Saint Innocent Cathedral
Anchorage, Alaska
March 27, 2022
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
On this Sunday of the Cross, the gospel reading is short. But each expression, if weighed carefully, has much to teach. The Gospel begins:
“When he had called the people to himself, with his disciples also.”
Speaking of the Cross, the Lord addresses himself to all people – and to his disciples.
According to the Fathers of the Church, when Jesus ascended the Cross, he stretched his arms wide to embrace the entire human race. And according to Our Lord himself, speaking in St. John’s gospel, he ascended the Cross to call all men to himself.
The word of the Cross, to use Saint Paul’s expression, is the fundamental teaching of the gospel, the proclamation of God’s good news to all peoples. And so, at this midpoint of the fast, at the heart of the fast, we celebrate the Cross of Christ, which is the heart of the gospel.
The word of the Cross is for all of humanity, and the word of the Cross is especially for the disciples of Christ. Christ promises his disciples, not that he will shield us from the suffering of the world, but that he will be with us in every suffering.
The gospel continues:
“He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me…’”
The Cross is not just a proclamation, not just an announcement. It is also a crisis, a decision point, an inflection point.
When we are confronted with the Cross of Christ – when are confronted with the saving suffering of the God-man – we have a choice.
Do we want to follow this Man, or not?
Do we desire to come after him, walking the way of the Cross, or not?
If our answer is “Yes,” Our Lord tells us what we must do:
“‘…let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’”
The Cross is our salvation, and our example. To be saved means to become holy, and to become holy means to give up all attachment to this corruptible world and instead to live for eternity alone. In other words, the Cross is, as Our Lord says, denying the self, the ego, and living for God, and for our neighbor, the creature of God.
Our Lord continues:
“‘For whoever desires to save his life will lose it…’”
No one can serve two masters. To follow the way of the Cross, to live according to the gospel of Jesus Christ, means to die to the world. Money, prestige, power, influence, pleasure: if we wish to cling to these things, we cannot follow the Lord. And, in the end, we will lose even these worldly things that we have tried to cling to.
But if we do take up our Cross, the Lord promises us:
“‘…but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.’”
At first, surrendering all earthly pretensions, pleasures, and power seems like a great loss. But if we deny ourselves, bit by bit, following the commandments, living for God alone, loving our neighbor, we discover that God is more than worth any mortal, passing pleasure. In him we find abundant life, a heavenly gift that can’t be compared with the world’s gluttony, lust, and pride.
Thus, Our Lord asks:
“‘For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?’”
This is, of course, a rhetorical question. This whole world is passing away. The Cross reminds us that we must die. If we embrace that reality, then we are truly free. But if we deny that reality, then we waste our life chasing after smoke and grabbing after shadows. The only thing we shall take out of this world is what we came in with: ourselves. And so Our Lord says:
“‘Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’”
To give our soul in exchange for the things of this world—to give ourselves over to strictly earthly goals and desires—is to trade a precious pearl for a handful of dust. But Christ loves our souls, loves us, so much that he endured the Cross for us. And so taking up our cross, we give our lives, our souls, over to the one who gave his life as the price of salvation.
The Cross, therefore, is the banner of our glory, the pride of Christian people. We should be grateful to bear the name of “Christian” and to bear the Cross, on our bodies and in our lives. Otherwise, Our Lord reminds us:
“‘For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation…’”
“This adulterous and sinful generation”: we can be tempted to think of our own times as particularly depraved, particularly hostile to the Christian faith, particularly dark and immoral.
But the Lord spoke these words to the crowd two thousand years ago, and he has never stopped speaking them in the churches for the last two millennia.
The world always hates the Cross, because to take up one’s cross always means turning one’s back on the world. “The world is crucified to me, and I to the world,” says Saint Paul.
So while our minds should not be conformed to the likeness of this passing world, we should also realize with hope that the spirit of the age has always been hostile to the Spirit of God.
This is, in some sense, the essence of the Cross: the hatred of the world for all that is holy, all that is divine. To love the way of Christ is always to invite the hatred of the world.
But what will become of the person who chooses the seemingly wide and easy way, who refuses the Cross, who prefers the world? Our Lord answers:
“‘…of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”
Another image of the Cross given in the holy services is that of a balance beam, a scale, weighing the hearts of men. Some will be justified by the Cross—because they embrace it with love. Some will be condemned by the Cross—because they flee from the gift of God that comes into the world through self-denial.
Here, in the middle of the fast, the Lord stands up and speaks to us and reminds us that the heart of the fast is not self-satisfaction with rules fulfilled, but true crucifixion of the self, of the ego. The fast is an intensive course in humility and long-suffering. The fast is training ourselves to give up any and every worldly attachment in favor of God, the Source of our life and our glory. The fast is always about taking up our cross.
And if we do embrace the Cross with humility and long-suffering, Our Lord promises us a blessedness not only in the world to come, but even in this world. Today’s gospel concludes:
“And He said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.’”
The kingdom of God comes about through the power of the precious and life-giving Cross. And this power is even now, at this moment, present, already operative in the world, in human lives. By the Cross of Christ, we find the strength to defeat sin, to love our neighbors and even our enemies, to lay aside all earthly cares and follow the calling of God. And this life of holiness is the presence of the kingdom is our midst.
And so, singing the praises of him of who saves us by his Cross, and who gives us the grace to take up our own cross and follow him, let us send up all glory and adoration to Our Lord Jesus Christ, together with his Father and his All-holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.
Amen.