As we head toward Good Friday this weekend the emphasis will obviously be on Jesus' death on the cross. Of course, we all know the story well. However, a unique and interesting thought that I have been pondering lately is that Jesus wants us to follow Him in this. Yes, Jesus also wants us to be crucified! Not a literal crucifixion, but a spiritual one, for sure.
In Matthew 16:24, almost a year before He would die on the cross, Jesus said the following to His disciples. "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." Though I am very familiar with this verse, the words that jump out at me are, "take up his cross." There has been a lot of confusion over the meaning of this phrase down through the centuries. Periodically we read in the news of someone who takes this literally and carries a cross on their shoulder through town or on some sort of pilgrimage. To understand what Jesus meant by these words we have to understand why a person would carry a cross in the first place.
In the Roman Empire at the time of Christ, a condemned criminal, as part of their punishment and humiliation, was forced to carry their own cross to the place of execution. We see that this was also required of Jesus in John 19:17. The fact is, no one carried a cross for fun. No one carried a cross to make a statement. You only carried a cross if you were on your way to die! And that is the point.
The invitation for us to take up our cross is an invitation to die - to ourselves. I have never looked at it this way before. Now I am challenged. Am I willing to die? Do I want to die? More tomorrow.
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