The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (8:34-9:1)

This reading is given to us on the Sunday after the feast of the cross, which we celebrated yesterday. The Church wants us to linger on this feast a bit longer. Not to rush away from it. For in the mystery of the cross is the crucifixion and the crucifixion is our whole life as a Christian. The cross that was certain death for Our Lord Jesus Christ, has become our guarantee of life and a guarantee that God loves us immeasurably. So the Church lingers here and reminds us with the words of our Lord, that we must each carry our cross. “The Lord said, “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 the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?”

St. Innocent of Alaska speaking about carrying the cross said this,

“When you bear your cross, “It is then that you will feel an indescribable delight, a wonderful inner peace and joy such as you have never experienced before, and at the same time you will feel an influx of spiritual strength; prayer will become easier and your faith stronger.”

But someone might ask, “what does it mean to carry your cross?” So let me try to explain. To carry the cross means to do the thing that is difficult to do in your life because it is well pleasing to God. Typically this is something that is painful and feels like a kind of death. If it were something easy it would not be called a cross, it would be called a luxury or a pleasure. But to fail to carry it requires you to break the commandments and to fall into sin. So this is part of the equation in carrying your crosses, a complete obedience to Christ. If we are successful in carrying our crosses then it will indeed be suffering, but it will bring us to purification and sanctification and it will give life to us and to those all around us.

What are examples of carrying one’s cross? An example of carrying a cross might be a difficult marriage that you choose to stay in so as not to fall into sin. Please note that I said difficult, but I did not say abusive. Carrying the cross might be caring for a spouse or a child that is very sick and needs assistance 24-7. Carrying the cross might be dealing with a difficult co-worker or fellow student or even a difficult teacher. Carrying a cross might be learning to live with a sickness or disease that causes you great pain every day. The world might offer solutions, might tell you to call Dr. Kevorkian. But we have to reject those whispers because they are veiled in compassion but underneath the veil it is something from the father of lies.

But mostly, it seems that we carry the cross of our sinfulness and sinful desires. We carry the cross by struggling against these desires and bringing them before Christ daily. One example of this might be the man or woman with same sex attraction. You can acknowledge this desire as real and powerful but you can also accept that following this desire is not good for you, that it damages your soul, that it puts up a great wall between you and God. It might seem like the most painful thing to live with such desires but have no outlet for them. It seems like the unfulfilled desire might even kill you. Now you understand the meaning of carrying the cross. Yet we carry it with faith.

Because we are fleshly people, our desires are often for things of this world, pleasures of life, but the Lord has told us that we could have the whole world, yet we would lose our soul and our life in the process. So if someone can offer you the whole world on a platter, you have to understand that they will not offer it for free. They will certainly exact a toll and it could be that the toll that will be taken is the cost of your precious soul.

So we are forced daily to ask ourselves: “What can a man give in return for his soul?” “What is my soul worth?” “What am I willing to sell out for?” The ultimate sellout is the one who gives away the gifts that he didn’t earn but gained by the grace of God. Don’t be a sellout and don’t be a coward. Christians, you can’t be afraid to struggle. You can’t be afraid of pain. Did Jesus Christ our Lord not struggle? Did He not feel pain? He accepted these things as a pure offering that He offered up to His Father on our behalf. Let us boldly do the same with our struggles.

Say to God, “Lord, you know my life and you know my struggles better than I know myself, help me to be brave and give me strength to carry the cross that you have given me, for I am convinced that you chose this cross for my salvation.”

St. Nikolai Velimirovich once preached, “What does it mean to take up your cross? I means the willing acceptance, at the hand of Providence, of every means of healing, bitter though it may be, that is offered….Suffer it all with patience, cleaving to God in your heart, as Job did.” + St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Homilies, Vol. 1

May we do this and may we come to know true joy and riches that surpass everything we could hope for or possible imagine. AMEN.

Source: Sermons