When I attend events in our circuit, where refreshments are being provided, I am frequently impressed by the standard of cakes that are on offer. It is obvious that people have spent quite a lot of time and effort preparing something delicious that can be enjoyed by others. Of course, that does not necessarily have to be the case; it’s quite possible to make a reasonably good cake using a cake mixture box, where all you have to do is just add egg and water and bake. Alternatively, you can just go to a supermarket and buy a cake from right off the shelf. However, I have yet to see anyone try this on the Great British Bake Off! There is something to be said for making something with love and care for others, even if it requires a lot of time and effort to do so.

In the reading that we have this Sunday Jesus is telling his disciples that he will be arrested, killed, and on the third day rise from the dead. Simon Peter, after hearing this, interjects by taking Jesus beside trying to rebuke him and suggest that this should not happen. Then Jesus rebukes Simon, telling him that ‘you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ In saying this perhaps Jesus is alluding to what the prophet Isaiah once said about humanity when he declared that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). We might think it quite reasonable that Peter does not want Jesus to die and suffer. Yet Jesus’ point is that Peter is trying to replace the divine will with his own will.

Human beings have a tendency to be self-interested and to take the easy choice, the path of least resistance. They also have a tendency to pursue their own agenda’s and ignore what God is saying. While Jesus had told his disciples earlier that “my yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11:30) he now makes it clear to them that his path is still a costly one. Jesus teaches his followers that the path of discipleship involves self-denial (Matthew 16:24) putting behind our self-centredness and instead placing love at the centre of our lives.
Taking up the cross means following the path of love that God invites us to go down. That rather than simply being concerned about ourselves we have to have a loving concern for others and be focused on the Kingdom of God.

For Jesus the path he is treading is one that will lead to his death and then his resurrection. Yet it is through his self-giving love that humanity will find forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life with God. God in Christ does everything for us through the cross and the resurrection so we might be liberated by love and free to be the people God always intended us to be. The life of a Christian is one that is marked by God’s love and grace poured out on us and not our selfishness. Yet the grace we receive comes at a cost. paid by God in Christ, through the cross. The 20^th Century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life resisting the evil of Nazism, one wrote that:

“cheap grace is the grace that we bestow on ourselves…Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field…it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciples leaves his nets and follows him.”
(Bonhoeffer, D. The Cost of Discipleship, 2001 edition, SCM Press; London. p.4)

This year we continue, as a church and circuit, to consider and explore how we might deepen our discipleship. In so doing it is important for us to remember that our calling in Christ is not about meeting self-centred or self-serving desires. Instead, we endeavour to leave those behind us as we follow Jesus and share God’s love with the world. Just as we might choose to put time and effort in to make and bake a cake, we too must be prepared to commit to Jesus so that his gospel might be shared and that new people in new places might come know his life love. So let us commit ourselves to this life of discipleship and the grace that God calls and invites us to as we seek to follow his Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.