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Before anyone knew that Jesus would end up being nailed to a Roman cross, he was already using the
cross as a symbol in his call to discipleship, ͞If anyone comes after me let him take up his cross and
follow me͙͟ I͛m certain that when Jesus cast discipleship in these terms he wasn͛t thinking about the
jewelry or tattoos of 21st century USAmerican consumer culture.

I have wondered what those who heard him speak these words thought of his call. Did they have any
idea how literally Jesus would fulfill his own words? We know of a few occasions where Jesus used cross
bearing as a way to understand what he meant by discipleship. You will find this language in Matthew
10:37-39 in the context of giving instructions to the disciples for their first ͞mission trip͟ to Judea.

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves
his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his
cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses
his life for my sake will find it."

Luke14:25-27 is where we find a moment when Jesus turns to the crowd that is following him with these
word.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me
and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sistersͶyes,
even his own lifeͶhe cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and
follow me cannot be my disciple.

Again in Matthew 16:24 we hear Jesus say to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. in the context of his own near future arrest (paralleled
in Luke 9:23-27 and Mark 8:34-9:1).

In using the cross and the idea of cross bearing, Jesus is taking a scene that many of those who heard
him must have personally witnessed since Roman capital punishment was a public event complete with
parading the convict through the streets carrying his own cross to the place of crucifixion. In the real
world setting of those who heard Jesus, these words, ͞Take up your cross and follow me,͟ must have
painted a startlingly graphic picture.

The cross is a powerful symbol and it is in his submission to death on the cross that Jesus, dare one say,
ironically creates the possibility of a whole new creation, a new creation that includes us.

Take some time to read the context and consider what it is that Jesus is calling us to. As you do,
consider the idea of endings͙for certainly at the very least, whatever else the cross meant, it certainly
spoke loudly of endings! But on the other hand, don͛t forget Easter! Though the cross speaks of
endings, the cross of Christ has now become the gateway to life.

Symbols are powerful ways to communicate. Jesus used the cross as a way to communicate what being
his disciple meant. Paul, latter, develops some of the meaning of the cross and we find that the cross of
Christ was central to the message of the gospel. In 1 Corinthians he writes,

͞For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech,
so that 


c  would not be made void. For 




 is foolishness
 to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God...for indeed
Jews ask for signs (acts of power) and Greeks search for wisdom; but 

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, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.͟ (1
Corinthians 1:17-24 NASB95)

Power and wisdom - politics and knowledge - we crave and labor for both today as did our ancestors
centuries ago. We have developed political theory beyond that of the first century and the political
ideologies of the past few centuries have spawned how much human suffering in their pursuit of
eliminating human suffering. We live in what is being called the information age. The U.S. Army
understood this and a number of years ago went through a major top to bottom reinvention of itself in
light of the information revolution (see Hope is not a Method, Gordon R. Sullivan and Michael V. Harper,
Broadway Books, 1996). Jeremy Rifkin in his book, The Age of Access (J. P. Tracher/Putman, 2000) while
not dealing directly with the issue of wisdom or knowledge or information (the three may not be
equivalents, but are often treated as such) recognizes that those who control the communications
systems in an age of information will control much power.

Wisdom and signs, knowledge and power! And the message of the church is the message of the cross!
The cross, where the power of the state exercises its ultimate and final power, death to the criminal (as
judged by the state) or the dissenter or the rebel who dares to stand against the state. Yet it was at the
cross that God provided the means and possibility of both true wisdom and true power.

Consider this: after all the generations and with the accumulation of so much information, knowledge,
and philosophy; with political ideologies that have sought to answer the question of human suffering
and progress (or lack thereof) why is the world today still in such bad straights? Is Paul still right when
he observed that through all our human wisdom, we still have not come to know God; is it perhaps time
to consider the possibility of what the cross of Christ means?