At the Cross

The other day I was reading one of my school books and read something that I just found profound. Anyone that knows me knows that I enjoy learning about the background history of the biblical times. They often give a lot of insight, debt and context to the message that is being told. This was just that sort of information. On Thursday at the church I had these thought bouncing back and forth in my head but didn’t share them, so here it is.

Back in Jesus’ day there was a word that was so nasty, so ugly, and so vile, that not only would you avoid using it in polite conversation but you would avoid it nearly at all to the point that people had terms to soften the word. This word would cause people to become nauseous just hearing it. This word was a constant reminder to the Jewish people that they were not free, but that they had been subjugated to the Romans. This word was a form of the worst torture. The word CROSS. Today we look at it far more different, at any given church you can usually see several; prisoners wear them as jewelry or as tattoos. To soften the blow they would say "he was lifted up” or “he stretched out his hands.” when talking about the cross and crucifixion.

The author was using this while talking about selflessness in Philippians 2:8 “…and becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, he didn’t soften it with the typical “stretched out his arms” or “will be lifted up” in this instance, he gave the raw unfiltered word CROSS.

It had been just a few days prior that Matthew 16:24 caught my attention, it always does to some extent while reading though Matthew but for some reason it struck that this call to carry the unmentionable word CROSS happens right after Jesus’ foretelling of his death and resurrection but that this foretelling doesn’t mention the CROSS. The Amplified Bible version reads like this"

Matt. 16:24 
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also]."

 Having read this bit about the repulsiveness of the cross I went back and reread this verse, it gave new depth and that is why I share this now, when you think of or look at the cross remember the ugliness of it, also remember that the King of all wasn’t above the lowest death on it and it is only for that reason that we see beauty in this inhumane article of torture and death.

                                                                                                                -Mark