Context of the Cross

Context is everything.

In the Gospels Jesus tells His disciples that unless they "take up their cross" and follow Him, they are not worthy of Him. I often think that when folks consider that phrase, they think of things like the horrible job they endure, the friends who have done them wrong, their tight financial status or perhaps their chronic pain.

Those aren't crosses. That's just life.

A cross is a thing upon which to die.

In his book "Hard To Believe", John MacArthur sets the actual context for Jesus' words with a little history lesson. In A.D. 6, Judas of Galilee led a rebellion against the occupying Roman government. This rebellion which handily trounced by the Roman general Varus. To make an example of Judas and teach the Jews a lesson, Varus had 2,000 Galileans crucified and the crosses were placed along the roadways in Galilee. Each of the condemned was made to carry his own crossbeam to the place of execution.

So, the metaphor Jesus employs becomes much more hard hitting when we realize he spoke these words to a group of Galilean disciples (all but Judas Iscariot were natives of Galilee) who were very well aware of their history. There must have been a moment of astonished silence after Jesus uttered that statement.

He meant they would have to die. Indeed, all of them except John did perish at the hands of persecutors.

We won't all be called to lay down our lives in this fashion, but we should understand the seriousness of the calling we have received. More on this in a day or so . . .