Biblical Text: Matthew 16:21-28
In some ways this is a continuation of last week. There really is no break in the text. Upon getting the answer right – Peter confessed “the Christ, the son of God” – the Keys of the Kingdom are granted. But what the second part does – like the Sunday School teacher asking “why?” to the child who has just answered “Jesus” – is ask what does The Christ mean? And then it defines it. In this old world The Christ means the cross. The Christ means choosing to walk in the ways that God has laid out in advance. And until one can receive that Christ, one cannot proclaim the Christ.
Part of this is pondering what it means to pick up the cross. And the simple answer is the cross is giving yourself away in love. Our culture has a terrible definition and understanding of love. At its root we tend to think about love as something that completes us – to quote Jerry Meguire. Where biblical love is denial of the self. It is an expenditure of the self for God and the neighbor. The call of Christ and the cross is to live you life in that love, having the faith that Christ has overcome. That only those who do so will find eternal life.
It’s a tough teaching. One that only The Christ – the One – has lived perfectly. But it’s true.
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