The Evangélico Boom - HuffPost Live

The Evangélico Boom - HuffPost Live

Our Call as Disciples of Christ

Last month we observed one of the most sacred seasons in the Christian calendar: Lent. We observed Ash Wednesday, Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the greatest celebration of the Christian year: Resurrection Sunday (or as it is better known, Easter).

During this season we have come to pray, we have studied the scriptures, we have practiced fasting (at least some of us!), and we have worshiped together. We have been reminded again and again that this season is the most sacred time of the Christian year; during this time we have been challenged to remember Jesus’s sufferings and death on the cross, as well as the resurrection – without which, as Paul says, there would be no hope (1Co. 15:1-19).

Indeed, we are a resurrection people, a people who live under the cover of Christ’s death and life:

In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4).

Yes, we are the people of the resurrection! On the other hand, we are also the people of the cross, we are the people who Jesus called to take-up our cross (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23), just like the one he carried. 

Some preachers and teachers have sold us the doctrine that the people of the resurrection do not have to take up their cross because Jesus did that for us already. Somehow in some churches people are being taught that to take-up our cross is like salvation through works-righteousness instead of by grace. But nothing can be further from the truth. To take up the cross was the sign Jesus required those who followed him if they were to become real DISCIPLES.

Paul helps us understand this when he declares:

“For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5). And again,

“If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering” (2 Corinthians 1:6). Yet, again,

“For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well—” (Philippians 1:29). Finally,

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10).

This desire to eliminate suffering as part of the Christian experience has been with us for a long time. Many Christians in the Middle Ages confused this idea of suffering with flagellation, with mortification of the body, as if that was going to grant them greater access to the divine, or as a way to sanctifying themselves before God. Clearly, that is not what Jesus or Paul had in mind. This perversion of the understanding of suffering became a tool of people living in privilege and with power within the church, to move many in the church to focus away from Jesus’ way, and into a worldly faith which focused instead in a distant heaven, and away from the people Jesus came to proclaim the good news: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.” Or as he tells John’s disciples: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them” (Luke 7:22). Yes, Jesus’ mission was to bring the message of God’s redemption (of God’s reconciliation -2Co. 5:18-19) to the masses of people in the world who are suffering, who are being oppressed, exploited, marginalized, discriminated against, excluded, those who have little or nothing to eat, etc. Therefore, to take one’s cross is not merely a metaphorical expression. Jesus has asked us to take his “yoke,” which brings with it the reality of suffering and pain as we find it in the world.

Although Jesus’ message has universal consequences, it is clear that Jesus had a clear audience in mind, as the verses above show. This segment of the population today represents more than 80 percent of the population of the world. As a matter of fact they are the 80% of the human race living on less than $10 a day. (see Global Issues: http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/ poverty-facts-and-stats). If we add those who live on $20 a day the percentage will grow even larger.

It is to the exploited and excluded of this world to whom Jesus says: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

The “burden” might be “light” but it is still a burden. Suffering and the conditions that maintain poverty have not yet been eliminated from the world. But we, who proclaim Jesus, must take the task that Jesus began (Ephesians 2:10). In order to do this we need to have faith, and we must love each other just as God loves us. However, we must also pray, study God’s word together, worship together, and truly recognize ourselves as the body of Christ on earth, as Paul declared: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Let us rise-up to God’s call, and as people filled with God’s Spirit let us make a difference. For we “can do all things through him who strengthens” us (Philippians 4:13). Amen!