Take up your cross daily

Luke 9.

As the old folks would say, we had a very “anointed” Bible study this morning which began at Luke 9.51:

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

This verse begins Luke’s journey to Jerusalem, ending 19.48, the centerpiece of Luke’s gospel, unique to him. He portrays Jesus’ life (and that of Christians) as a journey to the theological center, to the cross.

I’m told a seeker church doesn’t display the cross because seekers don’t know what it truly means. I couldn’t agree to that, because without the cross there is no true Christianity, only cheap grace, cotton candy choruses and sermons for simpletons.

Twice in this chapter Jesus predicts his suffering and death at the hands of religious and political authorities. The cross did not result from a miscalculation on Jesus’ part or manipulation by Judas. From before the foundation of the world, a cross was erected in the heart of God. That’s why, Jesus continues:

²³‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. ²⁵What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Luke 9 NRSV.

What is the cross?

For Jesus and people of his day it was the instrument of capital punishment imposed on those guilty of heinous crimes against the rule of the Empire. Therefore, these people were put to death in the most brutal way possible, in order to terrorize the population into abject subjugation. Roman citizens were exempt.

“Take up your cross daily” did not bring to mind silver or gold necklaces or jeweled art objects reverently, prominently displayed in temples. Today we might say “take up the noose or electric chair.” Crucifixion was intended to be the most extreme example of cruel and unusual punishment.

To take up the cross for Americans, raised in the dust and gunsmoke of the Old West, means to face the violence at the heart of our culture. Inner city residents, people of color, and the poor know violence at a level that the privileged classes cannot comprehend. Whole continents, like Africa and South America, regions like Tibet, and most of the poor in the two thirds world experience the violence of destitution.

Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence.” On the cross and the resurrection God conquered violence, without resorting to violence. We wage the peaceful war of justice.

When the disciples shared their pitiful feast of five loaves and two fish with the crowd of thousands (women and children do count), each disciple gathered a basket full of left overs, more than he began with. So it is with group Bible study when it works: even as faciliator/teacher, you end up with much more than you began with.

Thanks be to God!