"And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:25-27) What is the cross? The word of God is very clear on the meaning of the cross. Jesus was plain on what He meant by carrying a cross. Most people try to twist the meaning of the "cross". They try to use it as a means to justify their humanistic approach to salvation. Some people think that carrying the cross means that you must have an aspect of you that is bad and suffering - that you may either be sick, or poor or have a bad marriage or a bad child, etc. They think that as a christian all will not be well with; so that aspect that will be bad is you cross and you have to bear it. But that is not what Jesus meant. If you recall our lesson last month on The Full Package , you will know that God wants us to lack nothing! No part of our life should be in defeat. What then is the cross?.
In the first century, the Romans used to force convicted criminals to carry their own crosses to the place of crucifixion. This practice was very popular that it was almost a cliche to "carry one's cross". Hence Jesus' audience knew what He meant by that analogy. To carry a cross then meant carrying you own execution device while facing ridicule along the way to death.
Today, people are not being executed on crosses anymore. We do not have a physical cross to carry about. It doesn't matter how many cross pendants we wear or how many cross figures we install in our living rooms, that does not qualify as carrying our cross. To fully understand what Jesus meant by carrying the cross, we must look at the verses presiding that statement in each case.
The first time Jesus made this statement was in Luke 9:23. It says -
"Then Jesus said to all the people: If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me."
The next time this message appears was in Luke 14:26:27. It says -
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also , he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple"
From the preceding verses, we understand what Jesus meant by carrying our own cross. It meant denying ourselves, forgetting about ourselves and everything about us. In Luke 14, He actually uses the "H" word. We are to hate, disregard, hold to no value our parents, spouse, children, siblings, even our own lives when it comes to being His follower. Nothing should and no one should come between us and our discipleship. We must be willing at every time and day to forsake and deny anything or anyone that may seek to separate us from our commitment to Jesus. That is the cross we bear as christians.
In Luke 9:57-62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus questioned them further, He revealed that their commitment was half-hearted - they lacked the willingness to forsake all!. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None was willing to take up his cross and crucify upon it his own interests.
If you are wondering if you are carrying your cross, consider these questions:
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing some of your closest friends?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means alienation from your family?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means the loss of your reputation?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your job?
- Are you willing to follow Jesus if it means losing your life?
Commitment to Christ means taking up your cross daily, being ready to give up your hopes, dreams, possessions, even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross may you be called His disciple (Luke 14:27). The reward is worth the price. Remember what Jesus said: For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it (Matthew 16:25-26).
May God richly bless you as you live your life for Christ, gladly bearing the cross!