CROSS PURPOSES

 Reading: Luke 9.23

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

Children are clever and sometimes, more than a little determined.  When my children were young upon my arrival at home I would often be greeted with a request, "Dad, can I do this or that?"  I learned very quickly not the launch into an immediate consideration of the merits of their  request, but to ask a question of my own.

"What did your mother say?"

Invariably, she had said something. A something with which they did not agree.  They were coming to me to see if they could get a more favorable verdict.  

I have learned that kids love to practice "divide and conquer" and a parent who is not alert to their little machinations can soon find themselves at cross purposes with their partner.The result is usually to the detriment of those they are trying to parent, especially if the cross purposes make Mom and Dad cross with one another.

At one point the Pharisees accused Jesus of being "of the devil."  They didn't like his authority. They didn't like his agenda.  They didn't like his vision of the Kingdom which threatened their vision of the kingdom.  Jesus responded to them, "A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand."  He was the One and Only Begotten of the Father. Satan would never give Jesus any occasion for glory, no support in his efforts.  To do so would to insure his failure.

A more important question for us during Lent is "are we at cross purposes with God?"  Christ came into the world and went to the cross to reconcile us to God. The intent was so that now we could live according to His purpose, to be the servants of the Good News.

Are you living with the purpose of the cross or at cross purposes with the cross?

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn