To Take Up the Cross is a Selfless Endeavor

[Joseph_3]

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered death yet became lord over it, ordered those who wish to come after him to take up their cross and to follow Him. This is Mathew 16:24 where He states this, in which He says later in the same chapter, "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (16:27)

The word used for "take up" here is ἀράτω, which occurs three other times. Two of which being in the Gospels of Mark and Luke during the telling of the same event and the final time being in Luke 22:36, "Then said he unto them, 'But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it (ἀράτω), and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.'" In this case the word certainly means to literally take hold of and carry.

During the Passion, Christ carried the physical cross (John 19:17), as did one Simeon of Cyrene (Luke 23:26). Christ carried this cross under great pain and suffering, having underwent horrific tribulation beforehand. The cross signified two things as it weighed on our Christ; the one being the eventual death of the mortal flesh of Jesus, and the other being the ultimate salvation of men. As the brass serpent was lifted up by Moses in the desert, that all who would gaze upon it and believe would be healed of their affliction, the same is considered for our Lord who was nailed upon the tree. The brass serpent was cast in the image of that which afflicted the Israelites unto physical death, and the same must be held for Christ, who was created as the manifestation of that which afflicts men unto spiritual death, being the flesh itself.

However, Christ did not bear the cross in order to save himself, but instead, that all might be saved in Him. It was a selfless endeavor undertaken by a man enflamed with loving zeal for his brothers and sisters. He spoke nothing but the Truth, because He was the Truth. He offended the world, because the world does not know the Truth, and for that it denied Him. The cross was laid upon him without reason, He being sinless and good. The fleshy man of Jesus was afraid, to the point of asking God to remove the cup which was handed him (Mark 14:36). It was with great courage and selfless desire for the salvation, not of self but of others, which provoked Christ to willingly surrender to His fate.

Jesus Christ was made to take up the cross for His good works, which were the only works He had ever done, being blameless in the eyes of the Almighty Father. He healed men, of both physical and spiritual affliction. It is required of us to do the same.

To take up one's cross is to suffer, knowing the outcome which awaits at the end of the walk. Christ understood the outcome, and the hope of the salvation animated Him in the final day of his mortal form. (For although He rose in the flesh and conquered death, He had also died in the same flesh). In this same way, we must be animated ourselves. It is not enough to merely worship God and isolate oneself from the world because we are ordered to be prolific. The entire point of Jesus's mortal life was to save the souls of humanity, and that example is what we are left with concerning His life.

"He shall reward every man according to his works," which can not mean merely the absence of sin. To sin is to commit a work, and the same is said about virtue. To hoard wealth is an action and to provide charity is as well. To do neither, accomplishes nothing, and is therefore simply unprolific. Recall the parable in Matthew 25:14-30. The two servants reaped profit for their lord, and were therefore held in his favor. The third brought his lord no profit, rather hiding away what was granted to him. By his indolence, the lord took what he had and cast him away. By doing nothing with what was granted to him, the servant met the same fate as a sinner.

Therefore, to take up your cross is to walk the road of death in order that others may take example from you and follow behind. In this way, and only in this way, is one profitable to the lord. Jesus taught his disciples to be fishers of men, and ordered them to convert the heathens. They did this by charity and the unapologetic rebuke of evil. The bodies of the Martyrs lay temporarily in the Earth, and in many cases were even unburied. It was their good works that brought them to the end of their mortal lives, and that end has risen them to eternal life. It was their good deeds, those many centuries ago, which multiplied God's Word on Earth and it will be our good deeds and zealous rebuke of sin, in this especially perverted generation, that will fortify the spiritual sanctity of the generations which come after. We are called to action by God to do that which is right in blatant disregard of Earthly consequences.