Paper Roses, Paper Crosses (22nd Sunday Ordinary A)

I heard this song reverberating from a videoke stall:

Paper roses, paper roses,
Oh, how real those roses seem to be;
But they're only imitation,
Like your imitation love for me.

Paper roses are symbols of fake love. Such a love may seem to be the real thing; but it’s not. It’s a lie. In Christian living too, we may alarmingly live comfortably in a lie by carrying “paper crosses.”

Paper roses...  paper crosses. O, how they blend and rhyme!

I recall a story about paper crosses:  One day, Satan heard a Christian grumbling about his heavy cross. “O, how I wish I don’t have to carry this load!” 

As what Satan does best, he offered the man with an attractive option. 

“Well, well, well... You really don’t have to carry that cross, you idiot!”

“But I want to follow Christ.  Jesus told us to carry our cross to follow him.”

“Well then, I’m gonna give you a cross that looks exactly the same as the one you’re carrying. No one can tell that you’re carrying a paper cross!”

“Sounds good to me.  I’m sick and tired of this heavy burden. Give me that paper cross.”

So it came to pass, that Christian lived his life carrying paper crosses.  When he died, he was met with an angel and he was led to his heavenly abode, a beautiful mansion.  He smiled with relief thinking that his paper crosses were not noticed after all.  When he was about to open the door of his mansion, a strong wind blew and buffeted the house away.  The angel looked at him, winked, and said, “Paper crosses deserve paper mansions.”

As Christians, the most effective deceit that we can be led to believe as true is that we can follow Christ without the cross! Ah, Christianity without the cross! Wouldn’t it be more liveable?

Human nature tends to ward off difficulties, pain, suffering, and all inconveniences for that matter.  We even don’t want to think or talk about death despite its inevitability.

In today’s gospel (Mt. 16: 21-27) for instance, Peter thinks as human does when he opposes Jesus’ prediction of his passion and death in the city of Jerusalem. “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you” (v. 22).

I think we cannot fault Peter in thinking that way.  We all are just like him when we think humanly. We definitely would like to fend off anything that would cause us and our loved ones suffering.

Jesus’ reply is worth our deep reflection: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do” (v. 23).

Peter, the Rock, the solid foundation of Jesus’ Church, is addressed by our Lord in this instance as Satan!  Unbelievable! But this is because Peter does sound like Satan in talking Jesus out of his destined path as a Suffering Messiah.  Peter is like Satan offering Jesus a paper cross!

I believe that Jesus has to effectively rebuke Satan as the latter’s tactics unfold.  Satan’s option will always be attractive.  To dwell in it a little longer could weaken our human resolve to follow the will of God.  In the Garden of Gethsemane for example, Jesus admits of his human tendency to wish away his suffering; but thank God, he’s just too conformed to his Father to turn his back to His will. He must not give room for the tempter to weaken his resolve.  “Get behind me, Satan!”

So it is with us, followers of Christ.  We will be relentlessly offered an attractive lie:  “You don’t have to carry your cross, idiot! You can live as a king and pamper yourself.  Never mind your neighbour.  Forget about self-giving. Take care of yourself instead.  Enjoy your wealth, your fame, your power.  And don’t you let anyone take these away from you! You’re the man!”

Christ was rejected by the world represented then by the city of Jerusalem.  Christ’s message of God’s love and mercy and the reversal of values He preached on the mount will always be jeered at by this sinful world.  Love and humility will be seen as a weakness in this ego-fixated world.  Christ's sacrificial love on the cross will be regarded as foolishness.  Therefore, anyone who follows Jesus will have to contend with the taunts and rejection.  Here, we see clearly what Jesus means then when He says:  “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (v. 24).  The cross is inevitable to an authentic Christian witnessing amid today’s narcissistic tendencies.

Paper crosses are as much of a lie as paper roses.

A preacher’s greatest temptation, in his ardent will to gain significant following, is to offer paper crosses to suffering people.  By nature, we don’t want inconveniences.  Christ’s demand for self-denial and sacrifice is unattractive.  Let’s face it. In today’s culture of self-glorification and ego-tripping which is a reaction to the previous generation’s ascetic disciplines, the cross of Christ is even more repelling.  We all want easy life. Quick and instant results.  Superb health.  Money... lots of it.  No wonder, preachers would harp on the promise of material prosperity, blessings, miracles.  And somehow, afraid to turn off the increasing horde of people, never mentions the cross... the demanding commitment of self-giving for others, for a just and humane society...  the call for a magnanimous acts of self-denial for the sake of the planet’s survival.  No. No mention about the cross.

Paper roses... paper crosses... How long should we be contented in living in the world of lies?