The Sunday of the Cross
Oops!
We have reached the midpoint of Great Lent, and today, the Church sets before us the Cross.
This is not by accident.
The Cross stands at the center of our faith, and it stands at the center of our Lenten journey. The Resurrection of Christ—the great victory of life over death—is ahead of us, but we do not reach it without passing through the Cross. Today’s Gospel reading reminds us of this stark reality:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
But this presents a tension, a paradox. Are we not supposed to be people of joy?
Christ has come to bring life, to bring the Good News! And yet, today, the Church places before us the instrument of suffering and death. If we are called to joy, why does the Cross stand so prominently in our path? Are we meant to be people of suffering instead?
Ugh!
Some Christians throughout history—and even in our own day—have emphasized suffering to such an extent that it almost becomes an end in itself. There are those who believe that being a Christian means to embrace nothing but sorrow, that piety is measured by how much pain one endures.
But this approach is dangerous.
It can lead to despair, to a faith that is bleak and lifeless. Christ Himself did not suffer for suffering’s sake—He suffered because of love. The goal was not the suffering; the goal was the redemption that suffering would bring.
There are many reasons why we might gravitate toward suffering.
Perhaps we believe that if we suffer enough, God will love us more. Perhaps we use suffering as a way to control our lives, thinking that if we just endure enough, we can somehow earn our salvation. Or perhaps we hold onto suffering because we fear joy, thinking that joy might make us complacent or unworthy.
But these attitudes miss the heart of the Gospel. The Christian life is not about clinging to suffering—it is about walking through suffering to the joy that lies beyond.
Aha!
And this is the paradox of the Cross.
The Cross is not merely an instrument of suffering—it is the path to life. The Church boldly proclaims, “Through the Cross, joy has come into all the world!” What appears to be a symbol of pain and death is, in reality, the means by which Christ has trampled down death.
The Cross is not the final word; the final word is resurrection!
When we take up our cross, we do not do so as people weighed down by despair. We take it up as those who know that the Cross leads to life. This is why St. Paul can say,
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
The Cross is not about sorrow for sorrow’s sake—it is about transformation. It is about dying to all that holds us back from God so that we might truly live.
Whee!
We see this truth beautifully illustrated in The Way of a Pilgrim, the book we’re currently reading for our Wednesday Religious Discussion.
The pilgrim, whose whole life was devoted to the Jesus Prayer, found himself beaten and robbed. His most treasured possessions—his copy of the Philokalia and his Bible—were taken from him, and he was left with nothing but his pain.
But in that moment, he embraced his cross. He realized that his suffering was not the end of the story.
He let go of his attachment to things, and in doing so, he found freedom. No longer bound by anxiety over what he had lost, he experienced peace. And in the end, his things were returned to him—not because he clung to them, but because he had learned to trust in God.
His suffering became the very means by which he entered into a deeper joy.
And so it is for us. When we take up our cross, we do not do so with grim resignation, but with trust in God. We let go of our attachments—not just to things, but to our own self-will, to our need for control, to the fears that keep us from true life.
And when we do this, we find a joy that nothing can take away.
Yeah!
So what shall we say to this? What does this mean for us, here and now?
It means that we can embrace the Cross, not as a burden, but as the very means by which we are set free.
It means that when we suffer, we do not suffer as those who have no hope, but as those who know that joy comes through the Cross.
It means that we do not need to fear letting go, for in dying to ourselves, we find our true life in Christ.
As we continue our Lenten journey, we are not afraid of the Cross. We take it up with confidence, knowing that through it, we are led to the joy of the Resurrection. For through the Cross, joy has truly come into all the world.
Amen.