Take up the cross and follow me
Take up the cross and follow me
What usually comes to our mind as we think about the very first Good Friday is the death of Jesus. Coupled with it, inevitably, would be the remembrance of His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal by Judas and the denial of Peter, how Jesus was put through all the mocking, shaming and flogging, and how after all the cruel, torturous treatment He has been put through, that Jesus had to carry the weight of the cross all the way to Calvary Hill, and finally when the long spikes drove through His wrist and feet.
Why did Jesus do all that He did? As a human, He was tempted to ask God to allow Him to call the whole thing off (Luke 22:39-44). As a divine being, Jesus knew exactly what He would have to be put through in the form of human - the agonizing torture, the scorning, the shame - not just physical abuse, but emotional hurts at man's sinfulness, social rejection by everyone and most unbearable of all, the spiritual separation from God the Father the instant the sins of the whole world is laid upon His shoulders ...
It was love that nailed Jesus to the cross, not the nails. So how do we respond to this great sacrificial love?
Jesus challenged His listeners in Luke 9:23 "Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." What does taking up the cross mean? Wearing a cross on our necks? Pinning the cross to our bags? Pasting or hanging the cross all over our homes or places where we can see? Not at all!
To me, taking up the cross of Jesus means very simply to be willing to let Him be the Master and Lord of our lives. How often have we chosen to run ahead of Him? How often have we chosen to blame Him for something we wished we could have (results, possessions in life, promotion, etc) and He did not bless us with? How often have we make our own decisions and then say, "Lord, please bless it"?
Taking up the cross means denying our rights of choice in the light of what God wants - just like when Jesus agonizes in His prayer yet submitted to the will of the Father; it means surrending our desires and wants that does not fit into the plan of God; it also means knowing the will of God (through regular intake of the Word, and prayer) for ourselves. And taking up the cross is a daily thing - definitely not just when we are on spiritual high after camps or retreats, or an "emotional" worship experience.
Most of us want blessings from God but yet we are very often not willing, or have even forgotten, the part about "taking up the cross". During the last NT class and Wed's chapel, the theme concerning "suffering versus blessings" somehow recurs - and we can't help but feel sad that these days, some preachers had the entire Gospel "twisted" to make it look "attractive" by focusing on the blessing part, but not on the "taking up the cross" part. By doing that, aren't we making God to be someone who's conditional in His love, and who plays favouritism - because if we aren't blessed by Him, that means we haven't given more, done more works, prayed more, and so on. Are spiritual disciplines a means to such ends?
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
What usually comes to our mind as we think about the very first Good Friday is the death of Jesus. Coupled with it, inevitably, would be the remembrance of His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the betrayal by Judas and the denial of Peter, how Jesus was put through all the mocking, shaming and flogging, and how after all the cruel, torturous treatment He has been put through, that Jesus had to carry the weight of the cross all the way to Calvary Hill, and finally when the long spikes drove through His wrist and feet.
Why did Jesus do all that He did? As a human, He was tempted to ask God to allow Him to call the whole thing off (Luke 22:39-44). As a divine being, Jesus knew exactly what He would have to be put through in the form of human - the agonizing torture, the scorning, the shame - not just physical abuse, but emotional hurts at man's sinfulness, social rejection by everyone and most unbearable of all, the spiritual separation from God the Father the instant the sins of the whole world is laid upon His shoulders ...
It was love that nailed Jesus to the cross, not the nails. So how do we respond to this great sacrificial love?
Jesus challenged His listeners in Luke 9:23 "Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." What does taking up the cross mean? Wearing a cross on our necks? Pinning the cross to our bags? Pasting or hanging the cross all over our homes or places where we can see? Not at all!
To me, taking up the cross of Jesus means very simply to be willing to let Him be the Master and Lord of our lives. How often have we chosen to run ahead of Him? How often have we chosen to blame Him for something we wished we could have (results, possessions in life, promotion, etc) and He did not bless us with? How often have we make our own decisions and then say, "Lord, please bless it"?
Taking up the cross means denying our rights of choice in the light of what God wants - just like when Jesus agonizes in His prayer yet submitted to the will of the Father; it means surrending our desires and wants that does not fit into the plan of God; it also means knowing the will of God (through regular intake of the Word, and prayer) for ourselves. And taking up the cross is a daily thing - definitely not just when we are on spiritual high after camps or retreats, or an "emotional" worship experience.
Most of us want blessings from God but yet we are very often not willing, or have even forgotten, the part about "taking up the cross". During the last NT class and Wed's chapel, the theme concerning "suffering versus blessings" somehow recurs - and we can't help but feel sad that these days, some preachers had the entire Gospel "twisted" to make it look "attractive" by focusing on the blessing part, but not on the "taking up the cross" part. By doing that, aren't we making God to be someone who's conditional in His love, and who plays favouritism - because if we aren't blessed by Him, that means we haven't given more, done more works, prayed more, and so on. Are spiritual disciplines a means to such ends?
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
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