Today's Gospel in Art - Carry your cross every day and follow me

A man walking with his shadow carrying the cross, Photo 2014 © Kevin Carden / GoodSalt

Gospel of 27th February 2020 - Luke 9:22-25

Jesus said to his disciples: 'The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'

Then to all he said: 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?'

Reflection on the Photograph

Kevin Carden is a contemporary photographer using digitally mastered photography to produce religious images. Our photograph shows a man walking from darkness to light, holding a Bible in his left hand, and with a cast shadow on the wall depicting him carrying a cross. A simple, clever and very striking image.

So what does Christ mean when he says that we have to 'take up our cross every day'? He doesn't mean that we just have to be accepting of whatever life throws at us, but we have to let those challenges and crosses we have to deal with, transform us. By letting the crosses we have to carry transform us, we can become better people and grow towards being more Christ-like.

We must not just be resigned to bear what is brought upon us (such as suffering, family loss, shame, hurt, etc…) which none of us can escape. But we have to try and meet these challenges with an energetic disposition. We have to be active and try to remain positive, finding strength in our faith to face these challenges. When Christ says in today's reading to follow Him every day, he is comforting us by saying that He has gone before us… and He can lead the way through our own sorrows.

As Thomas a Kempis said: 'Bear the cross cheerfully and it will carry you!'

LINKS

Today's story - https://christianart.today/reading.php?id=342

Christian Art Today - https://christianart.today/