The image of a cross is common in our society. We see it on bumper stickers, necklaces, buildings, and wall art. We are inundated with images of the cross as a universal symbol of Christianity; even many cults that have derived from Christianity seek to use the symbol.
Given the regularity with which we see it, do we really think about what that symbol represents?
Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Normally, we think about the cross as a symbol of self-denial, and so it is. Even Jesus said that his followers must deny themselves—but the cross is much more than just a symbol for self-denial.
As the author to the Hebrews explained what Christ did on the cross, he summed up the Lord’s work by saying that He ‘tasted death’ (Heb. 2:9). The cross was not first and foremost a place to experience self-denial—it was a place of death. The cross was an instrument of killing, a tool for execution. Only those who were condemned to die experienced the cross.
Ponder that truth for a moment. What Jesus called his disciples to was death via the cross. There are three things we should think about when we consider the cross.
First, the cross is an implement of death. The cross was designed to end the life of everyone who was hung upon it. No one experienced the cross unless they were to be killed.
Second, execution by means of crucifixion entailed an agonizing death. These executions oftentimes took hours to complete, if not longer. People who were crucified experienced untold pain as their life slowly ebbed from their bodies. When you think about the cross, think about sheer agony.
Finally, the cross represented shameful death. It was a punishment reserved for the worst of criminals. As an example of how crucifixion was viewed in the ancient world, Cicero said that even the mention of crucifixion was unworthy of a Roman citizen or a free man (1). Paul demonstrates this same attitude in Philippians 2:8.
The cross had a visceral effect on people in the first century, but it does not seem to have such an effect today. Whether because of mere lack of consideration or because of sin, we seem to have forgotten what the cross was all about, what Jesus endured in his body, and what He called his disciples to. How do we understand the proper depth of meaning that the first churches associated with the cross?
Maybe the best way for us to grasp this idea is to make a simple association in our minds. If you want to know how people in the first century thought about someone being killed by crucifixion, we can draw a simple parallel: it is similar to the way you would feel about someone being killed with a wood chipper. The cross is a wood chipper! Nothing else in our day fittingly represents the gruesome, agonizing, destructive power of the cross as an instrument of death.
Think about it: what would you do if Jesus had said, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his wood chipper daily and follow me’? That is in effect what Jesus called his disciples to.
What about you? When you see the image of the cross, do you react as if it were a wood chipper? If not, maybe you need to recover the biblical depth of meaning that was associated with this gruesome tool of death. Following Jesus as Lord entails self-denial, self-sacrifice—and the willingness to die an agonizing death for the sake of His name. Will you take up your cross and follow him?
--Dean of Admissions
(1) Cicero, In Defense of Rabirius. Quoted by John R. W. Stott in The Cross of Christ, p. 30.
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