What a morbid title for a post. And no, this is not a post about zombies!
I recently shared that we need to Hate our Families [hyperlink], based on Jesus’ statement that “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,” ending with the idea that we can actually love our families more by loving them less… loving them less than we love God. If we refuse to do so, then God is not the One who is actually seated on that King’s Throne in our life.
But there is something even more likely to rob Jesus of His rightful place than our own family—the love of one’s own life.
So in addition to this hard statement of “hating family,” Jesus added more difficulty with “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
Jesus, why do You keep saying such hard things? Don’t you know that I don’t really like these ideas? I want following you to be a bit easier than carrying a heavy, rough cross and constantly having some painful burden on my shoulders.
We haven’t witnessed anyone dying on a cross, so this statement loses some of its meaning for us, but the people in Jesus’ day knew what it meant to “take up” a cross. They knew it wasn’t just a heavy burden to bear for a lifetime (which often is how we view the idea). They saw men bearing their crosses to the places where they were to be executed; they watched these condemned criminals die by crucifixion.
They understood that taking up one’s cross meant to walk to one’s death.
The statement means that one should live in devoted abandonment to Him, such that even death is not too high a price to pay. Those who call themselves Christ-followers are to value Him so highly that they do not count their lives precious to themselves.
To “take up your cross daily” means to die to self daily.
“The cross is always an instrument of death, not just an object to carry around with us for all of life. The Christian is to die mentally and actively – not just carrying the cross as a burden, but marching toward self-death. The Christian is to deny himself daily. He is to let the mind of Christ, the mind of humbling himself to the point of death, be in him and fill his thoughts every day. He is to put his will, his desires, his wants, his ambitions to death. In their place, he is to follow Jesus and to do His will all day long. This is not negative, passive behavior. It takes positive, active behavior to deny one’s self, to take up one’s cross, to follow Christ.” (from POSB Commentary)
Jesus is telling me: In regard to your love for family, your love for Me should make that love look like hate. BUT in regard to your love for self, your love for Me requires that you be willing to sacrifice your entire life. The cross is a means of execution.
When a missionary was heading into an area known to have violent people, the person getting him there by boat said to him – “You shouldn’t do this. Don’t you know that if you try to preach to these people they might kill you? You will likely die here.” To which the missionary answered, “Oh, that’s not a problem. I died before I ever stepped foot on your boat.”
We are to choose Christ. In doing so, we are to choose death.
And so…
I am ready to die – in fact I already have.