By Shiju Joseph, CSC —
Readings: Deut 4: 32-40; Mt 16: 24-28
Jesus does not mince his words today, when he talks about the cost of discipleship. “If you want to follow me, deny yourself and carry your cross.”
It was important for Jesus to make this stark clear to his disciples and those who wanted to follow him. Jesus was already famous and he was recognized by people as a miracle worker. Being associated with him, being in close circle with him, and being his ‘disciple’ meant being privileged, and wield some amount of power among the ‘ordinary’ people.
Wanting to be close to power centres (whether spiritual or material) is a common human desire. Jesus makes clear that those who wanted to be close to him, or to follow him, had something more than power in stock for them. His demands, harsh as they are, are to deny oneself (including one’s desire to be in power circles, to be respected, and to earn a place in society), and to carry one’s cross in following him.
It is so easy for us the disciples, to lose our focus on following him when surrounded by privileged positions, perspectives and possessions. It may look very strange to deny oneself, and to recognize what cross it is one is carrying. May today’s gospel be a clarion call for us, his disciples, to forgo ‘winning the world and losing the soul’, and to look out for ways to ‘deny oneself and carry our cross and follow him.’