Managing Life
Take up your Cross!
Catherine Ann Francis, Penang
What did Jesus mean when He commanded us, “Take up your cross and follow Me”? Many Christians, are under the mistaken impression that Jesus was teaching us that sickness and suffering are good for our souls and so we should simply bear them for His sake, they often come out with these words when faced with trials: “What to do? This is my cross.” While it is true that any form of suffering can bring us closer to God because of our great need, it does not mean that we must accept it as our fate and live in it.
To understand the implications of the above command perhaps it would help us to meditate on what the cross would have meant to Jesus Himself.
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Lk. 23:34)
Jesus said these words after He had been falsely accused by His own countrymen, cruelly scourged and mocked by the Roman soldiers, had his head pierced by a crown of thorns, had nails driven through His wrists and ankles, and hung from a cross before a jeering crowd. For Jesus, those moments, on the cross meant having a spirit of forgiveness for those who had mistreated Him.
Is there resentment in your heart because someone has hurt you, offended you or treated you badly? If you want to follow Jesus then you must take up your cross daily, and taking up your cross means forgiving. If you do so, you will redeem the act by turning it into a blessing and you will redeem the person who hurt you by setting him free of his debt to you.
When Jesus was crucified between the two thieves, one of them mocked and ridiculed Him while the other was able to recognize Jesus for who He really was and appealed to Him, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Jesus responded by telling him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Lk. 23:39-43)
Taking up the cross means to lovingly welcome into our lives daily the very people whom we find most offensive, most difficult to live with and even those who don't interest us in any way. It means to put a comforting arm around the shoulder of someone who is unlovable. It means offering strength and protection to those who are morally and spiritually weak and defenseless.
For Jesus, the cross also meant separation from His mother, the one nearest and dearest to Him. The cross prevented either one of them from reaching out to embrace the other. There are times when we may be called to serve Jesus by leaving our homes and families. Such separations, although painful, are also peaceful by choice. But there can be moments when separations can be turbulent and taking up the cross means standing for the Lord and being rejected by our own families. “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Lk. 12:51-53)
Even while hanging near death on the cross, Jesus was deeply concerned about leaving behind His widowed mother with no one to look after her. So turning to John, He said, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (Jn. 19:27) Sometimes, when we are called to serve the Lord we may have to depend on others to manage the cares we leave behind. This calls for humility on our part and we must not be ashamed to ask others to take up some of our former responsibilities so that we can be free to follow our call.
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:45-46) Jesus experienced a tremendous sense of rejection, abandonment and condemnation when He who had never sinned became sin for us so that we might be made righteous in Him.
There will be moments in our walk with the Lord when, in His wisdom, He allows us to experience times of great darkness, when we feel totally alone, abandoned by Him and by everyone around us. He leads us through a period of loneliness and emptiness when our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears and we yearn for His voice but hear nothing. He permits this so that we will come to the realisation that even the power for taking up the cross and following Him comes not from ourselves but from Him. Like Jesus, we too must sometimes die to ourselves and let Him give us new life. There may also be times when even those closest to us will abandon us and will be ashamed to associate with us. We will have to be prepared to stand alone for the Lord if need be.
While hanging on the cross, Jesus weakly said, “I am thirsty.” (Jn. 19:28) There are times when taking up the cross means experiencing a spiritual thirst. We may read and read the Bible but get nothing out of it. We may attend mass and listen attentively to the sermon, but hear nothing. Nothing seems to satisfy this deep thirst within. Often we are called to carry the cross through this desert experience.
We have to be patient during those times when we are dry and feel no sense of communion with God. He is teaching us to trust in Him, to look to Him to provide all our needs and to believe that He can always do something new. We have to keep walking in faith until we come to the end of the desert.
In response to Jesus' cry of thirst, the soldiers offered Him vinegar to drink, but after tasting it He refused to drink and instead He said, “It is finished.” (Jn. 19:30)
Taking up the cross means fulfilling whatever task the Lord assigns us without giving up or getting distracted along the way. It means persevering and overcoming whatever obstacles may come in our way in order to accomplish our mission.
At the moment of His death Jesus prayed, “Father, into Your hands I commit my Spirit.” (Lk. 23:46) We can only have victory in our service to Christ by surrendering our wills to God. We must let go of all those relationships, activities and possessions that God has graciously given us but which we are so tempted to cling to as substitutes for God Himself. Even less pleasant, taking up the cross sometimes means surrendering even to the enemies of God, as when Jesus rebuked Peter for trying to resist His arrest with a sword. Jesus knew that He had to surrender to the evil of this world in order to overcome it. As Christians, the real victory we seek in this world is not for ourselves but for the gospel. Our greatest desire should be for the spread of God's kingdom and for His will to be done on earth. Often we must surrender ourselves to what the world views as defeat in order for the gospel to advance.
Questions for discussion
Are you willing to forgive those who sin against you?
Are you prepared to embrace those whom the world regards as unlovable?
Are you ready to be separated from those you love, to be dependent on others, and to face the loneliness that sometimes comes with dedication to the service of God?
Will you keep walking faithfully through the desert of the soul when it seems God has abandoned you?
Have you committed yourself to accomplish what God has called you to do?
Are you prepared to surrender all to God and not retaliate against those who oppose you?
Are you taking up your cross and following Jesus?
Catherine Francis is a member of the Taiping branch of Covenanted for Christ Community, Malaysia .