The Downward Path
March 9, 2016
Matthew 10:39 “If you cling to your life, you will lose it;
but if you give it up for me, you will find it.”
“Lent is a solemn season as we travel with Jesus down the path toward the cross of crucifixion and death. The Lenten season reminds us of our common mission to walk the downward path with Jesus toward death. It is the season that invites us to evaluate our own lives and to examine the ways in which we need to “die” with Jesus. It invites us to lose our life in order to find it anew, resurrected with Jesus on Easter morning. The path to resurrection is the downward path, the path of laying down our lives and the path of self-denial. None of us want to walk this path because this pathway takes us in the opposite direction from the path of self-preservation. Yet, Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, if we really want the kind of life He will offer to us, the kind of life He modeled for us in His own life, then we must “deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.” (Mark 8:34) Following Jesus will lead us all to the cross, and will lead us all to the place of death. That is the downward journey of Lent. It is the season that invites us to come, to enter in, and to follow Jesus on his journey towards the cross. For it is in death we find life, and it is the cross that leads us to resurrection.
— Rev. Brandon Dasinger/Teaching Pastor and Director of Missions
but if you give it up for me, you will find it.”
“Lent is a solemn season as we travel with Jesus down the path toward the cross of crucifixion and death. The Lenten season reminds us of our common mission to walk the downward path with Jesus toward death. It is the season that invites us to evaluate our own lives and to examine the ways in which we need to “die” with Jesus. It invites us to lose our life in order to find it anew, resurrected with Jesus on Easter morning. The path to resurrection is the downward path, the path of laying down our lives and the path of self-denial. None of us want to walk this path because this pathway takes us in the opposite direction from the path of self-preservation. Yet, Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, if we really want the kind of life He will offer to us, the kind of life He modeled for us in His own life, then we must “deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him.” (Mark 8:34) Following Jesus will lead us all to the cross, and will lead us all to the place of death. That is the downward journey of Lent. It is the season that invites us to come, to enter in, and to follow Jesus on his journey towards the cross. For it is in death we find life, and it is the cross that leads us to resurrection.
— Rev. Brandon Dasinger/Teaching Pastor and Director of Missions