Thursday after Jubilate, 4/29/99

Galatians 6: 12--14
Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to
be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of
Christ.  For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law
themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast
in you flesh.  But may it never be that I should boast, except in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been
crucified to me, and I to the world.
        NASB

In the name of the One in Whose cross we boast, amen.

Have you ever met someone who goes out of their way to be persecuted? 
Have you seen people impose suffering on themselves because they believed
it made them better in the eyes of God?

The examples we most quickly think of are the Roman Catholic monks who
take vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience.  We recognize that such
things, if they are done to be more holy, are ridiculous.  They earn no
favor with God.  But there is a more subtle form of self imposed
suffering that we can fall into.

Sometimes when we have sinned in a manner that is very bad in our own
eyes, or have fallen into the same old sin again, we feel like we are not
worthy to be forgiven.  We impose a penance on ourselves.  Sometimes that
penance is merely a waiting period until we feel that we are now able to
be forgiven.  Such suffering is directly opposed to God's word.  It is
seeking a cross, and it denies the Holy Word of God that tells us we are
forgiven whether we feel like we are or not.

Now there are many ways we can carry a self-imposed cross; all of them
are wrong.  Our cross will be given to us.  It is for us simply to carry
it, not to seek it.  We should also not get the idea that proper penance
(trying to correct the evil we have done as much as we are able out of
gratitude for being forgiven) is wrong.  Proper penance is a good thing,
but proper penance always follows forgiveness.  It is always done freely
from a grateful heart.

In this passage St. Paul clearly tells us that we should only boast in
the cross of Christ.  We are not even to boast in our own cross!  More
than that the first part of the passage shows us what sort of cross to
avoid--anything that displaces the cross of Christ, or the cross that He
gives us to carry.

The false crosses in which people boast are from the world, not from God.
 We see in this passage that we have been crucified to the world by the
cross of Christ in which we boast.  This fact first forgives us for
seeking crosses other than the cross of Christ.  Then it also frees us
from having to carry such worldly crosses.  We are dead to the rules and
laws that people come up with to please God.  We are free to carry the
cross that our Savior Jesus gives us.  May that freedom give you the
power you need to bear you cross.  Amen.

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus You are compassionate and merciful.  Thank you for
bearing Your cross and freeing us fr