Bear the cross [Trinity 1]

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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Genesis 15:1-6

• 1 John 4:16-21

• St. Luke 16:19-31

 

Grace, mercy, and peace [are yours] from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (1 Tim 1)

 
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying: 
“And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores”
 
Today, this Lazarus teaches us of suffering, because apparently he got into heaven “receiving bad things in life” and was rewarded, while the rich man received good and was punished. This is not good because the whole of the USA ethos is avoiding suffering with pills, robots, and air conditioning.
 
Thus, we have Jesus speaking against us today and His words echo in our minds when He says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24).
 
This sacred and most holy cross our Lord lays on us, in this life. All three of our readings testify and describe this cross and, since it is an holy gift of God and a mark of the true Church on earth, we will explore what it means to “bear the cross”.
 
To be sure, there is suffering in this world for everyone. The Christian by no means has a corner on this market. Meaning, you don’t have to be a Christian to suffer. This is why our Lord must make the distinction for us.
 
“Bearing the cross” is not just suffering “in general” neither is it suffering that we seek out or bring upon ourselves, though there is plenty of that in life as well. Jesus puts it this way in 1 Peter 2:20, “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?”
 
So we find, at the beginning, that the cross is not yours to cling to or find. Rather, it is something given to you and 99% of the time, not what we think it is. This is because, when we hear “suffer for doing good”, our hyper-dramatic minds immediately create the picture of being a part of some great and wonderful, popular movement. One that promises peace, or equality, or a world devoted to Jesus. 
 
When reality hits, we realize we have misidentified the cross, as somehow or another God has not advanced our cause, we panic as Abraham did in our Old Testament reading. He realized the weight of the cross God had given him and he complained, looking for relief.
 
“But Gooooood. What are you gonna give me now? I don’t have any of the things you said and someone else is gonna get all my stuff. Waaaaaaah”
 
Now, I poke fun, but the lesson on the cross is this: when we pick up the cross Christ gives us and understand it, we immediately desire to throw it away.
 
Repent! Both the rich man and Lazarus bear the cross, but who wants to be Lazarus? Not me. Not you. What’s the alternative? As Jesus reveals, the cross was carried by the rich man as well. He had to face down being popular, well-off, and stable. Who would ever categorize prosperity as a cross to bear?
 
Dear Christians, the cross of Christ is more than an aesthetically pleasing decoration for Christians, churches, or Christian-adjacents. It is also more than simply the instrument of torture and capital punishment imposed upon the Christ. 
 
The cross is the Father’s Will. Jesus does not choose it, He does not manufacture and show cross-emotions, and neither does He sell cross-shaped propaganda or souvenirs. 
 
Jesus does the Father’s Will as the Father wants it done. Jesus follows the Father’s plan. Jesus walks the path laid out before Him. That plan and path is the way to the cross. Just by being God, the world is hostile to Jesus. By virtue of God’s Word of truth, the darkness hates Him. Because Jesus exists, He is despised and rejected by His own people and by His people’s enemies.
 
The cross of wood, laid upon Jesus, is the cherry on top. It is the manifestation of all these things, but especially the father’s wrath against sin. The cross is the end of the path. It is the end of the Father’s will. It is the end of the Law. It is the suffering and death of Jesus that pays for and conquers all the corruption, hatred, and rebellion in us.
 
The cross was chosen for Jesus. The God Who was made man was given the task of suffering and dying on the cross to purchase and win you. That is the cross given to Him alone.
 
You are given a cross, for the student is not above his master (Mt. 10:24). You do not get to choose it, but you do not have to seek it out as Abraham did when he made Ishmael. The devil, the world, and your own sinful nature demand that you have it, but they are not in charge of it.
 
This is why in our Epistle, St. John tells us to love our brother. Not only do we not want to love our brother, but we would rather save the world, than love our brother. The Christian’s cross is two-fold then. First, that we suffer for the faith.
 
this does not mean making enemies with people on Facebook. This means regular and faithful attendance to the Lord’s Work that He is doing in His Word and Sacrament, as you promised in your confirmation.
 
Second, that we do our duty. Meaning, without even inventing for ourselves some grand place in this world, our Lord has given us holy orders. These are found in our Small Catechism’s Table of Duties. These mundane, ordinary, boring tasks are part of the holy life of faith and are where the devil attacks incessantly.
 
In all three readings, our Introit sums up the Christian’s cross: to trust and to wait. “O Lord I have trusted in Thy mercy”, but how long must I wait for it? The sinner and the saint that is the Christian, can’t help but be dual-minded, or rather, dual spirited when it comes to God’s Word and the cross.
 
Abraham says, “Great. I’m getting a son. Where is he?” Lazarus says, “Great I’m getting to heaven. When?” You say, “Great. I love my brother. But why that one?”
 
Jesus says, “I am love and I first loved you.” Jesus bears His cross perfectly and He stays with us in order to give us strength to endure our cross, which is impossible. But Jesus makes it possible for even the rich man to enter heaven, as He says, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”, in St. Matthew 19:26.
 
Jesus bears the cross first and sanctifies it for your use, lowering its bar so low…how low is it? It is so low, that you have already been credited for a perfect life in Christ. You have already been justified and forgiven, for free. 
 
In a wonderful reversal, You become Jesus in the story. For as Jesus is walking with the cross to His crucifixion, Simon of Cyrene is ordered to carry His cross for Him. Jesus takes the role of that Simon, when He lives your life with you saying, “This is too much for you. Take and eat, take and drink” as He strengthened Elijah in 1 Kings 19:7.
 
You bear your cross in the strength of Christ and at the direction of His Love. Faith tells you to “Cast your burdens upon the LORD and He will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” (Psalm 55:22).
 
So that when you cling to the old rugged cross, know that you are not looking for wood and nail, but your holy duties of everyday life and the holy medicine and relief only found in the Divine Service of the Christ’s Holy Supper.