Way of the Cross

To follow Jesus wherever he goes requires a life of self-denial and mercy and sacrificial service to help others – Matthew 20:20-28.

When Jesus sent his disciples to announce the “Good News,” he warned they would find themselves as “sheep among wolves.” Hostile men would haul them before “councils and whip them in their synagogues.” They would be hated “by all men for my sake.” The early church faced this stark reality. The same men who should have welcomed Israel’s Messiah instead fought what he represented tooth and nail.

The proclamation of “Christ Crucified” proved to be an insurmountable stumbling block to many of the “lost sheep of Israel.” However, to walk the same path of self-denial as Jesus did is the only way for anyone, Jew or Gentile, to become his disciple and achieve “greatness” in his Kingdom.

[Photo by John Thomas on Unsplash]

The student is “not above his master”! Only by enduring to the end will the disciple be saved. If they persecuted their Lord, the “enemies of the cross of Christ” certainly have no qualms about mistreating his followers.

Jesus never promised us a life of ease and wealth. According to him, we should expect suffering and persecution for his sake:

• “Think not that I came to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be they of his own household.”

Jesus of Nazareth did not wage war against humanity, but conflict begins whenever his disciples proclaim his teachings and highlight his example, and thus persecution becomes inevitable. Unregenerate men “stumble at the Stone of Stumbling,” and that stone is Jesus Christ, the crucified Messiah who died for us when we were still “enemies of God” – (Romans 5:10, 9:32).

While such warnings strike us as grim, Jesus also declared: “He who does not take his cross to follow me is not worthy of me. For he that finds his life will lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake will find it.” The narrow road that leads to life is cross-shaped. We must first count the cost.

The call to follow the Crucified One is an all-or-nothing proposition. The half-hearted man or woman will fall by the wayside when the trail becomes rough.

This does not mean all disciples experience persecution, but the potential loss of property, freedom, and life for his sake is the price of following the “Lamb wherever he leads.” The New Testament does not sugarcoat it!

In the Book of Revelation, those who follow the slain “Lamb” find themselves standing majestically with him on “Mount Zion.” However, before reaching that glorious summit, they first overcame the “Dragon” by the “word and their testimony, and because they loved not their lives unto death” - (Revelation 1:4-6, 3:21, 12:11, 14:1-5).

HIS ROAD

Jesus foretold his arrest, trial, and execution to his disciples. Either they did not hear his words or were incapable of comprehending them. In reaction, they began jockeying for position in his coming Kingdom.

James and John asked to sit at his right and left when Jesus came “in his glory,” positions of high status. Their request highlighted their cluelessness. As his words and deeds demonstrated, the servants of Jesus are summoned to serve others just as he did, and sacrifice, suffering, and death must precede glory.

Jesus challenged James and John. “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink?” He drank the “cup” of God’s wrath on behalf of others in his trial and execution. They declared they could, but his response pointed to their ignorance. They had no idea what they were saying - (Psalm 11:6, 16:5, Isaiah 57:17-22, Jeremiah 25:15-28).

This warning was not just for James and John, but also for all disciples. We will endure suffering, deprivation, and persecution if we choose to follow him. Since James and John desired high positions in his Kingdom, Jesus explained what that meant:

• “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones tyrannize them. Not so will it be among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you will be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

“Greatness” is achieved by self-sacrificial service for others and showing mercy to our persecutors, not by exercising dominion over them. If we wish to become “great” we must first become the “servant” of all, just as Jesus came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his soul as a ransom instead of many.”

In Greco-Roman society, a ransom was paid to purchase the freedom of a slave. Christ’s statement was a declaration of his mission: To give his life to free others from enslavement to sin, death, and Satan, and, yes, including the salvation of the “enemies of God.”

Jesus used the example of his impending death to show what it meant for us to become his disciples, both then and now. We are summoned to walk the same cruciform path as he did for the sake of others, especially the weak, the marginalized, and our “enemies,” just as Jesus gave his life as a ransom to free us.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Road to Calvary - (On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus explained what it meant to be the Messiah and the destiny of the suffering Son of Man - Mark 8:27-38)

• His Path - (Jesus proclaimed a very different political reality, the Kingdom of God, one that bears little resemblance to the governments of this evil age)

• Ransom for Many - (His disciples are called to engage in self-sacrificial service for others just as Jesus gave his life as a ransom for many – Mark 10:35-45)