In this coming Sunday’s gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he will die a horrible death and then rise from the dead three days later. The evening before, as we covered last Sunday’s gospel, He asked them who they say he is, and Peter responded that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus didn’t argue.
Everybody knew that messiahs aren’t expected to die, and people don’t rise from the dead. Then, to top it off, he told those listening that if they want to be his followers they need to pick up their crosses and follow him. Say what?
Picking up one’s cross in those days is easy to understand. As a follower of Jesus, you could end up in deep trouble or worse. But what does it mean today? In this crazy world what does the cross look like and how do we pick it up?
See you Sunday.