Carrying the Cross of Christ

After Pilate had Christ flogged he reluctantly handed Him over to the Jewish Sanhedrin for crucifixion. Christ remained quiet, resolute, and focussed on His mission. The Romans forced any man condemned to death to carry a beam of the cross to the place of crucifixion. A cross could be the shape of a T, X, Y, or I. One cross beam could weigh 18kg. Christ started out carrying His, but He was too weakened by the flogging, which was so severe that this alone often killed a man.

Simon, a Jew from Cyrene, Libya, west of Egypt, was heading to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He was forced to carry the cross-beam behind Jesus. The Romans led them to Golgotha, which means “The Place of the Skull.” The Latin name is “Calvary.” Golgotha was a hill just outside the Jerusalem city walls. Jesus remained resolute and focussed on His mission.

Jesus had previously said to a crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed,?”  Luke 9:23-25. What does Jesus mean by this? He is not asking us to physically die for His mission, although some Christians may. Rather, He is saying that to follow Jesus requires each of us to die to self-centredness and be completely dedicated to God’s will and the Mission of God.

We inherently know where and when we are being selfish and greedy. It could be with our time, our money, our plans, or putting pleasure before what God is asking us to do. What is God saying to you today? If Christ gave up His life to follow the will of the Father, what will you give up to follow your Lord? Carrying the cross of Christ is not easy but the Kingdom rewards are huge.