“I guess that is just my cross to bear…” some people say.
Usually though, unfortunately, when people use this phrase they are being flippant, talking about some burden in their life that may not really be that bad in the grand scheme of things. However, Jesus very seriously tells us that, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
When Jesus first said this to His disciples, they certainly knew what roman crucifixion was, but based on what we know from the rest of the gospels, they did not yet understand that Jesus would literally have to carry a cross and be crucified. How devastating it must have been for them when they realized what He had meant. How intimidating for us to know the whole story. But what does it look like to carry our cross? What is MY cross? Do we have the same cross? There are multiple different ways to look at Jesus’ teaching here.
One specific instance that shows Jesus using this language that helps us understand what Jesus means is with the rich young ruler in Mark 10:21: “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’” Despite the fact that this young man had obeyed the law of Moses to the letter in many ways, Jesus still sees in him that he is too attached to his possessions, and we are told that the young man went away sorrowful and presumably did not comply with what Jesus asked of him. Will we let our material goods keep us from following Jesus? The problem with this young man is not that he is rich, powerful, and young. None of those factors nor the combination of them really affect his salvation. However, Jesus’ interaction with him seems to indicate that his connection to his “stuff” was deeper than it should have been. While the young man likely would have denied it if you were to ask him, Jesus simply was not worth as much to him as his “stuff” was.
When we come to follow Christ, there is an act of letting go that needs to happen: letting go of our past sins, letting go of sins we may currently be ensnared in, and letting go of anything else that may stand in the way of us following Christ. Letting go of these things is often called “repentance.” To repent literally means to turn around and go the opposite direction. Put another way, repent is to drop sin, leaving it behind never to be picked up again, as we follow Jesus forward, even knowing that His path will require us to pick up a cross.
On another occasion, Jesus says very clearly, “…he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). The fact of the matter is Jesus taking up His cross has a two-fold meaning for us: on the one hand, and most importantly, He took on the punishment that we deserved for our sins. As the sacrificial Lamb of God, He died for us. Additionally though, He set an example of what it means to obediently do the Father’s will, and showed just how disliked and unpopular God’s people (or God Himself!) can be. By going to the cross, He demonstrated that God’s plan likely will mean temporary pain, even extreme suffering, but all for the hope of immeasurable glory. As Paul puts it, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). No greater pain or glory has been experienced than the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that is the road He invites us to follow Him down. In short: “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Finally, perhaps one of the most to-the-point verses about what it means for us to take up our own crosses is Galatians 6:14: “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Even though He was God, Jesus did not boast in being God or even in His miracles. He denied Himself, took up His cross, and lead the way to Golgotha. But as we well know, His story did not end there, and neither does ours. After the struggle of self-denial and self-sacrifice comes immeasurable glory and eternal life. In the mean time, let us boast only in Him and take up our cross day by day.
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