The Call of Christ

• One night a man had a dream...  Jesus said “I want you to be my disciple” and the man agreed eagerly. Jesus gave man cross to carry, selected specifically for him. About 8 feet tall, and heavy and rough. The man's eagerness fades. After carrying it for a while, the man asked Jesus, “Can you do something about the splinters?” Jesus looked at the man with compassion and made it smooth. The man was pleased that Jesus was so kind to him.

Now it’s smooth, he carries it for a while, but it's still very heavy... Jesus, could you make my cross lighter? Jesus looked at the man with compassion and made it lighter. The man was pleased that Jesus was so kind to him.

Now it's smooth and light, but still about 8 feet tall. The man says, “Jesus, my cross keeps dragging on the ground, and it makes me hunch over so. Could you make it smaller?” Jesus looked at the man with compassion and made it smaller. The man was pleased that Jesus was so kind to him.

They come to a chasm, about 8 feet across. Jesus takes his own cross, still large and heavy and rough, and it perfectly spans the gap, allowing him to cross over safely, but the disciple’s cross, which had been exactly what he needed, has been rendered useless.

• Last week’s reading from Matthew gave us Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ, and this week Jesus points out that there is a cost to being the Christ and there’s a cost to being a disciple: Whoever would be a disciple must deny themselves and pick up cross and follow Jesus, and Jesus’ path is going to crucifixion.

“Get behind me, Satan!”

• Jesus’ words to Peter sound harsh, but we’ve heard them before. Get behind me, Satan… Four words in English, four words in Greek.  Two of the words we heard in the temptation story, Get away from me, Satan (4:10). And two we heard just 9 verses later when Jesus calls Peter to follow him.

Take-home point:
The call to follow Jesus does not stop, 

and it does not rest on our faithfulness.

Have you fallen, strayed? Denied? 

The call is not revoked, it’s repeated.
Not because of my faithfulness but because of Jesus’ goodness.

• Which is one of the answers to the next question: 

Why follow Jesus?

Because of his faithfulness.
Because in him is light.
Because with him is eternal life.
Because he is the way and the truth and the life.
Because (unlike other gods or anything) 

he precedes and he accompanies.

• The call to follow Christ is not easy 

but it beats any offer out there.

• Celebration of Holy Communion

Matthew 16:21-28     (CEB)   Fifth Sunday in Easter     05/03/15

²¹ From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and legal experts, and that he had to be killed and raised on the third day. ²² Then Peter took hold of Jesus and, scolding him, began to correct him: “God forbid, Lord! This won’t happen to you.” ²³ But he turned to Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are a stone that could make me stumble, for you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts.”

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. ²⁵ All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me will find them. ²⁶ Why would people gain the whole world but lose their lives? What will people give in exchange for their lives? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is about to come with the majesty of his Father with his angels. And then he will repay each one for what that person has done. ²⁸ I assure you that some standing here won’t die before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”