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March 4, 2012, Second Sunday in Lent,  All Souls' Episcopal Church, Fr. Dale Petley 

What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

 On this Second Sunday in Lent the theme of our gospel reading is the cost of discipleship; what it really means to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” He later adds: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?”

In his Epistle to the Romans (Chapter 6), St. Paul refers to his fallen human nature as “the old man” which he describes as “being crucified” so that, being dead, he may be “free from sin.” He is more explicit on this subject in his letter to the Galatians (Chapter 2). He writes: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” This is what it means to follow Christ as his disciple. Following Christ and being in Christ means being restored to your rightful mind and Godly image by the Spirit of Christ dwelling within you. It means to grow in newness of life as a new creature in Christ. As a newborn creature in Christ you are awake and conscious of your identity in Christ so that with St. Paul you may say, “the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who gave himself for me.” You must live as one who has been born again. Being in Christ means that before your death occurs in this world you have already died and been reborn inwardly and spiritually.

Recovery programs sometimes speak of those in recovery as having two birthdays. Your “belly button birthday” refers to the day you were born and delivered into this world, but as well as celebrating your physical birth they also celebrate your recovery birthday when you began your new life of sobriety. What people in recovery have come to realize is what we as Christians once understood – you cannot put new wine in old wineskins. In other words, you cannot live a new life of recovery by remaining in your old life with its dysfunctional relation to God, yourself, and the world. You cannot live a new life with your old mindset; your old way of seeing the world and your place in it. This is why St. Paul declares that we must be renewed in the spirit of our mind. (Ephesians 4:23) Your old life with its deeply ingrained patterns of thought and emotional reactions cannot sustain you in your new way of living. Your old mind, which cohered and coalesced around various unconscious strategies for avoiding pain and fear, simply cannot be the basis of your new life which embraces all God gives you with thankfulness and rejoices in a love which casts out fear. Being a Christian does not mean living your old life under a new label. We don’t need rebranding, we need rebirth.

If you want to know what it’s like to follow Christ while living according to our old nature, just look at the disciples before Pentecost. Our fallen nature lives in fear of not having enough, of being incomplete, and so it approaches discipleship as a matter of adding things to our old life. It says “You need to say more prayers, read more books, and do more church activities.” Our fallen nature lives through comparison and will desire to see itself as more successful than other disciples. (Just remember, for example, the competitiveness of the Sons of Zebedee.) If our fallen nature cannot compare favorably with disciples who have more, we will then distinguish ourselves by having less, by seeing our discipleship as purer and “more spiritual.” Our fallen nature does not want to die and so it is determined that we see our Christian faith as adding something to our life – a sort of mystical flavor enhancer improving the quality of our life. For example, we think that if we’re better Christians we’ll have a better marriage, whereas the very purpose of Christian marriage is to help each other be better Christians. You embrace the sacred vows of matrimony in order to be used by God as a means of grace in the sanctification of your beloved. Sanctification means the old you dies, and so, as a Christian you marry the person who can best assist in the loving process of killing you. However, because our fallen nature does not want to die, we will instead see our Christian faith as merely one component in an overall approach to living. In this scenario you have your faith, your family, your country and career, your friendships and fraternal relations, and it all somehow comes together under your leadership. However, today’s gospel reading makes it clear that Jesus will have none of this. Our Lord could not be more explicit. “Deny yourself,” he says, “take up your cross” (which means ‘die’), and “follow me.”

Let us be clear on what taking up the cross does not mean. It does not mean that you look for some heroic act of suffering so you can add ‘martyr’ to your resume. Our fallen nature already has a victim identity and is full of resentment and grievances, and will point to its own self-inflicted pain and say, “this is my cross.” But we don’t get to pick our crosses; they are chosen for us. I’ll explain how our crosses are chosen for us in a minute, but first we should notice that Jesus says that a man shall “take up his cross.” This isn’t something you can hire someone to do for you. We can’t outsource this. Discipleship is corporate and is lived within the Body of Christ, but no one can do it for you. There are no associate memberships in the Body of Christ. God has no grandchildren. God has children by adoption and grace, created in his own loving image and likeness. We are called to be nothing less.

How are crosses chosen for us? Well, it’s simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. Whatever you do, in whatever circumstances you’re in, always choose the most loving, compassionate, and unselfish course, and your cross will be provided. Really live according to the Sermon on the Mount, and your cross will be provided. Love your enemies, persecutors, and slanderers, and your cross will be provided. Speak the truth in love, and your cross will be provided. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who did not see equality with God as something to cling to but emptied himself of all power and authority, and your cross will be provided. Jesus says, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Our cross will be provided, and so shall we be his disciples.

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