Almighty God, you give to your servants boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Common of a Martyr I)
Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
One of the great challenges we have as Christians is to set our mind on divine things and not on human things. But what does this really mean? Peter didn’t get it right and got rebuked.
Jesus continued, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
The cross – the disciples knew what it meant. That’s how Rome killed those they wanted to make an example of and it lead to a horrible, slow death.
But for Jesus, he uses it as a way to remind his disciples and all who would hear his words that to follow him, means we are to take up a way of life that is different than the expected, how things usually work in our world. Jesus wants us to go deeper than ourselves. The cross becomes a symbol not of death but of life with Jesus.
Jesus asks, “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?”
Life is not about profit. It is not about power or gaining the whole world. It is about life as gift from God and living this out as Jesus taught. The best explanation I have seen of this is from the Episcopal priest and author Malcom Boyd in his book “Are You Running With Me, Jesus?”:
They say that everyone has a cross to bear, Jesus. And you once said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” What do these things mean? I think they mean that every person ultimately has to face up to reality—face one’s own calling, destiny, nature, and responsibilities.
In your own life, Jesus you faced reality directly and unequivocally. You incarnated the truth as you believed it. You didn’t pander to any easy or obvious popularity. You attacked the hypocrisies of the human power structure head on. You rejected the status quo in favor of obedience to the Realm of God. And when it came to taking the consequences, you didn’t shy away from torture and execution.
The way of the cross was your understanding of your mission and your faithfulness to it.
The way of the cross seems to be, for every individual Christian, the reality that dictates style of life, defines mission, and brings a person into communion with you. Help me bear my cross on the way of the cross, Jesus.
The cross for each of us is God’s reality, which dictates for us to Follow Jesus, Love People, and Change the World. It is not the easy road. It will put us in conflict with the way things are, those who have power and the power of death we see all over this world. But this is the real life of faith & for some it has led to their death, like it did for Jesus.
Seventy-five years ago this past Thursday, a group of young German students who had dared to speak out against the Nazis, were executed by the regime they had defied. Like a flickering flame in the darkness, they are an inspiring group that never lost its courage — and a frightening reminder of how rare such heroes are. (NY Times)
In 1942, the citizens of Munich were astonished by a series of leaflets that circulated throughout the city. They contained a sweeping indictment of the Nazi regime and enjoined readers to work for their nation’s defeat. At a time when the merest hint of dissent was a treasonable offense, the audacity of this call to resistance threw the Gestapo into a rage.
Calling themselves "The White Rose," the authors of these leaflets were university students from Munich who had been inspired by their Christian faith and the idealism of youth to challenge the Nazi regime. At the center of the group were a brother and sister, Hans and Sophie Scholl, only twenty-four and twenty-one years old. Hans was a medical student who had served on the Russian front. Sophie studied philosophy. They were joined by friends Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Sophie’s Professor of Philosophy Kurt Huber, and a few others.
Discerning with uncommon clarity the depth of Nazi depravity, they had decided to wage a spiritual war against the system, armed with no other weapons than courage, the power of truth, and an illegal duplicating machine. By proclaiming the truth they hoped they might help break the Nazi spell and inspire others, who were experiencing doubts, to take up active resistance.
Over the course of a year or so, they managed to place 6 different leaflets around the city of Munich and beyond. Hans and Sophie were caught on February 18. Quickly convicted of treason they were sentenced to death and beheaded on February 22, 1943. Other arrests followed and while some received prison sentences, other White Rose members were eventually executed. (adapted from Blessed Among Us: Day by Day with Saintly Witnesses By Robert Ellsberg)
“Somebody, after all, had to make a start,” Sophie said. “What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.” Hans agreed: “It’s high time that Christians made up their minds to do something. . . . What are we going to show in the way of resistance.” Sophie’s final written word on the back of her criminal indictment was “freedom.”
The Martyrs of the White Rose chose to take up their cross. They challenged the power of death they found in Nazism and witnessed to the power of life and to freedom. Although their movement didn’t change the course of history as they had hoped, they did provide light in the midst of very dark times, living out their faith as best they could, even as they knew they risked death.
Their lives of resistance, reminds me of the words of Mary Oliver:
To live in this world you must be able to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
Jesus calls us to the divine life – to take up our cross & follow him like he did with the members of the White Rose & countless others – to love what God has made, to hold it close with all of our being, and as the time comes to let it go. May Jesus help us bear our cross on the way of the cross. Amen.
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