Dying to self, in an age of pleasure.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

What a mess of violence and hatred there is in the world at the moment! As I write, Gaza seems to dominate the news, alongside Ukraine, and numerous other conflicts over which our media have gently calmed their cries about.

We have come through the Easter season in Church and one of the things we might note is that Jesus was predicted as the Messiah of Israel and the people had assumed he would lead an army against their oppressors. And yet Jesus’ message included “love your enemies”.

It is so important that as the world around us cries out for justice and vengeance, the Christian is called to follow Jesus in a radically different way. Instead of shedding blood, he went to the cross to give his blood for us. And we need to work out how that makes a difference in this confusing world situation today.

Jesus teaches that our ultimate fight is not against people, but ideas. He called them the world, the flesh and the devil. (I will call them WFD.) They give us a sort of map with which to navigate our lives, and they take us away from God’s map which is there to help us find the right way through our decisions and circumstances.

The WFD make us want to demonise people, the very people we are called to love and serve. Dehumanising people, WFD calls us to hate and leads to violence and darkness to the very culture in desperate need of healing. So, it should come as no surprise that Jesus calls his followers not to pick up a sword and kill, but to follow his example and die. We have an evocative symbol at the centre of our faith – a cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” He was killed by the Gestapo, his native Germans on 9th April 1945, just before the end of the war (8th May). So, for him, his dying was quite literal.

But our modern minds find it hard to read. So much of our training and resources are spent on self-fulfilment, not self-denial. Many of us can’t fathom a vision of the good life that doesn’t involve our getting what we want. However, I believe Jesus is teaching us that letting in the little lies, the little dishonesties, the little acceptance of horror; leads us to open our souls to the ideas of the WFD, and it is in keeping them out, that will produce the abundant life that God wants every person to experience.

John Calvin used the phrase “self-denial” to summarise the entire spiritual journey. To say yes to Jesus’ invitation is to say no to a thousand other things. Saying no to my own definition of good and evil, to spending my time and money exactly as I want. It’s a thousand little deaths leading to one massive life. It’s not a futile grasping for control, it is the freedom of yielding to Love. Saying to Jesus “whatever, wherever, whenever, I’m yours.”

We look back at the crusades as a low point in the history of Christianity. During this time the Knights Templar would be baptised, but as they went under the water, they would hold their swords over their heads and out of the water- in effect saying “Jesus, you can have all of me except my violence and my quest for glory.”

We all do something like this – it won’t be a sword, but it could be a credit card, a relationship, a sexual ethic, a wound, an entertainment habit, a political or even theological position. How often do we say, “Not this, Jesus, not this”.

The cross of Jesus isn’t just something Jesus did for us – it’s also something we do with him. We see it as a transaction – like he did this for us to get something. It could better be understood as transformational. He changes us.

Jesus didn’t die so that we don’t have to. We will still die. Jesus teaches us how to die – how to follow him through death into life. There is a gravity, an importance to our decisions during life. I suppose the Bible is giving us a choice between two options.

Option A: you deny Jesus and follow your self. You put desire on the throne in your life, and getting what you want becomes the ultimate authority and driving motivation for your life.

Option B; you deny your self and follow Jesus. Meaning you crucify the desires of your flesh and tap into your deeper desires for God himself.

We live often in a grey world – we don’t like black and white choices. But the Bible really says that it will cost us to follow Jesus, but then it points out that it will actually cost us more not to follow him. Are we willing to trade long term happiness for short term pleasure? How much is your soul worth to you?

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Matthew 16:25-26)

Brian Leathers (May 2024)