THE DISCIPLE AND THE CROSS

To those who want to follow him, Jesus says: «If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). We note: the invitation is not an obligation, but a proposal; a proposal, let us add, that questions the freedom of the individual: «If someone…». “Jesus – wrote Gianfranco Ravasi – neither plagiarized, nor made his followers fanatical; he conquered them, but leaving their freedom intact”. This proposal is not addressed only to one category of people but to all (universal call). Following Jesus then means staying behind him. This involves staying at his school, and recognizing ourselves as his disciples. It seems obvious (and perhaps is obvious), but in reality, it is not. In the Gospel of Matthew we lsee how the disciples sometimes risk placing themselves before the Master (cf. Mt 16:21), or at his side (cf. Mt 20:21). Jesus, with great patience, will have to continually reposition them behind him. We then have an important verb: to renounce. In Greek, aparneomai means to forcefully deny. What must we forcibly deny? The own ego, the selfishness that exists that tyrannizes over us and drags us into slavery. To deny oneself, from the evangelical point of view, means not making yourself the ultimate value, the criterion of every choice, the point around which everything must converge. More positively, denying yourself is equivalent to putting Jesus at the centre, the reference point, the East of one’s life.
The act of taking up one’s cross means that one wants to make one’s own the logic of Jesus, who first took up his cross or wanted to express his love towards the Father with obedience, and his love towards humanity with solidarity. But taking up one’s cross also has another meaning. This invitation refers to that moment when the sentence is issued and the
the condemned man must load himself with the patibulum and go towards the place of crucifixion. This is the most dramatic hour because the condemned person has to pass through the crowd for whom it is a religious duty to insult and beat him up. The invitation then to take up the cross means that for Christ, and his word, the Christian must know how to accept the
contempt, rejection, and hatred of the world. «And let him follow me» – concludes Jesus. The disciple is not one who “has arrived”. Never. He is always behind his Master, trying to live his Gospel day by day. Following Jesus also means being detached from work and from one’s family, from riches, and above all, as we have said, from oneself. But the evangelical detachment it is not an end in itself. Everything is in function of a greater concentration on Christ. So the radical detachment requested by the Lord is not so much a mortification of the
person, nor of the joy of living, but their full and authentic expansion in him.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Santa Maria – Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey