First Week in Lent

How close Will You Get?

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 (NLT)

Following Jesus, truly following him, is never easy. There are risks, unexpected twists and turns, surprises and events that we never dreamed could happen. There are moments when following seems meaningful, full of excitement and joy. However, there are other times, times of difficulty, even danger, when we become discouraged and afraid, and things don't seem to be turning out at all the way we thought they would.

The apostle Peter experienced this same sense of struggling as he followed Jesus. Peter is one of my favorite people in the Bible because he reminds me of so many Christ followers, a searcher with a good heart who stumbles but tries to follow as best as he can; someone always open to growing in his relationship with Jesus, even if that growth involves some pain. Peter was full of emotion, giving himself completely to Jesus at one moment, but then fearfully retreating from Jesus the next. He boldly declared his belief that Jesus was the Messiah (Matthew 16:16), yet he turned around and questioned and chastised Jesus for talking about the suffering that lay on the horizon: "Heaven forbid, Lord.... This will never happen to you!" (Matthew 16:22, NLT). Peter was thoroughly genuine in all his responses, even those that were bumbling and inappropriate. When he witnessed the astonishing event of Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah on the mountain, all he could think to do was to offer to build shrines, places for each of them to live (Matthew 17; Mark 9; Luke 9). Another time, when Jesus offered to wash Peter's feet, a common way of expressing one's hospitality and servanthood in those days, Peter refused, feeling himself to be completely unworthy. When Jesus responded that it was necessary in order for Peter to be a part of him, Peter's love poured forth: "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" (John 13:9, NRSV). Peter genuinely desired to follow Jesus, even if he didn't always know exactly what that meant; and he was willing to offer his entire self, with all of his shortcomings, knowing somehow that Jesus had created safe space between them.

Jesus understood Peter. He knew how truly human Peter was. Jesus knew that deep down in his heart Peter desired to follow him, even though Peter's understanding and capabilities were dramatically limited. Jesus knew Peter well enough to call him the rock upon which he would build his church (Matthew 16:18); yet Jesus also knew Peter well enough to predict accurately that before the rooster crowed twice, Peter would deny three times that he even knew Jesus at all (Mark 14:26-31).

We are like Peter: We too are truly human, with all of the frailties and limitations that brings. And just as he understood Peter, Jesus also understands us. Jesus knows that there are times when we want to follow, yet there are other times when we choose to shy away. But Jesus' call to Peter was to follow, not at a distance—not in the shadows, afraid of what might happen next—but to move into the light and follow boldly, whatever may come our way. This is Jesus' call to us as well. Jesus knows how limited our resources are. He knows that life is full of choices, temptations, complex situations where we become confused and frightened. Yet he calls us to follow him anyway, closely and not at a distance.

We are entering into the season of Lent, the season that marks a recommitment to discipline and focus as we follow Jesus. Each year, Lent is an opportunity to choose, again and again, how we will follow—whether it will be in the shadows or in the light, at a distance or by Jesus' side. Like the people who greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem for his final week on earth, we have the opportunity during this unique time to choose how close we will get to him. Remember, the authorities and the public watched his every move. Will we hang in there with him? Will we be loud about our hosannas, or will we wait and watch? Will we wave our palm branches with gusto, or will we simply hold them uneasily? Will we go with Jesus to the garden? Will we stay awake with him while he prays and wrestles with the terror of his impending future? Or, like one who betrayed him, will we choose to sell him out for money—and if so, how much will we take? How close to the fire will we get as we stand in the courtyard?

Living the Jesus way is never easy. It wasn't easy for Peter, and it isn't easy for us. While surface religious activity seems acceptable, even easy, we live in a time when the culture around us is often unreceptive to those who take their faith beyond the confines of their houses of worship. Jesus understands our difficulty. He warned us about it when he described what it takes to be his follower—putting aside selfish ambition and shouldering our cross (Matthew 16:24). Jesus invites us to follow, not at a distance but by his side. He carries his cross, and we carry ours.

For many of us, Jesus' words about shouldering our cross have come to represent the bad things in our lives. We see those bad things that we feel to be unique to our lives as the crosses that we have to bear. To be sure, there is an element of truth in this concept of shouldering our cross. Jesus does not desire that we run from suffering. We must deal with it head on and look to God for strength as we persevere.

That truth, however, is only part of what Jesus means when he tells us that to be his followers we have to shoulder our cross. A deeper meaning lies in how we follow. We are to follow in the same way that Jesus leads. We abandon selfish ambition in favor of service in the Jesus way. As Jesus gave of himself, we give of ourselves. We reach out to others just as he reached out to others. As Jesus loved, so do we love. As Jesus sacrificed himself for us, so do we sacrifice ourselves for others. We follow by picking up the cross. Jesus' cross becomes our cross; his love becomes our love; his sacrifice becomes our sacrifice.

Following as Jesus leads is difficult. It is difficult because there is no such thing as an easy Jesus. The theatrical release of Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ was a rare event, capturing the attention of religious and secular media alike. The film's graphic depiction of the brutal torture Jesus endured through the Crucifixion, along with the nature of the personal sacrifice that entailed, caused many people to deeply search their soul and confront their preconceived ideas about Jesus. In an op-ed piece printed in the Los Angeles Times, one commentator had this to say:

The biggest problem I have with The Passion ... isn't the violence. It is with the protagonist. The guy on the screen is nothing like that insipid, tunic-wearing, lamb-carrying, two-dimensional, felt-faced Jesus from Sunday school. That Jesus was easy. He could be...