The Way of The Cross

This week we celebrated (?) Ash Wednesday and we are now in the season of Lent. 
In the gospel story, that means that Jesus has turned toward Jerusalem and is walking there. He is on the way to the Cross. And we are following him.

The lectionary focuses our attention on the Gospel of Matthew this year. And with that in mind, we are going to turn to Matthew 18 - 20; to the words and actions of Jesus on the Way to the Cross. And because Jesus is a wise teacher, who seems to waste no opportunity, what we notice is that everything Jesus does and says on the way to the cross has everything to do with why is going to the cross. 

As Pastor Dan mentioned on Ash Wednesday, Jesus journey is for salvation. Ours is for discipleship. 

As we think about lent and it’s disciplines, I think that is an important to keep in mind. Lent is a season of intensity. Whether that is the intensity of striving for prayer or spiritual disciplines, or the intensity of restraint, the danger in this is that we forget that our disciplines - our intentionality, our fasting, our striving -  are always responsive. 
We do not have to walk Lent for salvation - Jesus has already done that. 
We walk it, placing our feet carefully in - and behind - his footsteps. 
Jesus made the pattern with his loving sacrifice. 
We are, like children, joyfully attempting to follow in our older brothers footsteps. 

And this week, as we turn to the things that Jesus says on the way to Jerusalem, we find that children are exactly the kinds of persons Jesus lifts up as ideal disciples. 

The disciples ask a very bold question - who is the greatest?
They want to know who is the most important among them.
But they also are asking who is the kind of person who is great. What is an important person like in God’s kingdom?
And Jesus does something that I find more astonishing the longer I look at it - he takes a child and places the child in the middle of this community of ambitious, greatness -aspiring men and says, this is a great person; this is greatness. 

He is saying we ought to center our aspirations on something that this child has. 
He is not saying we should try to BE young. 
not telling us to wear skinny jeans; 
or keep up with the culture (Six - Seven!). 
Jesus is not saying we should be immature. 
And he is not lauding children because they are cute or innocent. 

He lifts them up as an example because they are humble. Children spend their lives in the position of being listeners, of asking questions, of needing help for things they do not understand. They receive gifts gladly. They trust, not by training, but because they have to. And in placing a child in the middle of the arguing disciples Jesus is saying, are children placed in your community where you can learn from them?  

This week, thanks be to God we can actually say yes. Because we’ve invited the CADETS to church and to lead us in worship. And because at the end of our service, we will have a chance with them to practicing receiving God’s gifts in the Bread and Wine of Communion.