I remember a time when a parishioner called me on Easter morning to say that she had fallen and broken her leg and would not be able to help serve Easter breakfast. She sighed, “Ah, well, we all have our crosses to bear.” I think statements like that show how far out of touch some twenty-first Christians – and earlier ones – are with first century reality.

“Take up your cross and follow me” is a statement loaded with implications which the average modern and post-modern will miss. Today Jesus might say, “If you wish to be my disciple, wrap these electric chair electrodes around your wrists and ankles and follow me.” Jesus' words were a stark but honest way of warning that his followers should be prepared to be silenced by enemies, religious and/or political. These will be not just people who may dislike you for personal reasons, but people who will seek to shut you up because the message offends them religiously or politically. They may be prepared to bring your earthly life to a close because they find the Gospel to be just that offensive.

When the Church became an accepted part of society, Jesus' words took on a different meaning. The cross became synonymous with those adversities which discipline a person. But discipline implies that the person who experiences it will live through it and become a better person because of it. The cross carries no such hope. It spells the end of the road. Death. Even in the figurative sense which Paul used, the old nature was to be crucified, not molded or re-shaped for improvement. “Put these things to death,” writes Paul.

Of course the Christians who lived in the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc satellites during Communism's reign understood that Jesus was not speaking figuratively. Christians in China and India understand that Christianity poses a threat to other religions and the political state as well. Some living in certain Muslim countries know that taking up the cross means being prepared to die by torture. And now that America is becoming more post-Christian in its outlook, we will see more hostile actions taken to silence the Church and it's radical message of life, acceptance, and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Will we be prepared or will we be whiners, longing for the good old days of benign tolerance?

Three courses of action remain. The preferred is this: through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian will accept the challenge and prepare for the worst. He will go about his day cheerfully and will seek to be a little Christ to his/her neighbor come what may. He will engage the culture. He will turn to the Spirit for boldness. The lesser courses of action are these – when threatened, the Christian compromises for his own safety's sake. Here the Christian drops the cross and runs to the culture for shelter. She acquiesces. Remains silent. Tries to make Christianity palatable by removing all that provoked Jesus' crucifixion. The other course is no more honorable- the Christian purposefully provokes a hostile response, antagonizing others for the sake of personal martyrdom and recognition. Instead of dropping the cross, the Christian actually grabs the cross away from Christ and seeks to be the savior in His place. In the eyes of God, that type of “Here I stand” is no badge of honor but an unnecessary and dishonorable poke-in-the-eye provocation.

As the eyes of our hearts focus once more on the cross during this penitential season, may God work repentance for the times we have veered from the path of discipleship and behaved badly in either direction! Christ forgave the eleven for their desertion. That same healing is for us, too. For the sake of Jesus, may God strengthen us to take up the cross and follow Him. Remember that other word Thomas said: "Let us also go, that we may die with him."