Jesus says it, as noted in Matthew 16:24, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” For me this is best illustrated in the movie The Passion of the Christ when Jesus falls to his knees in front of the cross he must carry through the city streets on his way to Calvary Hill where he faced certain death by crucifixion. Just before he dropped to his knees from what must have been fatigue after being paraded and beaten I sensed a moment of relief. Relief in his eyes and body language that I interpreted as the knowledge that the end was near and that he would soon be with his father. To see, in tangible and certain terms, the path that I must walk through the clarity that Jesus seemed to see in that moment has stuck with me and liberated and inspired and challenged me to start more deeply searching for the cross that I must burden.
The Work That Must Be Done
This scene has always stuck with me since the first time I saw it when the movie was first released. It captured, for me, the meaning of “take up their cross and follow me”. Yes it was going to be a burden to carry it as shown by the struggle of the actor playing Jesus, but it was going to be the work that must be done, the work that God was calling me to do. Jesus seemed to understand, in that moment that God was in control, and was relieved to the core of his sole (or so I interpreted) to have finally seen the cross (or the God breathed burden) itself. Knowing clearly that the time had come and that his path was clear.
More powerfully yet, when Jesus fell to his knees he relievingly reached out grasping and wrapping his arms around the cross leaning into it with a sighful breath, and an exclamation of self denial crying out “I am your servant, Father…” a surrender that indicated to me that he was all in, fully committed in mind, body and sole, to which he gathered himself and continued onward to his death and ultimately his resurrection.
Leverage
Do you know what leverage is? Put it this way, with the right leverage one person can do something that they would not otherwise be able to do without it. Like lift loads that would usually be to heavy to lift for one person. Like if I sit down on the ground and position my back against a wall and place my feet toward the bottom at the base of a refrigerator and slowly apply pressure with my legs in a particular direction I can easily begin to slide the refrigerator across the floor of the kitchen. However, as soon as I move my back away from the wall and have nothing to push back against, I lose my leverage and am no longer able to push the refrigerator any further. The point being that I need the wall, without it I am limited on how far I can push the refrigerator.
We see and use leverage all the time in our everyday lives but often miss it or take it for granted because it has become such a common tool in how we do things. Above I gave a physical lifting example, but what about a cognitive example, “Johnny, if you do your chores today I will take you to the movies on the weekend”; or “…if you get good grades you will be able to go to college, and if you do well in college you will be able to get a good job, and if you get a good job you will be able to make good money, and if you make good money you will be able to provide for your family, and if you provide for your family you will be able to teach them how to provide for themselves, etc., etc, etc.
Lean Into The Cross You Are Almost There
This is where I look at the cross as leverage. In the movie illustrated earlier Jesus leaned into the cross. He fell against it, resting his body on it for a moment so that he could catch his breath and pray out to his father, positioning himself to take the next step on the path that God created for him. And in his apparent misery, he gained strength, strength from the knowledge that this was the cross that he must burden, the cross that God had asked him to carry, and knowing that he was not going to walk alone, but rather that his father was going to be right there with him lifting him up to the challenge, giving him the leverage and strength he needed to move onward.
God is all the leverage that we need. Knowing this, I am thankful, and looking forward to carrying the cross I must carry. Knowing that God will be with me carrying the load, I am ready to lean into the cross.
