Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.

• Luke 9:23

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

• Luke 22:42

“Jesus, this is where everyone abandons you. ‘We must not take things so far,’ we say. ‘That would be to carry the truths of Christianity too far and to make them odious and distasteful in the sight of the world.’ Well, do we not know that ungodly, irreverent people will be scandalized, since even good, religious people are?
“How could the mystery of the cross not seem excessive to the learned Gentiles, since it scandalizes reverent and fervently religious Jews? My dear Savior, let those who will, drink your bitter cup. As for me, I want to drink it right to the bitterest last dregs. I am ready to suffer pain and suffering, deep personal humiliation and disgrace, ridicule and scorn, and people’s insults on the outside-and on the inside, temptation and being forsaken by the heavenly Father. I will say, as you taught me, ‘Remove this cup from me; yet’-in spite of all my intense fear and dread-‘not my will but yours be done.’ ”

• François Fénelon, God of My Heart

Archbishop Fénelon plays the Devil’s advocate to a mild extent.  But in the days of Jesus, being killed on a cross was scandalous.  It was reserved for the lowest of lows.  It was used as a deterrent.  You did as Rome said because Rome can make your death a horrible one.

So, from the viewpoint of the prim and proper gentry, no one would dare follow Christ and pick up that cross.  Why heap scandal upon yourself?

But François Fénelon accepts that scandal.  There is no other choice that provides eternal life.

Jesus Christ willingly gave up His life for ours, but even He gave His Father one last chance to reconsider.

But as Jesus did, so must we all.  “Not my will, but thine.”

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.