The Way
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If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
-Mark 8:34
You really know it’s Lent when Jesus begins to talk about denying ourselves and taking up our cross to follow him. We are on the slow lenten journey to Jerusalem and the terrible events that occur there during Holy Week. It’s a hard season to swallow, but also a deeply affirming and even comforting one if you’re going through a really tough time yourself, because it is the season in which we are most aware of God’s own suffering - both for us and with us.
We live in a stressful time, in which tensions and anger are high and it’s beginning to feel like violence is just a matchstick away at times. This Lent finds us in a time of wars, climate disasters and political upheaval. Worst of all, we are surrounded by people doing and saying all kinds of things in the name of Christianity that are more in line with nationalism than faith.
One thing I know is that the way of Jesus is not a way of force, coercion or violence. It is not the way of showing others just who is boss. It is the way of listening, vulnerability and love in a world that is constantly confusing true strength with bullying. It is the way of peace.
Jesus was open and honest. He made himself vulnerable to the powers of this world. He listened to friend and stranger, including those that others might spurn. And he showed us what it means to love. It might seem wrong that such things can be viewed as a threat. It might seem downright evil that such things are often the reason people are crucified. And it might seem strange that it can feel scary for us, in our hostile environment, to seek peace, to love, be vulnerable and listen. This is the way of Jesus. And it takes faith to pick up this cross.
May our Lent this year be encouraged by those who have walked in this way before, and filled with hope for those who will walk it after us. And may God give us the faith and trust to walk it ourselves in these troubled times.
