A Response to the Cross

I (David) had the privilege to share some thoughts at a Good Friday service last night. Here are the notes.

We are in the midst of the Passion Week, tonight being Good Friday, so I thought we would look at Christ’s response to the cross. As a teacher at Norfolk Christian I get the pleasure to engage students with the Bible. A couple weeks ago I sent them off all over the school grounds on a scavenger hunt. We had been talking about miracles so they had to read these little rhymes and go searching for clues. Once they gathered all the clues they were suppose to solve the riddle. The answer was “and the greatest of these is the resurrection.” Out of all the miracles they visited Jesus walking on the water, the feeding of the 5,000, or Jesus healing the blind man the resurrection was the greatest. It is the cornerstone of Christianity. Easter is the celebration of this event but we are not there yet in the story. Tonight we ponder the death of Christ and I think the story demands a response. So, “How will we respond to the cross?” The passage I have chosen comes from the gospel of Matthew chapter 16 we’ll pick up from verse 24 and it reads. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

Let us pray.

To me this passage speaks to the heart of what Good Friday is all about. If anyone wants to follow me then do this, he must be prepared to take up his cross. Christ often communicated that this kind of total commitment when talking about the kingdom of God.

To understand this passage however, I think we need to look at the bigger picture. This is the first time where Jesus starts to unfold his ultimate mission to his disciples and they don’t like this a bit at least Peter doesn’t. (read verse 22) He says, verse 22, “This shall never happen to you!” Then Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus uses these strong words to prepare them for the tough times ahead.

If we look at verse 24 we will notice that Jesus says three things about following him. Jesus says that the person must deny himself, that they must take up their cross, and finally that they must follow him. Let’s look at each of these more closely.

1. If anyone would come after me, He must deny himself-

Sometimes this is called “dying to self.” Are we willing to place our wants and desires below that of Gods in order to follow him? It is a call to absolute surrender. Like verse 25 it says, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” This call is tough, it actually is impossible. I think of the passage in Philippians that says Christ made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, it says that he humbled himself and became obedient to death (Phil. 2:7-8).

2. Point number two says to be a follower of Christ you must be prepared to take up your cross-
Christ had not yet gone to the cross so he obviously wasn’t referring to this event. You know lots of people interpret this passage in different ways, but how would his disciples have interpreted it?
To a first century Jew it meant only one thing: Death by the most painful and humiliating way possible. I like how F. F. Bruce puts, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him be prepared to be led out to public execution, following my example” (The Hard Sayings of Jesus, F. F. Bruce, p. 150).

3. The last point is our call to follow him. Following something seems easy enough. Aren’t we trained to follow from an early age? As kids we’ve all played follow the leader but some things in life are easier to follow than others. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus encounters three people who are willing to follow him. It turns out however that they weren’t able to put their own interests aside to do this (Lk. 9:57-62). One said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”

The story of Abraham and Isaac is a good example of following God no matter the cost. God tells Abraham to go and take his son Isaac and sacrifice him. Imagine the inner turmoil and the angst that was taking place within him. Knife in hand ready to carry out the sacrifice and then God provides a ram. Do we have this kind of faith?
Are we willing to follow Jesus at the cost losing some friends? What about family members or our reputation? What about our lives?

It’s a fascinating study to see how the major characters respond to the events surrounding the cross. I did this with my students. Some mocked Jesus, some remained faithful to Jesus, some fled from Jesus, one even said will you remember me when you come into your kingdom.

I think the most important response is this though, “If it is possible may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” A second time Christ pleads “if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done” (Matt. 26:39-42).

Do we have a response like this? I know for myself this isn’t my natural tendency. When Joanna and I started perusing missions I had to lay a few things at the foot of the cross. One particular love of mine is drumming. I started playing the drums in fourth grade. I remember getting detentions for drumming on school desks. In high school I was voted the “best musician” in the senior class, I have two degrees in music, I even joined the Navy so I could play music. Drumming defined me, but for me there was a conflict. On one side I wanted to follow God but on the other side it was as long as the drumming came along with it. I remember sitting down with a dear friend discussing the ramifications of being willing to go to a place where drumming was not allowed. I had to set that part of me aside. I don’t know what it is for you but I do know that following Jesus is demands a total commitment.

Maybe the most important question should be how is this done?

Jesus in Gethsemane shows us. While his friends are off falling asleep he is in deep prayer with the Father. He is honest. This sounds like a no brainer
talking about Jesus but he says take this cup from me if it’s possible. He’s authentic in his communication to God. Then finally he says, not my will but yours. Jesus did nothing apart from the Father, he accessed the power of God and recognized that it was impossible to do anything on his own strength.

So in conclusion, yes Jesus

1) Denied himself, he set aside his reputation.

2) He literally carried his own cross to his death.

3) He followed his Father’s plan by surrendering all of his rights.

But he did this with complete dependence on the Father.

Will we do the same?

And now “Unto him who loves us, and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen (Rev 1:5).