Last Sunday, our Gospel lesson was the first part of the confession of Peter, where Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God. I included as part of that story the next paragraph where Jesus outlines the destiny he must face as the Christ and Peter’s less than enthusiastic response to that news. We have that paragraph again today as well as the one that follows it, where Jesus outlines the destiny of those who choose to be his disciples.

Now, by way of review, you may recall that Peter’s problem with Jesus’ identity, and often ours as well, is that we have this tendency to cling to visions of God that are often very limited. We often buy into the interpretations of God handed down to us by those with ulterior agendas, the powerful or those who seek to be powerful. I called their gods too small and that what Jesus has been teaching is a god that is not small, but unlimited. Unlimited in majesty, unlimited in power, and most importantly unlimited in love and mercy. A God that loves all things and all people, and who sent Jesus Christ into this world to save all things and all people.

It is Peter’s view of a limited God that prevents him from understanding Jesus as he truly is, and is therefore why he receives such a stinging rebuke from Jesus. Jesus wants to open Peter’s eyes, to open his mind to the reality that is an all-loving and all-merciful God. He wants to do this because Jesus knows that it will be Peter and those like him who will carry this truth to the world once Jesus is gone.

We share that same calling with Peter and thus should heed well the words that Jesus says to him about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and to preach and live in accordance with a God of unlimited mercy and love. If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

What does that mean? What does it mean to bear the cross in this day and age? Does it mean, as it did for those first disciples and apostles, exactly what it implies? It’s easy to imagine that after hearing this the Twelve imaged Golgatha as lined with 12 cross in a row on Good Friday(Judas presumably would get off the hook, which is why it isn’t 13.) But while that was not precisely what happened in history, it is also not far from the mark. Of the Twelve, the only one according to tradition who did not suffer a violent death was John. Even Paul, who came a generation later, got his head chopped off for his trouble.

Is this our destiny as well? This sort of martyrdom is a rare thing in this day and age and let us be thankful for that. But the cross can take many forms and there are still many out there who would very eager to hang us on one.

Take for instance those who after 9/11 who said that those towers came down and those people died because America is too friendly with feminists, gays, and abortion. Or those who said Katrina bombarded New Orleans and the Gulf Coast three years ago this weekend because of the debauchery of Mardi Gras. Their god, as small as he is, also has very poor aim. How many people who had never set foot on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras died in Katrina? How many people who were not a feminist or never had an abortion or even agreed with their opinions died in the towers?

Take Osama Bin Laden and other extremists who think as he does, who say that God blesses those who kill Americans. I’ve met Moslems, talked with them, and most are a far cry from the murderous monsters that populate these terrorist organizations. Bin Laden’s god is too small and seeks not mercy but murder.

And then, there’s Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. Go to their website some day: www.godhatesfags.com. I don’t care what your opinions on homosexuality are. Have a bucket handy when you go there, because it will make you want to vomit. To be witness to such unapologetic hatred, invoked in the name of a God we know to be all-loving, it will make you ill.

Now imagine for a moment that you are standing before them, any of them or all of them, and you proclaim, either in word or deed, a God that loves all things and loves all people. A God who loves people of all nations and creeds, who loves feminists. A God who forgives those who perform and those who receive abortions, and a God who loves homosexuals, and that Christ died on a cross for all of them. You do that, because it is the truth! You do that, because it is what Christ called you to do! You do that, and you will feel the nails and you will know precisely what it means when Christ says that we too shall bear our cross.

My internship Pastor every Sunday goes behind an altar much like this one and offers forth the prayers of the people of the church. When he does that he includes two names, Cathy and John. John is presently about halfway through a sentence for armed robbery at prison somewhere in New York state. Cathy is also incarcerated. She drowned her daughter and is now serving a life sentence for murder. At the time, no one knew how severe her post-partum depression truly was until it was too late.

Every Sunday he prays for these two. And he has received significant criticism for it. “You prayed for a murderer. How dare you.” People have left the church over this. These are the nails. Has God forgiven them for their crimes? I believe so. Does he love them? Of course he does. But there are those who cannot accept that God is truly that kind and merciful, and every time Pastor Jim reminds them that God is, he feels those nails and he feels the cross upon his back.

We may also if we dare to speak the truly to a world of people content with small gods, gods that lack mercy, gods that reflect our own prejudices and fears. But the God we come here today to worship and praise is not small. He is grander and more loving and more majestic than we can imagine. And this God, the real God, loves this world and its people so much that he sent Jesus here to live, die, and then rise again to save all of us from the power of sin and death. This is the God we love, the God we worship, and the God we proclaim in our words and our actions. This is the God who has saved us all, whose promises are sure, and who will never forsake us.

And the cross and the consequences of this faith and the actions that come from it are worth it. You see there is a world of people who have been told time and again that for this reason and that, that God does not love them. This is a lie! And they need us to show them the truth. We proclaim the Christ crucified out of love for all, so that they may know and also believe.

And if the cross is laid upon our back for our boldness in proclaiming these truths, so be it. Because beyond the cross lies the empty tomb. Beyond all the rejection and malice the small god people may throw at us lies the reward that Christ has won for us all. Do not fear the cross. Speak the truth. Show the world who God really is. Amen.