I have to ask you all a random question: Do you remember those optical illusions called “magic eye?” They were popular about 15 years ago. They could be found in reception rooms of the doctor’s office, on people’s coffee tables, and in the case of one of my relatives, framed and hung on the walls of their house. At first glance they didn’t look like much; just a collage of colors and patterns that appeared to be really busy wallpaper. But if you stared long enough, a hidden image or scene would ‘magically’ appear. I have to say, I wasn’t very good at the magic eye thing. I wanted to be but I found it really difficult to adapt the method of seeing the image that was hidden. In order to discover the hidden image, you were advised to bring the picture close to your face and stare at the middle of the page. Even though you were looking right at the paper a few inches in front of your nose, you weren’t supposed to focus on any given point or look too intensely at the image. Slowly you would move the picture back from your face and then the hidden picture would supposedly come to life, right before your eyes. I generally got impatient as I heard my siblings, one by one, exclaim, “I see it” and “that’s cool” while all I saw was a jumbled mess of colors and patterns.
But every once and a while it would work. And the image would appear in all its glory and I couldn’t help but see what used to be hidden and incomprehensible. It made all of the crossed eyes and frustration well worth it.
Now believe it or not, I mention the whole magic eye thing because it was the first image that came to my mind when I read the gospel we just heard. At first glance the words of Christ might appear to us as ridiculous, ludicrous, and hard to believe! What does he mean that “"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
How do we save our lives by losing them? How do we lose our lives by trying to save them? Even St. Peter is troubled by the words of Christ. He takes him aside and gently chides the savior. The first pope wants there to be another way for Christ and for those that will follow after him. Even this great saint struggles to see the picture that is hidden beneath these very difficult words!
This is indeed a spiritual magical eye! At first glance the words of today’s gospel appear as nonsense, as nothing more than a bold statement by Christ himself. If we look at what Christ is saying, with the eyes of the world, we will never see the wisdom behind them. But with the eyes of faith a beautiful picture emerges. With God’s grace, we begin to see life where the world sees death, joy where society only finds misery, hope and salvation where others despair and run away.
I think if most of us are honest, we are suspicious of what Christ is saying as well. We live in a culture that spends enormous amounts of time caring for the body and trying to prolong life. Just walk down the aisles of Walgreens to see the many ways that we try to medicate ourselves to avoid the cross and any physical suffering. Now I am not saying that we shouldn’t take care of ourselves or stay away from medicine. But all of us have that tendency to run from the cross, to avoid every ache and pain, and to view suffering as worthless and without meaning.
Jesus invites us today to look at things a little differently. He wants us to see what he sees. He wants to live like he does, to love as he loves. In return, he promises to save our lives. Maybe not by adding years to this life or taking away every setback or suffering, but certainly by giving us eternal life when it really counts, in the world to come. To receive this eternal gift, we have to be willing to accept suffering. Actually, not just accepting it but even embracing it. We have to be ready to witness to Christ and carry the cross that he gives us. For some of you, that will be in the form of financial struggles and worries. For many of our younger families, it will mean staying open to the possibility of new life and remaining faithful to the Church’s teaching on married love. For others, it will be a person, a relationship, perhaps even a spouse or child who drives you to your knees. Still others will find their cross in caring for a loved one or battling illnesses of their own.
If you embrace your God-given cross, if you agree to carry it with love and obedience behind the one who carried his cross to Calvary, well, he will open your eyes. He will enable you to see the magnificent reward, the everlasting life that he has prepared for those who let go of their plans, of their own desire for control, their own idea of the good life, and are willing to come and follow him. Countless men and women have done so before us and they have found the fulness of love, life and joy in the midst of what the rest of the world might simply see as misery. Christ invites you and me today to take up our cross, to save our life by losing it to him. Will you follow?
