No Cross, No Christianity

Gospel
Mtt 16.22-27

Jesus began to show his disciplesthat he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatlyfrom the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter,“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”Then Jesus said to his disciples,“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.What profit would there be for one to gain the whole worldand forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”

Sermon at St Michael's, Scarborough

There is no avoiding the Cross in Christianity or in the Christian life. Those who only proclaim an ethical gospel of living a good life, walking in the footsteps of a good man, are short changing their hearers and misrepresenting the gospel. It was St Rose of Lima, a 16th century Peruvian Indian saint (remembered in the calendar on 23rd August) who said: "Apart from the Cross there is no ladder by which we may get to heaven".

Once the disciples had grasped the truth about who Jesus really was he sought to open their eyes to the truth that there was no other way to fulfil his mission than the way of the Cross. Neither Peter, nor anyone else, could wish away the Cross if Jesus was to reconcile sinful humanity to God.

A teacher was explaining the Stations of the Cross to her class. When they came to the Station showing Jesus being greeted by his mother on his way to Calavary she asked the children what they thought that Mary would have said to him. One child suggested "This is all so unfair" and another "Why should God do this to us?" but finally came a suggestion that clearly capped all the others "Keep going Jesus". Though it pierced her own soul to say Mary knew her son was living out his destiny. He needed to keep going until he could cry "It is finished. It is accomplished".
No Cross, No Christianity. No Cross, No Crown.

In the Church the Eucharist has always been central to Christian worship for a very good reason. It isn't just a fellowship meal to unite a happy club. It is a re-presentation of the Sacrifice of the Cross. As the Church Fathers teach: "The same victim offers himself now who offered himself on the Cross; only the way of offering is different, now in an unbloody or sacramental form". At every Eucharist we thank God for "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"; we interceed for all our needs in his name; we receive the grace of pardon, peace and reconciliation by his death.

Today the Lord invites us as he invited his first disciples "Take up the Cross and follow me". Paul (in Romans 12) says: "I beseech you, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service".

At a local retreat house where I go from time to time to pray where you might expect to find a crucifix above the prayer desk is a large Cross (6 ft by 3ft) without a Corpus. A note explains: "The Cross is without a Corpus as a symbol of your own crucifixion on it, for those who love Christ passionately want to be crucified with him so as to know the joy of his resurrection". By self denial we die to self to live for God. The empty Cross allows the Christian to attach himself to one side whilst Christ is attached to the other. Presenting his body (with all its life and actions) as a living sacrifice he provides Jesus with a means of continuing his mission and ministry in the world. No Cross, No Christianity. No Cross, No Crown.

We are invited to take up the Cross and follow him. So we sign ourselves with the sign of the Cross and pray that the imprint may be more than skin deep.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit..............Amen!