Sermon August 31

“Take up your cross and follow me.” I’d like to introduce you to Keith Wheeler, who on Good Friday in 1985 heard God’s voice calling to him. He took a 12 foot cross, and began walking, through the streets of his hometown of Tusla OK. God’s voice beckoned him “keep walking.” And he kept walking, through the US, then he went to Europe, and he carried his cross through the former eastern bloc, before the fall of Communism, when Christianity was outlawed. But God’s voice continued to beckon “keep walking.” He kept walking, through Africa, to Bosnia and Rwanda. Through the Middle East, Iran, Iraq, to the little town of Bethlehem--carrying the cross through the town during the standoff at the church of the Nativity. “Keep walking” God called. He traveled to Tibet, even China, in all Keith has walked 18,500 miles through 180 countries. Along the journey, he’s been arrested, beaten and left for dead alongside the road. “keep walking” And Keith is not alone.
In Sydney Australia this summer, pilgrims carried a 12 foot cross in procession as Pope Benedict arrived in the country for a visit. Every year in the Philippines, faithful Christians take up crosses and go through the streets to remember the crucifixion of Christ. “Keep walking, take up your cross, and follow me.”
But, carrying a 12 foot cross over thousands of miles isn’t for everyone, and I don’t think Christ is asking each of His disciples to carry a physical cross. Many of us aren’t able to do that, are we? Not because our physical strength limits us, not because family of job commitments keep us here, instead of carrying a cross around the world. No, my friends, some of us cannot carry a 12 foot tall wooden cross on our backs because we are carrying a much heavier, but invisible weight. A weight no one can see, a weight of burden, and doubt, of worry, and sin. But we are encouraged, and hear the whisper “keep walking.” Does anyone else out there have this weight on their backs? And we know this weight is heavy, and carrying day after day is hard, and we know that it hurts. We want to cry out “Lord, I can’t keep walking!” What weight is on your back today, that stays with you as you walk your 18,500 miles? What is the weight that has beaten you down, left you for dead, alongside the road? “Keep walking”
In our Gospel reading today, the disciples learn of the heavy burden Jesus will carry, and, in turn, the burden they too will carry as a result of following Him. Just before today’s Gospel reading, in Matthew 16:13-20, Simon Peter declares to Jesus, “I believe!!! You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jews had been waiting for the Messiah since the days of Abraham…the Messiah was to come, as a king, and care for the people of Israel. The Jews had been carrying their own heavy burden for centuries—oppression, slavery, forced to be a wandering people, without a homeland. This earthly burden was to be lifted when the Messiah came. The centuries of burden was to be lifted from them, finally, they, the chosen people of God, were to have peace!! And just as Peter reveals who Jesus truly is, the promise they had been waiting for centuries, Jesus tells Peter “keep walking.” Peter hears “the Son of Man would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day.” AND, the chosen people of God, who were expecting to have their heavy weight taken from them are told: “you must take up your cross.” Is there no relief from the suffering? God’s people are to trade centuries of oppression, slavery, and pain for a cross?? God calls to us “keep walking.” Peter doesn’t hear the good news, when Jesus tells him that the Son of Man will be persecuted, and that all followers will take up a cross and follow Jesus. Jesus doesn’t tell Peter “the race is finished.” Instead, Jesus tells Peter “Keep walking, and I WILL WALK WITH YOU.” Jesus knows the world won’t accept Him, He knows that sin, and pain, and oppression will still exist. But, our LIVING GOD chooses to walk with the disciples, to walk with us.
Jesus does not promise that the Christian life will be one free of pain, of doubt, of sin. But, when we feel broken down, left for dead alongside the road, we can have a promise and a hope, as the voice beckons us “keep walking, I will walk with you.” As death closes in, we sit in the silence and allow the darkness to envelop us. Surviving this time is possible because we can always see the ray of light and hope in Christ—we know Easter is coming. It is impossible to have the resurrection without the cross; it is impossible to truly live if we are unwilling to look at death. God wails with His people. God cries out with and for them. But God goes farther than we ever could. God takes on each person’s grief as HIS own. For Christ faced His own death and now faces death with each of us. Christ is a savior who submits Himself to the pain of the world, a savior who also lays down alongside the road, next to us, left for dead. But we know death does not overpower Him. We know that HIS death, and HIS suffering will raise us up, that the weight on our backs will be released, as we trade our sin and the ways of the world for the cross. A cross that WE NEVER CARRY ALONE. “Keep walking, I’ll walk with you.”