A SYMBOL OF DEATH

          In the time of Christ, a cross was not some piece of art décor.  There was nothing decorative about a cross, it was a cruel and certain means of execution - - a symbol of death.  William Barclay has written:  “When Jesus was but a lad of about eleven years of age, Judas the Galilaean had led a rebellion against Rome.  He had raided the royal armoury at Sepphoris, which was only four miles from Nazareth.  The Roman vengeance was swift and sudden.  Sepphoris was burned to the ground; its inhabitants were sold into slavery; and two thousand of the rebel were crucified on crosses which were set in line along the roadside that they might be a dreadful warning to others tempted to rebel.” 

          When Jesus urged his followers to take up their cross daily and follow Him he was not necessarily referring to a physical death (note the word, “daily" in Lk.9:23).  But neither was He speaking of some mere inconvenience or hardship.  Jesus’ charge to His disciples was a reiteration of self-denial.  In the words of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, When Jesus calls a man, He bids him come and die.  "Cross-bearing" speaks of a death to self and sin.  “May I never boasts except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal.6:14).  

                                                                                                                       Terry Siverd / Cortland Church of Christ