Following the Lord

Gospel: Matthew 16: 24-28

Modern Christianity is obsessed with the self.  Christians of every stripe talk about life with God as some primrose path of self-promotion and self-interest.  In the realm of politics Christians are urged to advocate for their self-interest to the detriment of the common good.  And sermons abound on the topic of personal salvation in the next life and following Christ as a path to prosperity in this one.  

And yet Jesus preaches to us a path of self-denial and self-giving.  If we are to follow Jesus we are to deny ourselves and take up the cross; that is the only path to discipleship.  It is not a path of the self; it is the path of love that leads to service of others - service to other people, service to the ultimate Other, God.  This is the way of one who genuinely seeks to follow the Lord Jesus

In ancient Israel God lived among his people in the desert; the desert path was the way to a life of promise.  Yet the people complained continually; they wanted to be like other nations.  So God allowed them to do so, and it led to ruin.  Jesus asks us to follow the same road of the desert, and we complain and desire all the things Jesus refused to accept from the evil one, and to our ruin.  But we are always given the option to turn from false roads to the way, the way of self-denial and service to others, the way of Jesus.