The Second Sunday in Lent-The Rev Melanie Lemburg
The Rev Melanie Dickson Lemburg
2nd
Sunday in Lent-Year B
February 25, 2024
Last fall, I was driving down Highway 17
in South Carolina, and I saw a figure approaching in the distance along the
shoulder of the road. I watched as it
approached, and my eyes began to discern what I was seeing. It was youngish man, probably in his twenties;
he was dressed casually, but nicely—in blue jeans and a ball cap. And he was carrying something slung over his
shoulder. As we grew closer still, I discovered
that he was holding a wooden cross, with one of the arms draped casually over
the front of his shoulder, and as he approached, I noticed that the cross
seemed to somehow be bumping merrily along behind him. Still trying to make sense of what I was
seeing, I glanced over as I passed him to discover that the wooden cross that
he was so intentionally carrying while walking down the shoulder of Highway 17 was attached to a wheel.
(Hunh!)
Our gospel reading for today from Mark’s
gospel gives us Jesus’s first out of three predictions of his death and
suffering. This is happening in the
center of Mark’s gospel and is immediately followed by the Transfiguration
(which we read two Sundays ago), and we talked about how the disciples in that
moment are invited to go from being spectators to being witnesses. But today’s reading sets the tone for the
rest of Mark’s gospel, which focuses on the question “What does it mean to be a
faithful disciple of Jesus?” and continues to show, over and over again, how Jesus’s
disciples fail to understand what Jesus’s mission and ministry is all
about.
In our reading for today, Jesus predicts
his suffering and death on the cross; Peter, who has just had a beautiful shining
moment when he actually gets it right and has named Jesus as the Messiah, takes
Jesus aside and rebukes him, and Jesus, in turn rebukes Peter, telling him that
he is trying to distract him from his mission.
Then he calls together his disciples and the crowd who is following
along with them and says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save
their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the
sake of the gospel, will save it.”
Now, before I really delve into this passage,
let me take a minute to identify some of the pitfalls. (Another writer suggests that this passage is
rife with possibility to be problematic, likening its treatment to how one
picks up a snake. There are lots of ways
a person can pick up a snake and it can go horribly wrong, but really only one
right way.) So let me say very clearly
that I do not believe that Jesus (or God, or the Holy Spirit) wants us to
suffer or willingly inflicts suffering on us.
We also have to be mindful of all the ways that this particular passage
has been used to oppress people—specifically women and people of color— whom
the system has been stacked against and this passage is quoted to basically tell
them to suck it up and deal with their suffering as a way of following Jesus.
So what is Jesus actually saying? What is happening here? Listen to what Contemplative writer Joyce
Rupp writes about Jesus’ difficult teaching for followers to “take up their
cross and follow him”:
“What
did the crowd following Jesus think when he made that tough statement? Did they wonder what carrying the cross
meant? Did they have second thoughts about accompanying him? Jesus wanted his
followers to know that the journey they would make involved knowing and
enlivening the teachings he advocated. In other words, Jesus was cautioning
them, ‘If you decide to give yourselves to what truly counts in this life, it
will cost you. You will feel these teachings to be burdensome at times, like
the weight of a cross.’
She
continues, “We can’t just sit on the roadside of life and call ourselves
followers of Jesus. We are to do more than esteem him for his generous love and
dedicated service. We do not hear Jesus grumbling about the challenges and
demands of this way of life. We do not see him ‘talking a good talk’ but doing
nothing about it. He describes his vision and then encourages others to join
him in moving those teachings into action.”[i]
“If
you decide to give yourself to what counts in this life, it will cost you.” We know this, right? Suffering is, strangely enough, an essential
part of humanity, of loving engagement—with others and with life itself. And yet, so often we want to have our cake and
eat it, too. We want to be followers of
Jesus, but we want to be comfortable. We
want to be good people, with meaningful relationships, but we don’t want to
suffer. We want to be able to witness to
Jesus by walking down Highway 17 carrying a big wooden cross, but we don’t want
to strain our muscles, or for it to rub too much on our shoulder, so we slap a
wheel on the bottom of it, and voila! No
more suffering! How many times do I try
to slap a wheel on the cross that Jesus has invited me to carry as a part of
what it means for me to grow deeper in my discipleship? What do I lose when I do that? What is lost in my community of faith when I
do that?
Your
invitation this week is to think about one recent way that you may have tried
to slap a wheel on the cross that Jesus has invited you to carry as a part of
your discipleship. Or here’s how another
writer puts it: “How have you actively
avoided suffering, rejection, or unpleasantness this week? [Maybe it is as simple as not telling someone
the truth?] Was there a cost to you, to
loved ones, or to your community in doing so?
How might facing suffering directly, even just naming what is happening…open
you to greater fullness this week?”[ii]
And
just for fun, here’s a poem I wrote about my encounter on Hwy 17.
Wooden
Cross on a Wheel
Melanie
Dickson Lemburg
I saw his silhouette in
the distance
on the shoulder of 17
and I could not make
sense of it.
Eventually emerged a man
in his prime
blue-jeaned and
ball-capped
with a wooden cross
slung
over his shoulder
bouncing merrily
along behind him.
As I passed
I discovered
the wooden cross
was on a wheel.
Why carry
when you can roll?
Is such work
pleasing to God?
Well, it certainly
makes a statement.
(Even Jesus had a little
help
carrying his cross.)
Carrying crosses
is cumbersome
bulky and bumping
with no place
to rest it unless
there’s a convenient corner
handy to prop.
Jesus never said
to take up his
cross.
I am to take up
my own cross
embracing suffering and
that which
slowly kills me
and in the awkward
struggle
God reveals salvation.
[i] Quoted in Richard Rohr's Daily
Meditations From the Center for Action and Contemplation for Thursday, February
22, 2024. Original citation is Joyce
Rupp. Jesus, Guide of My Life:
Reflections for the Lenten Journey. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 2023,
20–21.
[ii] These questions come from Everyday
Connections: Reflections and Practices for Year B edited by Heidi
Haverkamp. WJK: Louisville, KY, 2023,
p312.
Comments
Post a Comment