It is absurd that Christianity should use as its abiding symbol what is nothing short of a torture device designed to cause an agonising death. The Cross was used by the Romans to terrorise people into submission. There was nothing nice about slowly bleeding to death on this Roman curse.
And talking of Curse, the Cross was effectively a tree: a wooden structure holding a body aloft. God pronounced a curse on all those who are killed by being hung on a tree, so anyone hung on a cross qualifies for that curse.
“If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and is executed, and you hang his body on a tree, you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.” Deuteronomy 21:23
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone hanged on a tree.” Galatians 3:13
It must confuse people of other faiths that Christians seem so ready to identify themselves with a Cross. Yet for us, as we delve deeper into our faith, the Cross takes greater and greater significance. So much so that our life is one of ‘Living the Cross’.
Let’s reflect on the two main dimensions of the Cross, firstly, that Christ died for us to pay for our sins, and secondly, that we are called to die to self and live for God, having put to death our desire to live for our own purposes.
It is a wonder beyond human comprehension that the God of all eternity, our Creator, should decide to take on a human body and be put to death on a Roman Cross. That God would pay for our sins at all is incomprehensible, but that He should do it in this most macabre way is all the more amazing.
“Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:8
It is almost as if God wanted to state His love and commitment to us in the most startling way. Jesus only had to shed His blood, to pay for our sins. He was falsely accused and killed for wrongs He never committed. The one who was Just paid with His life for all those who were the Guilty ones. That’s it. But why then die in the most horrific way?
The Cross, then, signifies a love and a commitment and a salvation that is beyond comprehension. We should shake our heads, as it were, every time we think of the Cross, in sheer amazement at the sacrifice that defies human understanding.
Beyond all that, however, is the personal application to our own lives. Jesus taught that those who follow Him should be ready to live as if carrying their own cross every day.
“Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27
“Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:38
“Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24
Note that taking up your own cross is linked to denying self. Putting ourself first is the natural instinct of human life. Self-preservation in all its many forms (physical, emotional, mental, relational, social, etc) is what we do before we even realise it.
Christ, then, calls us to have a complete change of heart, not just to put our trust in Him, but to embrace a whole new reason for living and breathing. The new reason is to live for God, actively dying to all our own instincts and selfish wishes, on a daily basis.
Note the way historian Dr Luke records Jesus’ words about taking up our cross. Luke notes that Jesus talked of taking up our cross on a day to day basis.
“Then Jesus said to all of them, If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Jesus is not talking about one grand decision that seals the matter for all time. Jesus taught that the action of taking up our cross is one that we do day by day, issue by issue, situation by situation. It is a matter of ‘Living the Cross’.
So the symbol of the cross is truly a profound summary of Christianity, not only in celebrating God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice to save us from our sins. Also to define the new life we live as Christians, not living for ourselves any more, but living for God, following Christ, in active denial of self interest.
There are a myriad practical expressions of Living the Cross. It could include giving up our comforts or our favourite pastimes, to be available for others. It could include making life choices based on what God wants, not what we want. It could include responding as Christ instructs, rather than as our human nature might dictate, such as by forgiving, loving and blessing people we would rather reject.
Living the Cross sounds like a death sentence. In one sense it is, but there is great promise in this call to deny ourselves. Jesus taught that if we try to save our life, keeping on putting ourselves and our wishes first, we will lose our life. It will become unsatisfying and not deliver the benefits we are trying to achieve. But if we give up our life, dying daily as Jesus taught, then we actually find our life and find ourselves living with delight and fruitfulness that is so much more wonderful than all those other things we could chase.
“Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25
Living the Cross sounds negative, but it is the key to truly living. Those who climb off the cross live a death of futility and dissatisfaction, while those who lose their life, taking up their cross daily, find what real living is all about.
If you haven’t been doing it already, I challenge you and call you to begin right now to be ‘Living the Cross’.
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