“Deny Yourself and Find Life” by Beth DeCristofaro
I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
Piety
Help me Lord to deny myself in order to open myself to saying “Yes” to you. Help me also to do so quietly, humbly, genuinely. Help me to find the joy in “Yes Lord”. I praise you and I thank you, Lord, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Study
If the scene in today’s Gospel was chronologically accurate – which is not an important consideration for the evangelist Luke – then the disciples probably completely missed this declaration the first time that Jesus uttered it. Immediately before this statement Jesus had told them for the first time that he will be killed and then rise again. Most likely his friends, much like us today when given bad news, stopped hearing much of what follows. Rejected? Suffer? Killed? what - Rise? Uhhhh…. I usually need to hear it repeated then repeated again before it begins to soak in much less be fathomable. The disciples are not going to get it before Jesus walks to the Cross and suffers horrendously.
They begin to realize after Jesus appears – alive – even though they saw him being placed in a tomb. What is so stupendous is that in today’s Gospel he gives them awful news wrapped in a promise which is astounding. He will Rise. He will break the bonds of death and live again. And, even more incredulous, he is offering to his friends – to any who choose to be his friend – that same release from death. If we really reflected on that deeply enough we would probably be on our knees in awe.
Whether we are first century disciples or modern-day Catholics, we get stuck on the suffering. We especially get stuck on the perseverance we need to stay focused on the joyous outcome Jesus gifted to us. We choose comfort and prestige too readily because it is at hand and it is how our world-focused selves define life. Denying myself calls for a humility and a huge conviction that I cannot possibly deserve this gift and that I will never merit it. Jesus doesn’t require that we deserve him nor that we meet some gold medal standards. Jesus models and beckons with the most gracious, limitless offer to Live in Him.
Action
To make it to eternal life we must make it through the Cross. Most of us will never experience the torture which Jesus experienced. Our crosses are often more mundane which, unfortunately, also makes them easy to resist, rationalize away or even ignore. Lent allows us to recognize daily the crosses given to us and turn back to Jesus to deny ourselves, take up that cross of denial and thus Live. We are also asked to be aware of and be compassionate to the crosses of others. Perhaps each day we might ask to be open to the ways we take up Jesus’ cross. Ask for help in bearing it, give thanks that because of Jesus the Risen Christ our crosses have become life-giving not dead ends.
Illustration: Take Up Your Cross, John Kohan, Mixed media collage, 103 x 68 cm.
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