Christian Living

Our Cross to Carry

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
12/16/20
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“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)

As I look to this verse of Scripture and gather my thoughts and meditate upon them to understand what Jesus meant when he said, “take up your cross and follow me.” I have to wonder what exactly the Lord meant by the cross. The people of Rome and those who were living in Palestine knew what the cross represented. Crucifixion was a form of Capital punishment used by the Roman Empire. It was used against undesirables and enemies of the state. Crucifixion was a public display of punishment as a deterrent for those who would contemplate crimes against Rome.

First, the victim of a crucifixion would be tortured and publically humiliated and then led off to be crucified on a cross. They would be fixed to the cross by either ropes or nails, the cross would be raised and dropped into a hole in the ground, and the victim would hang there for several days until one of the following occurred. These are all fatal, cardiac rupture, heart failure, hypovolemic shock, acidosis, asphyxia, arrhythmia, or pulmonary embolism. Before Rome, crucifixion was practiced by the Persians, Carthaginians, and Macedonians as capital punishment. By the time the practice came to Rome, it was a perfected form of torturous death. Rome used crucifixion from as early as 73 B. C. till Emperor Constantine outlawed it in 337 A. D.

Did Jesus mean that we can pick up a cross and follow Him to be crucified for our faith in Him? I don’t think so as Jesus was crucified between two other enemies of the state of Rome. But a crucial point in taking up our cross and following Him is all of the Apostles, except John, were slain for their faith in Jesus. The Apostle Peter was crucified along with his wife. It is also said that Andrew was crucified in Greece.

I have heard the phrase, “it is my cross to bear.” Meaning some persons have a burden that they must carry throughout their lives and interpret it as their cross to carry. But that is not always for the glory of God. The Apostle Paul had what he called a “thorn in the flesh” that he asked the Lord to remove. The Lord did not remove it and told him that His grace was sufficient to carry him through it. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) As we will have many in our lives, our burdens are not necessarily a cross to bear. Our burdens are things that we depend on the Lord to carry for us. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

When He carried His cross up the hill to Calvary, no one of that day thought of the cross as a burden to bear. In the first century, the cross meant only one thing: a painful and humiliating death. The Romans had perfected this form of capital punishment, and it was a long-suffering way for one to die.

The cross today in Christianity is a symbol of one’s atonement by the blood of Jesus Christ that He shed on the cross at Calvary. It is the grace of God that through this sacrifice of His only begotten Son that man could receive forgiveness of his sins as Jesus had paid the sin debt for him. It was an act of Jesus’ love for humanity that He gave His life in their place to pay for the sins they had committed. For the people of Jesus’ day, carrying your cross meant carrying the very tool for your execution. To carry the tool of our crucifixion and follow Jesus, we defeat the purpose of Jesus going to the cross. Jesus gave His life as a ransom for us that we could find the abundant life here and in the Kingdom of God to come.

I have heard others express that the meaning of the cross is service to the Lord, picking up our sinful ways and giving them to Him with a repenting heart, or a particular task that each of us has been uniquely talented to perform. I don’t think any of these are quite it but are a part of our commitment. The idea of being a Christian is allowing Jesus to live through us. We are to live by the movement of His Spirit that dwells within us. This would be correct in the first phrase of this verses. “He must deny himself.” We are committed to giving our lives to Him that He would direct our paths for the glory of the Heavenly Father. Our commitment to denying self and following Him in His service is our obedience to His command and proof of our love for Him.

Another part of this thought is the verse that follows. When Jesus said this plea to those who heard both Matthew and Luke, He followed it with this Scripture. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:25) We lose our life not as in death, but we gain our life in the abundance we receive by Jesus living through us. We soon learn that if we abide in Him, He will abide in us, and all things become possible. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)

Many people followed Jesus during His ministry here on earth. Their view of Him as their Messiah was that he would restore the Israelite Kingdom, freeing them from their Roman domination. This excited the people, and they followed Him, finally thinking Israel would once again be the nation of God. Even the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples believed this. “While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.” (Luke 19:11)

The popularity of Jesus began to fade with the multitudes with this shift in His teaching. Jesus, when He began to teach that the Son of Man would die at the hands of the Jewish leaders under the authority of the Gentiles. Many more of the people were shocked, and they began to reject Him as their Messiah. “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” (Luke 9:22) They were unable to set aside their hopes and dreams for the will of God the Father that many in that day and the generations to come could receive salvation.

Being a follower of Jesus is an easy thing for a man to do as long as everything goes the way that person thinks they should. When the time becomes rough and the trials of life set in, are our comment strong enough to overcome the world’s trials and temptations. Jesus made it clear that His followers would face trials and tribulation as they followed Him. Jesus faced the trials of this world and overcame them, and if we are committed to Him, we shall also. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) To be disciples of Jesus comes with a cost; it comes with sacrifices that we must make. Jesus was clear about that truth. “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it.” (Luke 14:28)

This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” Have you counted the cost of discipleship, are you fully committed to following Him wherever He leads? Are you ready to take up your cross and follow Him? Have you considered the cost?

Is your commitment strong enough to sacrifice the loss of a close friend, the loss of father and mother, sister and brother, a radical change of your reputation, maybe the loss of your job, and are you ready to even lose your life? These are genuine possibilities where you are and greater in some parts of the world we live in. The question is, are you willing to make that commitment. It doesn’t mean that these things will happen, but they could. But if they did, would you chose Jesus or the comforts of this world?

Commitment to follow Jesus, to take up your cross and follow Him is a daily effort and a daily challenge. To be a follower of Jesus, you must be willing to take up your cross daily and be a disciple of His. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:27)

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, November 7, 2018