Way Of The Cross
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Way of the Cross" by John Fitzgerald
"Domestication Along the East West Road" by Frank Ramirez
Way of the Cross
by John Fitzgerald
Mark 8:27-38
This is a helpful prayer first written by a Confederate Soldier during the fiery crucible of Civil War entitled My Prayer Was Answered.
I asked for strength that I might achieve,
He made me weak that I might obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given grace that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I received nothing that I asked for, all that I hoped for,
My prayer was answered.
God does have a way of answering our prayers that do not meet the original intention. We request of the Almighty for health, basic needs, and a satisfying life. In turn we receive grace, love, and a closer walk with God. The Lord knows our needs and does provide, but in a way that cannot be imagined. This just shows that God is in control--not us.
Too often we ignore divine providence and act upon human impulse instead. This is what happened in our scripture lesson for this morning. Jesus announced to his disciples the day would come when Calvary could not be delayed. Peter reacts immediately by attempting to rebuke the Lord. We can understand Peter’s response in that none of us would want to see our leader undergo suffering and death. However, the reprimand of Jesus for Peter in this instance is a reminder that God’s plan must be fulfilled. The Lord says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (v.33)
Most of the things we try to avoid like Peter have to do with pain, suffering, and sacrifice. Peter imagined a perfect world with Christ overthrowing the hated Roman Empire and everyone living happily ever after. It didn’t work out like that. Jesus made it very clear that suffering, death, and resurrection were all part of God’s Plan.
There should be a time and space in our prayers to offer up to God the difficult items of our walk. The concerns we normally pray about about involve pleasant images of healing and wholeness. It is good to have a positive devotional life and trust that God will remove the areas where pain, conflict, and emotional trauma have reign. But often there is uncertainty and much hard work to be done before peace finally gains the upper hand. We do not know how everything will turn out-only that God is at work and good things will happen.
Our scripture lesson suggests a way forward in overcoming the temptation to rely upon human instinct as witnessed in Peter’s folly. Jesus talks about a Way of the Cross: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (v.34,35)
Way of the Cross as invoked by our Lord is central to Christian faith. Jesus instructs that his followers must be different than the world. Our culture encourages us to think about climbing the ladder of success, becoming beautiful on a physical level, and engaging in evil acts to our enemies. Jesus says that money is only a tool, inward beauty is what must be obtained, and love our enemies.
Way of the Cross requires a different mindset and heart. Bearing the Cross might look like laying down personal desires so that time can be spent with ailing parents. Way of the Cross can be witnessed in spending personal finances upon someone in your community who is down and out. Taking up Christ’s Cross is shown in praying for and reaching out to someone who has hurt you.
Our country is in sad shape. This condition has been reached primarily on account of Christians have refused to take up the Cross of Christ. Instead, our focus has been upon a materialistic society and corrupt culture. The only way to turn things around is by followers of Jesus to live out scripture.
At the beginning of our Bible reading Jesus asks a very pointed question, “Who do people say I am?” (v.27). The disciples give a variety of answers to this inquiry. Some people thought Jesus to be like John the Baptist. Other folks were sure Jesus had been a reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. Still others thought the Lord to resemble someone else from past history.
Jesus turns up the heat and makes it personal by saying to his disciples, “But what about your? Who do you say I am?” (v.29) This is the question each one of us must answer. If we really believe Jesus to be the Messiah-as did Peter-then our life will reflect it. There can be no better way to prove our belief that Jesus is the Son of God than by taking up His Cross.
Here is a poem which articulates the Way of Christ’s Cross:
GOD HATH NOT PROMISED
by Annie Johnson Flint
God hath not promised skies always blue
Flower strewn pathways, all our lives through;
God hath not promises sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above.
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptations, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
But God hath promises strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
* * *
Domestication Along the East West Road
by Frank Ramirez
For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species...(James 3:7)
That's a pretty broad claim made by James, the leader of the Jerusalem Christians, in his biblical letter -- that "every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species." He must be speaking figuratively. It can't possibly be one hundred percent true. Nobody has domesticated sharks or giant squids.
And while lion and tigers and bears (and elephants too) have been "trained," so to speak, they are not domesticated. One hears all the time of well-trained wild animals suddenly turning on and killing their handlers.
Maybe that's why they're known as wild animals.
All the same, as a practical matter it must have seemed to James, living as he did in what we sometimes call the Cradle of Civilization, surrounded by legions sheep and goats and cows, horses and donkeys, camels and dogs, pulling carts, bearing burdens, and performing innumerable tasks for humans, that every species had been tamed.
But just because that was the experience of James doesn't mean it is a universal truth. In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, Jared Diamond makes a startling assertion. Civilization, including the domestication of animals and plants, spread east and west from the ends of Europe to the ends of Asia, whereas geographic barriers, like deserts, mountain ranges, and water, prevented the same technologies and advances in agriculture from spreading north and south on many of the continents!
Diamond, formerly a professor of physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine, is now a professor of geography at the same university, and is also a well-known writer and speaker, who at one point received the MacArthur Foundation fellowship.
Decades ago Diamond was asked by one of his friends in the Third World why the developed countries, in his words, "had all the cargo." By this his friend was wondering why part of the world seemed to have excelled so quickly in technological advances and other parts lagged far behind. Diamond could not find any proof that some humans are more intelligent than others, nor did he find any proof for the belief of some that certain cultures have more ambition. As far as he could tell, humans are essentially alike all over the world. They are also equally intelligent.
That's what led him to propose in the ancient world geography was a major factor in encouraging or preventing the spread of technology and domestication! Of course smaller animals around the world, chickens, ducks, geese, dogs rabbits, and even some insects (like bees and the silkworm moth) have been domesticated, but the large animals suitable for domestication were almost exclusively to be found in Eurasia. Diamond identifies what he calls "The Major Five": sheep, goats, cows, pigs, and horses, along with the minor nine -- two major groups of camels, the Llama and Alpaca, Donkey, Reindeer, and Water Buffalo, along with the Yak, Bali Cattle, and Mithan.
All but the llama/alpaca group are to native to Eurasia. These species helped build the civilizations of the real Bible Belt, and the relative ease of travel thanks to geography meant that these animals, in one form or another, could travel across Eurasia.
Of course once the geographical barriers were lifted by the advance of humans across the globe, all humans adopted these domesticated animals. Take horses. One has the picture of ancient Native Americans on our continent riding their horses across the plains in hunting and war parties, but horses were not introduced on the continent until Europeans came to what they called the New World. Once these domestic animals spread by whatever means became available to North and South America, as well as Africa, they were quickly adopted.
Now whether or not the statement James made about every species becoming tamed is strictly accurate, it does not take away from the essential truth of the rest of this verse -- "but no one can tame the tongue--a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8)." With or without the geographic barriers Jared Diamond talks about, the tongue seems to be untamable in every society, in every time on every continent.
(Want to read more? Find Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, by Jared Diamond.)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 13, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Way of the Cross" by John Fitzgerald
"Domestication Along the East West Road" by Frank Ramirez
Way of the Cross
by John Fitzgerald
Mark 8:27-38
This is a helpful prayer first written by a Confederate Soldier during the fiery crucible of Civil War entitled My Prayer Was Answered.
I asked for strength that I might achieve,
He made me weak that I might obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given grace that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I received nothing that I asked for, all that I hoped for,
My prayer was answered.
God does have a way of answering our prayers that do not meet the original intention. We request of the Almighty for health, basic needs, and a satisfying life. In turn we receive grace, love, and a closer walk with God. The Lord knows our needs and does provide, but in a way that cannot be imagined. This just shows that God is in control--not us.
Too often we ignore divine providence and act upon human impulse instead. This is what happened in our scripture lesson for this morning. Jesus announced to his disciples the day would come when Calvary could not be delayed. Peter reacts immediately by attempting to rebuke the Lord. We can understand Peter’s response in that none of us would want to see our leader undergo suffering and death. However, the reprimand of Jesus for Peter in this instance is a reminder that God’s plan must be fulfilled. The Lord says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” (v.33)
Most of the things we try to avoid like Peter have to do with pain, suffering, and sacrifice. Peter imagined a perfect world with Christ overthrowing the hated Roman Empire and everyone living happily ever after. It didn’t work out like that. Jesus made it very clear that suffering, death, and resurrection were all part of God’s Plan.
There should be a time and space in our prayers to offer up to God the difficult items of our walk. The concerns we normally pray about about involve pleasant images of healing and wholeness. It is good to have a positive devotional life and trust that God will remove the areas where pain, conflict, and emotional trauma have reign. But often there is uncertainty and much hard work to be done before peace finally gains the upper hand. We do not know how everything will turn out-only that God is at work and good things will happen.
Our scripture lesson suggests a way forward in overcoming the temptation to rely upon human instinct as witnessed in Peter’s folly. Jesus talks about a Way of the Cross: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (v.34,35)
Way of the Cross as invoked by our Lord is central to Christian faith. Jesus instructs that his followers must be different than the world. Our culture encourages us to think about climbing the ladder of success, becoming beautiful on a physical level, and engaging in evil acts to our enemies. Jesus says that money is only a tool, inward beauty is what must be obtained, and love our enemies.
Way of the Cross requires a different mindset and heart. Bearing the Cross might look like laying down personal desires so that time can be spent with ailing parents. Way of the Cross can be witnessed in spending personal finances upon someone in your community who is down and out. Taking up Christ’s Cross is shown in praying for and reaching out to someone who has hurt you.
Our country is in sad shape. This condition has been reached primarily on account of Christians have refused to take up the Cross of Christ. Instead, our focus has been upon a materialistic society and corrupt culture. The only way to turn things around is by followers of Jesus to live out scripture.
At the beginning of our Bible reading Jesus asks a very pointed question, “Who do people say I am?” (v.27). The disciples give a variety of answers to this inquiry. Some people thought Jesus to be like John the Baptist. Other folks were sure Jesus had been a reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. Still others thought the Lord to resemble someone else from past history.
Jesus turns up the heat and makes it personal by saying to his disciples, “But what about your? Who do you say I am?” (v.29) This is the question each one of us must answer. If we really believe Jesus to be the Messiah-as did Peter-then our life will reflect it. There can be no better way to prove our belief that Jesus is the Son of God than by taking up His Cross.
Here is a poem which articulates the Way of Christ’s Cross:
GOD HATH NOT PROMISED
by Annie Johnson Flint
God hath not promised skies always blue
Flower strewn pathways, all our lives through;
God hath not promises sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above.
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptations, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
But God hath promises strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
* * *
Domestication Along the East West Road
by Frank Ramirez
For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species...(James 3:7)
That's a pretty broad claim made by James, the leader of the Jerusalem Christians, in his biblical letter -- that "every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species." He must be speaking figuratively. It can't possibly be one hundred percent true. Nobody has domesticated sharks or giant squids.
And while lion and tigers and bears (and elephants too) have been "trained," so to speak, they are not domesticated. One hears all the time of well-trained wild animals suddenly turning on and killing their handlers.
Maybe that's why they're known as wild animals.
All the same, as a practical matter it must have seemed to James, living as he did in what we sometimes call the Cradle of Civilization, surrounded by legions sheep and goats and cows, horses and donkeys, camels and dogs, pulling carts, bearing burdens, and performing innumerable tasks for humans, that every species had been tamed.
But just because that was the experience of James doesn't mean it is a universal truth. In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, Jared Diamond makes a startling assertion. Civilization, including the domestication of animals and plants, spread east and west from the ends of Europe to the ends of Asia, whereas geographic barriers, like deserts, mountain ranges, and water, prevented the same technologies and advances in agriculture from spreading north and south on many of the continents!
Diamond, formerly a professor of physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine, is now a professor of geography at the same university, and is also a well-known writer and speaker, who at one point received the MacArthur Foundation fellowship.
Decades ago Diamond was asked by one of his friends in the Third World why the developed countries, in his words, "had all the cargo." By this his friend was wondering why part of the world seemed to have excelled so quickly in technological advances and other parts lagged far behind. Diamond could not find any proof that some humans are more intelligent than others, nor did he find any proof for the belief of some that certain cultures have more ambition. As far as he could tell, humans are essentially alike all over the world. They are also equally intelligent.
That's what led him to propose in the ancient world geography was a major factor in encouraging or preventing the spread of technology and domestication! Of course smaller animals around the world, chickens, ducks, geese, dogs rabbits, and even some insects (like bees and the silkworm moth) have been domesticated, but the large animals suitable for domestication were almost exclusively to be found in Eurasia. Diamond identifies what he calls "The Major Five": sheep, goats, cows, pigs, and horses, along with the minor nine -- two major groups of camels, the Llama and Alpaca, Donkey, Reindeer, and Water Buffalo, along with the Yak, Bali Cattle, and Mithan.
All but the llama/alpaca group are to native to Eurasia. These species helped build the civilizations of the real Bible Belt, and the relative ease of travel thanks to geography meant that these animals, in one form or another, could travel across Eurasia.
Of course once the geographical barriers were lifted by the advance of humans across the globe, all humans adopted these domesticated animals. Take horses. One has the picture of ancient Native Americans on our continent riding their horses across the plains in hunting and war parties, but horses were not introduced on the continent until Europeans came to what they called the New World. Once these domestic animals spread by whatever means became available to North and South America, as well as Africa, they were quickly adopted.
Now whether or not the statement James made about every species becoming tamed is strictly accurate, it does not take away from the essential truth of the rest of this verse -- "but no one can tame the tongue--a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:8)." With or without the geographic barriers Jared Diamond talks about, the tongue seems to be untamable in every society, in every time on every continent.
(Want to read more? Find Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society, by Jared Diamond.)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, September 13, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
