The Cross is the cross over

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

August 28, 2011

 A nun was explaining the Stations of the Cross to her class. They got to the fourth Station were Jesus on the road to Calvary meets his mother. The nun explained that even though they could not talk to each other, mother and son spoke to each other with their eyes. Then she asked the pupils “What do you think they said to each other?” One child answered, she said, “This is unfair.” Another one said she said, “Why me?” Finally a sickly little girl raised her thin hand, got up and said: “Sister, I know what the Blessed Mother told Jesus. She said to him, ‘Keep on going, Jesus!’” Why would a mother encourage her only son on the way to crucifixion to keep on going? It’s because the mother understands the Christian principle of “no cross, no crown.”

Last Sunday, Jesus praised and blessed Peter for recognizing and confessing him as the Messiah. Today, the same Peter was seriously rebuked for trying to stop the work and the plan of God from being carried out. Jesus knew his mission clearly. He also knew when the ultimate price would be paid. So, in today’s gospel, he hinted his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly in the hands of the elders, the chief priests, the scribes and then be killed by them. But Peter did not let Jesus finish before he took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Even the promise of Jesus that after his death, he would be raised on the third day did not persuade Peter at all. He seems to be telling Jesus, “Shut up Lord, what are you talking about?” Peter, like every concerned disciple who loves the master did not want any harm to happen to Jesus. But Jesus who had praised and blessed Peter turned around to rebuke the devil that was speaking through him, “Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Who will blame Peter for trying to prevent harm from coming to his Master? Who will blame Peter for attempting to take his Master away from harm’s way? Who will blame Peter for protecting the interest of his Master? Who will blame Peter for not wishing “evil” on his Master? Is this not what a good friend does to a friend? But then, Jesus’ way is the way of the cross. The Lord’s way is the way of redemptive suffering. His way is the way of thorns and cross. Jesus understood perfectly the principle of “no cross, no crown.” Peter in today’s gospel represents many today’s Christians who believe and preach “Just believe in Jesus and everything will go well with you.” Peter is like many Christians today who believe in the theology of no cross, all crowns. But Jesus teaches us today that the way of the cross is not the way of extinction; the way of the cross is not the way of lifelessness. Without the cross, there will be no crown. Without death, there will be no resurrection. In John 12:24, Jesus says, “I tell you most solemnly, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Dearest beloved, Jesus does not promise us a crossless life. He does not promise us thornless roses. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a coin with two sides: the cross and the crown. If we try to embrace one, the glorious one and reject the other, the denying of oneself and the carrying of the cross, we falsify the gospel. That is what is going on in many new generation churches today. Their preachers tell people to simply believe in Jesus, and all their problems will be gone. They turn Jesus into a coke machine and turn Christianity into a Christo-disco boogie-woogie. They rap in Church and ask people to dance out their hearts, that with Jesus there is no cross. They make people believe that faith in Jesus solves all human problems. And because of this, when someone’s cross does not go away, he or she thinks that God has forgotten him or her. Some even relapse into faithlessness. Their preachers take away the redemptive cross, and give people false promises, false hope and fake crowns.

They argue that Jesus has asked everyone with burdens to come to him and fine rest. But it is the same Jesus who says, “Come to me all you that are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest” that also says, “Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It is the same Jesus that says, “Come to me all you that are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest” that also says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” It is the same Jesus that also says to us today, “Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Jesus asks us to come to him and learn from him. To learn what? To learn from him the way of cross; to learn that without the cross, there will be no crown; to learn that the way of the cross is the way of redemption. Jesus wants us to learn that carrying a cross does not mean that God has abandoned us. The Lord wants us to learn from him the meaning of the cross.  Just like gold is purified by fire, so we are purified by the cross. The cross is not a sign of rejection and abandonment by God. The cross is not a symbol of defeat and failure. The cross is a symbol of love. The cross leads to the crown. The pain of the cross creates the path to the crown.

Some of us may be asking, “Do we come to Jesus to be freed from our burdens, or do we come to him to take on the cross? We come to Jesus not to be freed from all burdens, but to be freed from all meaningless and futile burdens and in its place, take on the cross of Jesus Christ that leads to salvation and glory. Some of us may be saying, “Then there is no need to come to Jesus since coming to him still entails taking on the cross.” Yes, there is an urgent need to come to Jesus. The cross or the burden of Jesus is not meaningless. His cross has a meaning. When we understand the meaningfulness of the cross, it would become easy and light to carry. Yes, there is an urgent need to carry the cross because without it, there would be no crown.  

Sisters and brothers, ignore the false gospel that denigrates the cross. Ignore the false gospel that says, “No cross, and all crowns.” Yes, the cross is painful. Yes, the cross is hurtful. But it is what purifies. It is what leads to the crown. No cross, no crown. Without death, there is no resurrection. Without the pain of labor, there is no child birth. Without the pain of studying all nights and all day, there is no success in life. Without hunger, there is no joy of belly fill. Every good things in life, comes after a painful and long hour of trying and making effort. Ignore the preacher who tells you that if you have faith in Jesus, you will never experience any pain. Ignore the false preacher who teaches that faith in Jesus means freedom from all burdens. Ignore the preacher who tells you that the cross or suffering is as a result of your sins. It is not! The gospel of no suffering is the gospel of no crown; it is the gospel of the devil. Ignore the fancy and very attractive one sided gospel of instant glory, sugar-coated gospel that offers the false promise of no cross, all crown. Ignore the false gospel that says, “Only believe in Jesus and everything will go well for you.” It did not go well with Jesus; he did endure the cross. It did not go well with Mother Mary; a sword of sorrow still pierced her soul. It did not go well with John the Baptist, he had his head beheaded. It did not go well with Peter and Paul, they were martyred. In the face of misery, hardship, bereavement, sickness, failure, let our faith response not be a ‘Why me Lord?” Let our faith response not be a walking away from God. But to recognize that those difficulties are necessary paths we must travel to receive the crown. They are necessary condition for future glory. The world is a place for the cross. Heaven is the place for the crown of glory. Heaven is a reward of righteousness for those who learned from Jesus the meaning of the cross and carried it ungrudgingly. The cross is not a defeat; it is a cross over- a cross over to the Promised Land in heaven.

May Mother Mary, Mother in a million who endured the sword that pierced her soul pray for us. May Jesus who carried the cross and died on the cross help us to carry our crosses with perfect resignation to his will. He carried his cross and died for us, we should also die for him.