Sunday, March 8

And Jesus called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and for the Gospel’s will save it.”
—Mark 8: 34-35

Crosses are everywhere. I see them in the marketplace, I see them in the child standing and crying when a parent has dropped them off at Day School, when a son or daughter endures the death of a parent, or when someone is diagnosed with cancer. Crosses are in our lost jobs, in our hard economic times, and in our natural disasters. They literally dot the landscape of our lives over and over again.

The challenge for each of us is to let God take ours, to give our cross over to God so God can act with it and upon it as he goes to his own. The amazing yet horrifying premise of Jesus upon the cross is God’s very life in our lives, God’s very participation in all the crosses of humanity. The Christian hope is founded upon God’s presence with us in all things, and despite all things, in God’s activity that brings newness to life.

Sometimes I deny the existence of a cross. I want my life to be beautiful, gracious, and lovely for all those around. So I dress my life up so that it does not appear to contain a cross. But in latching on to my life and keeping my fantasy of control alive, I deny God the possibility of taking my hurt into the tomb. My actions deny God the work of Good Friday and Holy Saturday in my own life.

But when any of us give our lives over to God, resurrection comes. It may not be what we want. It may not be perfect. But in the midst of our darkness, light and hope come.

God, of rebirth and renewal, take the crosses of my life and help me wait with expectation and great hope for Easter.