The Cross that Incites Us

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:26-31).

After Pilate declared Him innocent of any guilt worthy of death, he turned Jesus over to the Jews who immediately led Him away to be crucified. They could not dispose of this troublemaker fast enough. He was abused and beaten so badly that the procession toward Golgotha was slowed by His weakness and inability to carry His own cross. A Gentile visitor was seized and forced to carry the cross for Him. Because the Holy Spirit inspired all of the Gospel authors to record the vivid details of the journey of Christ and His cross toward Calvary, we too are part of the crowd, and we get a compelling view of the same cross that provoked anger, confusion, and mourning in the hearts of the diverse crowd that followed Him. We remember Christ’s call to take up His cross… “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). How true that there have been many crucifixions throughout history, but this one cross still stands out as the cross that incites us.

The cross irritated the reason of the Jews. Taking up the cross will disturb our old way of thinking. We are to be renewed in our minds… “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). We do not see shame and humiliation in the cross. We see victory and the consummation of God’s plan of salvation… “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). As born again disciples we are incited by the cross to exchange our unrighteousness for the righteousness of Christ.

The cross interrupted the life of Simon. Taking up the cross will disrupt our life plan. We will have to refocus our priorities… “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). We will have to discard our temporal life plan and replace it with God’s perfect, eternal life plan… “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). As maturing disciples, we are incited by the cross to follow the example of Simon, and exchange our impure priorities and plans for the perfect purpose and will of God every day.

The cross inspires the heart of true disciples. Jesus taught that taking up His cross will demand our whole heart, to the point of self-denial… “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:38-39). To make such an exchange, we have to let God circumcise our heart… “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). The Spirit inspired Paul to share how the grace of God had enabled him to be crucified with Christ, counting the old selfish nature dead in Christ and living a new life in and through Him…. ”I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). As diligent disciples, like Paul, we are incited by the cross to exchange our old life for new life in Christ every day.

As we grow up into Christ, we learn to imitate Him by abandoning the world and taking up…

The Cross that Incites Us.