A woman in her early thirties shook as she contemplated what was about to take place. She had recently achieved the job of her dreams and was happily pursuing her career when she and her husband had discovered the overwhelmingly happy news that they were expecting their first child. Agonizingly she had decided—with the support of her partner—that her dream of being a mother would take priority—for now—even over the career path that she so loved. As she walked into her supervisor’s office, she composed herself because after all she thought, “I am doing this for the sake of love and for the sake of my family.”
A man in his early forties flinched as he saw his own reflection in the mirror. It was early in the morning and he barely recognized his own face. “When did I get so old?” he muttered to himself. He had not slept well…again. He was having to get in early and work late, but he was chasing his dream of owning his own business. He packed lunches and washed dishes in the predawn light. Then, as he kissed his still sleeping children on the way out the house he nodded to himself as he thought, “This is hard, but I am doing this for the sake of love, for my family, and for my career.”
A middle aged couple nervously fidgeted as they sat in their financial planner’s office thinking about the challenges that lay ahead. Both partners had worked long and hard in their individual careers, so that they might be able to pay for their children’s education and one day retire. However, as their financial planner let them know that their portfolio had not performed well over the last year there was a tough decision upcoming—afford their children’s first choice college decisions or retire when they had planned. At that moment, the couple almost cut each other off to say what they were both thinking, “I’ll keep on working…after all I am doing this for the sake of love, our family, and our children.”
A brother and sister both in their late sixties shuddered as they picked up artifacts from their childhood home. While they both had lived far away, they decided to move home in the last six months to take care of their aging parents. Painfully they had to cut short their careers to ensure that their mother was not alone. For she was taking care of their father who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and their mother could no longer do it on her own. It felt difficult to move their families away from where they had lived, but since their own children were out of the house this felt easier. Just then, the sister said what the brother was thinking, “After all we are doing this for the sake of love and for mom and dad.”
What is it that you do for the sake of love? For the sake of family? For the sake of a career or calling? For the sake of your children, grandchildren, mother, father, sister, or brother? Is there any length you wouldn’t go to for them?
But, what is it that you are willing to do for the sake of Jesus? What about for the sake of the Good News? In the cold light of this Lenten Season we see what Jesus was willing to do for you and for me. We watch him walk the way of love from Galilee to Jerusalem and up Calvary to the Cross. As we look at that path forged ahead of us by Christ, blazed before by years and years of penitent devotion, we notice where we are today. It is as though we see a big flashing star on the roadmap of Lent that reads, “YOU ARE HERE!” And, where we are is where Peter was a long time ago—wondering what is it exactly that I am willing to do for Jesus’ sake?
Peter quite clearly saw who Jesus was. He recognized that in his teacher God had made real all those promises to set the People of God free—free from oppression, free from bondage, free from themselves, free from a broken system, and free from sin. Making this realization about Jesus from our vantage point pales in comparison to the leap that Peter made. Sure, Jesus had healed, he had taught, and he had inspired, but to jump from these attributes to believing Jesus was the Son of God and Savior of all would have been outlandish. And yet, this is precisely what Peter did.
Of course, when he bounded off in the direction of faith he so very quickly felt the gravitational pull of his own human desires. Peter saw the truth of Jesus’ messiaship, but the follower could not help but get swept up in his own desire of what Jesus being the messiah might mean for him. A messiah who conquers the forces of evil in this world sounds pretty good until one learns that the way this is accomplished is through suffering and hardship. Peter observed quite quickly that it would not only be Jesus who was undergoing trials and tribulations—it would be his followers as well. So, Peter stumbled or rather he became a stumbling block to Jesus—and Jesus pointed this out by calling him Satan, which means stumbling block.
After Jesus decried Peter’s focus on human things and not divine things, he called together not only the disciples but all his followers. As we profess to follow Jesus too, he was calling us close by as well. Jesus laid out the most basic tenant of walking after him—to be a Christian one must follow Jesus the Christ and to follow Jesus the Christ one must take up one’s cross and follow. But who among us would be so foolish as to actually want to do this? Who among us would actually be so foolish as to follow him? Jesus makes it clear, anyone who wants to live.
“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” Paradoxically enough to gain life we must lose life. To gain true life we must not just lose life but lose it for the sake of Jesus and the good news. So again I ask, “What is it that you are willing to do for the sake of Jesus and the sake of the Good News?”
Living life in Christ is difficult. Those who say it is not are lying to you or they are lying to themselves. Making the decision to walk after Jesus may sometimes be easier for us personally, for our families, for our relationships, and for our lives. Other times though following Christ will mean carrying the cross. Remember before it was a fashion accessory it was a torture device meant to humiliate, inflict pain, and kill its victims.
We sacrifice a lot in our lives for the sake of ourselves, for our careers, for our families, and even for love. Sometimes though you and I must face impossibly difficult decisions when we have to sacrifice even something very good, so that we can follow after Jesus—the incarnation of the ultimate good.
What are you willing to do for the sake of Jesus and the sharing of his good news that God loves all—no matter what? Will you care for immigrants, refugees, wounded veterans, the homeless, the mentally ill, the poor, the imprisoned, the other even when it makes you uncomfortable? Will you stand up for real change to stop war, famine, environmental degradation, poverty, domestic abuse, murder, and gun violence even though you might lose friends over it? Will you show respect for and search for dignity in others even when they do nothing to deserve it?
What are you willing to do for the sake of Jesus? Are you willing to carry your cross? Are you willing to lose your life for his sake? Are you willing to walk after Jesus?
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