He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel,* will save it. –Mark 8:34-35
When we got Jeannie as our ministry dog, I went out to the NEADS campus in Princeton, Massachusetts for a week of training. There was another dog, Merlin, whose “person” was also being trained at the same time. Mark and Merlin worked with their trainer while Jeannie and I worked with ours–often side-by-side.
Mark was a counselor at an inpatient adolescent psychiatric unit in Central Massachusetts. He was a big, tall man with a gentle demeanor and a strong accent. He was Egyptian, and he told me that he had emigrated to the United States about a decade before. He had come to New York and worked as a taxi driver while he went to school to become a counselor. Mark wore a cross around his neck, and told me that he was a member of the Coptic Christian Church.
Earlier that year, the Arab Spring had broken out, and we had marveled at the images of Christian and Muslim Egyptians coming together to stand up for their rights. By the time Mark and I met, hopes for a truly open society in Egypt had been dashed. There were frequent reports of vandals destroying ancient Coptic churches in Cairo. Christians were living in constant fear of violence.
One day, at lunch, I asked Mark whether he had relatives still in Cairo. He said he did–many, in fact. I asked if he was worried about them. Yes, of course he was, for the situation was getting more and more dangerous.
Then he made a comment that stayed with me. “But isn’t that what it means to be a Christian?” He went on. “To risk your life for your faith. That’s what Jesus asks us to do.”
As we move through Holy Week, I remember his words, and I am challenged. What am I willing to risk for my faith? –Debbie Clark
Jesus, we hear your call to us. Help us dare to follow you, even to the cross. Amen.