A Burden of Glory
Jesus did not use parables to teach them about the cross, he spoke plainly. It was his life that would be the lesson, his experience that would be their teacher. The Way of the Cross is always so. It is clear and plain and needs no fancy words. It is a path which we must walk, not endlessly discuss. It is the dust of the road on the way to Jerusalem that is the aroma of real life. The question is…and always has been…will we follow?
I am looking forward to my transfiguration, aren’t you? It will be great! What you see here today is not the real me. Yes, I have been changed and I am a new creation since I now have the Holy Spirit in me and that has fundamentally changed my nature. But I still have a transfiguration coming, don’t you? Jesus certainly did and it scared the disciples half to death.
Do you have ears to hear? I hope so. This is important. Discipleship is serious business. Many churchgoers will simply not make it to glory because they did not take discipleship seriously. Yes, it is an expression of your walk with God and not a pre-requisite for salvation, but that is pretty serious stuff. If the quality of your walk with God does not look something like what Jesus expects, then shouldn’t you ask yourself whether or not your weak-kneed, half-hearted attempts at church work is more an expression of a religious spirit and not true discipleship? This is the “heavy” stuff and Jesus is pretty blunt about what he expects from us.
There are two further passages in the gospels which deal with the cost of discipleship, both of them found in the Gospel of Luke. The first one (above) is considered the “light” sayings of Jesus on the cost of discipleship and the second one (which we will deal with tomorrow) is considered the “heavy” one. Both are instructive and well worth taking a closer look at. After all, Jesus said at one point, you need to know what you’re getting into (Luke 14:28-32).
There are a few verses of Scripture that used to scare me to death (and still make me tremble). This is one of them. “Without holiness no one will see the Lord,” the author to the book of Hebrews tells us. What are we to make of that? These words come in the context of our discipleship in the way of the cross. We already know that we are to expect hardship, persecution, suffering and even death if we are going to follow Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. Seeking the new Jerusalem life of spiritual unity, anointing and abundant life in Christ.
I don’t know about you, but my blood runs hot and cold at the same time when I hear these words. Think about it. On the one hand, Jesus is saying that if we are ashamed to follow him on the road to Jerusalem in true discipleship, then he will be ashamed of us on the day of judgment. Then, quick as you like, he reveals the other side of the coin and says that some of the disciples standing there would see with their own eyes, before they died, “the kingdom of God come with power.” Dread on the one hand. Excitement on the other.
The problem with Christianity is that it’s dangerous. I’ve talked with lots of people who were not Christians and they all agreed. But not for the reasons you might think. They all say the same thing. Christianity is dangerous because it teaches that there is a judgment after death. If you are a non-believer, a secular humanist, you generally believe that there is nothing after death. You just die. Like turning off the TV, your consciousness just stops, goes out, loses power and disappears. That’s it.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” You can imagine the consternation, the concern, the fear his words must have evoked. They were no doubt taken quite literally since Jesus, himself, not only predicted his death but the manner of his death by crucifixion. And they would no doubt be included. Full of fear but staying the course. Trusting in him.
Just when Peter is on a roll, he puts his foot in it. Badly. What in the world is he thinking? Is he really “rebuking” Jesus? He does it quietly, out of earshot of the other disciples, but they know what’s going on. They feel the same way, no doubt.
Not many people realize that after feeding the 5000, there was a group of people who intended to come and force Jesus to become king (John 6:15). Jesus slips away by himself and then, that night he walks on water to catch up with his disciples during the storm. On the other side of the lake a lot of these same people found him again.
