Thursday, February 08, 2007
Doing as He tells us - 2
Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:24,25 RSV
We use the term to carry one's crosses sort of glibly, but let us take a moment to think about the context here. In Jesus' day, one would occassionally see an execution procession, where the victims were tied to the heavy crossbeams that would be used to execute them with, as they were marched to the place of execution where the uprights were placed permanently.
These were heavy beams, around a hundred pounds or so, and normally they would tie the victim's arms to it as he walked.
Here, we see Jesus saying, "Take up this load willingly. If you think you're going to save your life in the long run by running away from this burden, you will not, and you will lose. If you take it up and follow me, even though it looks like you are going, burdened, giving up, to a place of loss, you will find your life."
To repeat that, Jesus says:
Follow me if you want to live.
Deny yourself, and reject those things the world says are good, but God says are not.
Even if the world thinks you are burdened and a loser, you are not.
Those who follow the world will find themselves on the losing end.
Don't think it's just going to be a cakewalk. We're talking about giving up and accepting something contrary to the world's wisdom, and that can make it seem very heavy.
Jesus demonstrated this in a very literal way, by taking up his own cross, suffering and dying, and then rising on the third day. But one of the truths about being a follower of Jesus is being willing to give it all up for the glory and love of God. How we are asked to do that giving varies, but the giving is implicit in the relationship. If you are not willing to take up one's cross, you can't really follow Jesus the way he asks.
We use the term to carry one's crosses sort of glibly, but let us take a moment to think about the context here. In Jesus' day, one would occassionally see an execution procession, where the victims were tied to the heavy crossbeams that would be used to execute them with, as they were marched to the place of execution where the uprights were placed permanently.
These were heavy beams, around a hundred pounds or so, and normally they would tie the victim's arms to it as he walked.
Here, we see Jesus saying, "Take up this load willingly. If you think you're going to save your life in the long run by running away from this burden, you will not, and you will lose. If you take it up and follow me, even though it looks like you are going, burdened, giving up, to a place of loss, you will find your life."
To repeat that, Jesus says:
Follow me if you want to live.
Deny yourself, and reject those things the world says are good, but God says are not.
Even if the world thinks you are burdened and a loser, you are not.
Those who follow the world will find themselves on the losing end.
Don't think it's just going to be a cakewalk. We're talking about giving up and accepting something contrary to the world's wisdom, and that can make it seem very heavy.
Jesus demonstrated this in a very literal way, by taking up his own cross, suffering and dying, and then rising on the third day. But one of the truths about being a follower of Jesus is being willing to give it all up for the glory and love of God. How we are asked to do that giving varies, but the giving is implicit in the relationship. If you are not willing to take up one's cross, you can't really follow Jesus the way he asks.
Labels: Following Jesus
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