This Isn't So Easy

It's Monday morning, the day after Easter.

Two-thousand years ago, a small band of disciples are just beginning to get excited. The word has spread: He is risen!

The hard part's over, right? Jesus is alive! Great things are going to happen now! Hey--they look at each other--"That was easy!"

That was easy. It's a marketing tool for the office supply chain, Staples. The big red button. You get good service or a problem is solved. You hit the button. That was easy!

The reading for this coming Sunday suggests something else. Jesus' words to his disciples before the cross and in the post-Easter season is not, "This is easy" but: "This might hurt."

Jesus called on his disciples to also take up their cross.

The disciples are going to be jolted once again. It's not going to be easy.

In fact it might hurt--a lot. Sometimes, that's the nature of discipleship.

There is more in Homiletics for this Sunday. Take a look.