Let’s get it straight: Living God’s way in the
world is not for the faint-hearted. Our readings in the next
few weeks challenge our discipleship, calling to its very
foundations. We are invited to face our prejudice, to analyze
our motives for doing good, to reflect on our seemingly
endless capacity for conflict, to observe our desire for
status, as well as our murmuring and moaning against God when
the least thing upsets our way of doing things. And as they
say in the movies, "We’re the good guys!"
Most of us suffer from spiritual blindness. Bartimaeus,
who was blind, called out to Jesus, but before Jesus could
restore his sight he had to find out if that is what
Bartimaeus wanted— "What do you want me to do for
you?" "That I may receive my sight," he
replied. Let’s get it straight: What do you want me to
do for you? is the same question Jesus asks of us.
September 14
Getting It Straight
Psalm 19; Proverbs 1:20-33; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
James tells us to watch our tongue because it is "a
whole wicked world" (James 3:6). Wisdom, that is, the
Spirit, calls for our attention and warns those who mock
others, and who hate knowledge of God’s justice, that
"they will have to eat the fruits of their own ways of
life and choke themselves with their own scheming"
(Proverbs 1:22, 31). The psalmist calls us to behave with
integrity because we are here to worship God and the beauty
of creation, which reveals God’s creative power (Psalm
19:1).
However, it is the gospel that gives the strongest
directive to all who would follow Christ—"renounce
self" (Mark 8:34). Direct, almost brutal, it is the
element of the gospel, apart from loving neighbors as
ourselves, to which we are most resistant. Certainly the idea
of renouncing self has led to oppression within the church of
one group over another, particularly men over women, and that
is in itself a corruption of Jesus’ intent. The
"self" talked of here is the self that resists the
invitation to inclusivity; refuses reconciliation, the
practice of saving justice, and God’s invitation to
recreate the world (Psalm 19:4).
Self-renunciation is coupled with a mind-blowing activity
to "take up the cross" (Mark 8:34). For most of us,
the idea of judicial execution is chilling and unacceptable.
The cross symbolized such a form of execution, firmly placing
the victim of such punishment as someone from the wrong side
of the tracks—which is not where most professing
Christians come from.
Miguel D’Escoto of Nicaragua once observed, "I
don’t think we Christians have understood what carrying
the cross means: the path of baptism. We are not carrying the
cross when we are poor or sick, or suffering small everyday
things. They are all part of life. The cross comes when we
try to change things. That is how it came for Jesus."
Let’s get it straight!
Reflection and Action
Do you agree with Miguel D’Escoto’s
understanding of carrying the cross? Can you think of
examples from your own or other people’s lives that
would bear this out?
