If suffering is the mark of our Master, it will also be the mark of those who follow Him. Where there is suffering, there is the cross. Where the cross is, the church is. Where the church is, life is. Suffering is one of the signifying marks the holy church. The One who triumphs in suffering founds a church that triumphs the same way. Her weakness is not a sign of her incompetence, it is the sign of her triumph. If they have treated Jesus so, how shall they treat those who follow Him? Exactly the same way.

Christ promises to provide the resources necessary to bear the burdens that He sends. Although we know His promises to us, we do not know how this works at the outset of any holy endeavor. We are often afraid. This is why He forbids us to look back ( Lk 9:62). Sometimes we don't know how we will bear the burdens that He sends. Sometimes we're quite sure that we shall collapse under the pressure of our work, under the hatred of the world, and under the rage and spite of Satan our enemy. We will not know now how to bear all this. We may not know until the end of the day, until the end of the decade, until the end of a career, or until the end of life; and only when Christ Himself is willing to reveal the answer to us and even then the answer is to shape us like His cross by constantly crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires. "Wait on the Lord!"

Purely earthly relationships, as important as they are, such as commitment to mother or father, must not be permitted to intrude on following the Savior to Jerusalem. How hard this is for us who belong to the church. Our priorities change. We begin to live in a family relationship created by the blood of Christ poured out for the sheep. They are our priority. Blessedly for us, we have families that are likewise in the community of the faithful.

However, we need to be warned that sometimes our enemies are in our own household; holding us back from the mission of Christ by reasons that seem valid at the time. So it seemed right and holy for Peter that when Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem, he should say "It shall not be so for you, dear Lord, to suffer and die." Yet, Jesus will have no part of that. "Get behind me, because I am setting my face to Jerusalem."

The church's whole life is centered on the cross. The focus of the four Gospels is the trek of Jesus from cradle to cross. Half or more of the Gospels focuses on the momentous last six weeks of the earthly life of Jesus, leading up to His crucifixion. Indeed, the Bible has no meaning apart from its being centered in the cross of Jesus Christ. The Bible without the cross is meaningless. Martin Luther says, "A Christian can no more do without the cross than without food or drink."  This is why we sing the Thomas Kingo hymn (and not just at Lent): "On My Heart Imprint Your Image" (see below).

As we follow on with Jesus, setting our faces toward Jerusalem with Him, He will inscribe on our hearts that faithful statement: "Jesus, crucified for me."  There will be days when you will feel like you have been turned into meatloaf, all ground-up and burned around the edges. It is at moments like those, when we must hear our Master call to us: "Come with me to Jerusalem. Set your face toward the cross. See your salvation in my suffering. And in your suffering be shaped like me."