themselves].” In the New Testament, the Greek word is authadēs, meaning “self-willed” as used by St. Paul in the Book of Titus, Chapter 1, Verse 7 to refer to a competent bishop who, and I quote, “must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, [but] . . . self-controlled, holding fast to the faithful word as he has been taught. . . .” St. Peter also in the Second Book of Peter, Chapter 2, Verse 10 refers to those who “are presumptuous, self-willed.”

In modern English, a person guided by self-will would be called an egotist—a self-centred person. As we grow up, our understanding of our “self” changes. How we see life and how we see ourselves changes. Slowly, we learn that we are not the centre of the universe. We did not create the universe; God did. What we truly seek to develop in our own lives on earth is not the immaturity of self-will, but an understanding of the mature will of God for each of our unique lives.

On Father’s Day this year, one of my children gave me a lovely card that quoted Harry S. Truman. “I have found,” said President Truman, “the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.” However, I received a personal message inside that card, “Of course, one should add, or rather amend, that it’s about helping your children find God’s purposes for their lives! Thank you for doing that.” Indeed, as parents, we all seek to find God’s purposes for each of our children and for our own lives.

Among the Church Fathers, the fifth-century bishop of Arles, St. Caesarius preached powerfully about the meaning of this passage from the Gospel of St. Mark. I close with his words. In Sermon 159, St. Caesarius asked, and I quote: “What does this mean, ‘take up a cross’? It means [a person] will bear with whatever is troublesome, and in this very act [they] will be following [Christ]. . . . When the Lord tells us in the Gospel that anyone who wants to be His follower must renounce himself, the injunction seems harsh; we think He is imposing a burden on us. But [this] is no burden when it is given by one who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ if not [to] where He has already gone? We know that He has risen and ascended into heaven; there, then [to heaven], we must follow Him. . . . Would you follow Christ? Then be humble as He was humble. Do not scorn His lowliness if you want to reach His exaltation. Human sin made the road rough. Christ’s resurrection leveled it. By passing over [that human road] He transformed the narrowest of [trails] into a royal highway. Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone want to get to the top—well, [says St. Caesarius] the first step to take is humility. Why take strides that are too big for you—do you want to fall instead of going up? Begin with the first step, humility, and you will already be climbing.”

In other words, St. Caesarius is saying, take up your own cross in humility; and in that act of facing your own problems, you will slowly, small step by small step, travel with Christ on the highway to heaven.

And so we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Father Emmanuel Kahn