The Cross, the Blood, and You! (Pt.3)

(Pt.3)

“24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”-Matthew 16:24-26 

Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.” The problem is we’ve made the cross we carry look more like artwork rather than an instrument of death. We’ve bought into the lie that Jesus did all the dying that needed to be done. We’ve so sanitized the cross that we don’t even see dying to ourselves as being necessary. 

We thought Christianity was about finding a place to sit at the foot of the cross, but can I remind you it was the soldier’s that sat at the foot of the cross playing games, while Jesus died:

“35 After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. 36 Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there.”

Truth is, we are not truly following Christ until we pick our cross and follow Him.”-Matthew 27:35-36

Jesus warned us that following Him meant we’d have to carry our cross daily. It’s an honor, not an obligation. Simon carried the cross out of obligation, but we get the honor of carrying it. 

How important is the message of the cross? The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:2: 

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 

The Apostle Paul embraced the cross. He didn’t shy away from it. Why? Because when people encounter the brutality of the cross they recognize the true love of God. Remember Simon’s two sons? Ever wonder how the events that unfolded that day affected them? They not only witnessed their father being forced to carry another man’s cross to Calvary, they likely witnessed Jesus’ death. 

 It is interesting that Mark Ch. 15 mentions Simon’s two sons, Rufus and Alexander, by name. Why? The most obvious answer is that they were both eyewitnesses to the event. Each of them could validate the authenticity of Mark’s story. 

However, historians and scholars also believe that he mentions them, as well, because they were known to the early church. It is believed that these young men’s encounter with Jesus that day transformed their lives. Historical evidence points to Rufus and Simon’s wife as being very involved in the early church’s development. All because of an encounter with a blood stained cross. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church