Cross Talk

Today we are viewing familiar talk about the Cross and Jesus. Here is the Scripture text.

Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). John 19: 17.

Here are three interesting questions. May you know resurrection truth in your hearing of this Word.

What cross was Jesus carrying?

Where did He take that cross?

Why did He take it there?

As we listen to this resurrection truth about the cross, we must understand that crucifixion was the natural and popular way of putting criminals to death in Jesus’ day.  It was also common and natural for the one to be crucified, to carry his own cross. It was a most terrible and inhumane walk, for apart from public humiliation and the sheer weight of the cross on one’s back, there was a psychological component that was worse than the death itself. It would be like loading a rifle in front of a man, putting his hands in handcuffs and then giving him to carry the rifle on a long walk to the place where he would be shot with the same rifle. Or it is like a person being asked to spend his last hours digging a grave, that he must lie in as you kill him. This is a journey not remembered by many, in terms of an already bleeding, beaten down, human being, carrying the weight of the very cross on which he will be nailed. It is this picture and a fresh understanding that you must hold, as you are brought to a deeper understanding of this journey with the cross.

What cross was Jesus carrying?   

He was carrying a cross of shame, guilt and sin.  Please note that it was not His shame, guilt or sin that He was carrying, because He never sinned.  It was your sin that He was carrying. Understand though, that it was His chosen cross of sin. The Lord Jesus chose to carry this cross of sin to save you, the sinner. He never saved your sins, He saved you. Hear this profound truth! 

Jesus never carried you as His cross. He carried your sin as His cross.

Where did Jesus take this cross?

He took this cross outside of the city to the place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha and in English it is called Calvary.  He took His cross to the place where all those to be crucified were taken. It was an open place, where passers–by could gaze at the criminals being crucified. Jesus carried the cross outside the city, this cross of sin and shame and guilt. The Lord Jesus took your sin to Golgotha, not you. He left you in the city, as it were, and He took your guilt, your shame, your sin, every single one of them, out of the city to the place called the Skull which means a place of death. Hear this profound truth. 

Jesus never took you to the place of death. He took your sin there. 

Why did He take it there?

Jesus took the cross to the place of the Skull to leave it there. Jesus took the cross from within or inside the city of Jerusalem and walked that most inhumane and terrible journey to Calvary. He died on that cross.  Yes! He carried it to Golgotha and was crucified on it, but He never took that cross up again to carry it anywhere.  Jesus left the cross right there, on that hill called Mount Calvary. If you truly believe that the cross He carried to Calvary was your sin and not you, then know that fact. Hear this profound truth!

Jesus never left you at Calvary. He left your sin there.

As you have heard, may you also receive a more personal and uplifting understanding of the cross in Jesus Christ. May you know this transferring of meaning into your heart, mind, soul and strength. May you realise, as never before, that it is in the resurrection of the Holy Risen Lord that you are made alive to carry your own cross, the cross that God has entrusted to you.

No salt is worth any good if it has lost its saltiness. For salt to lose its virtue, properties and power it is then profitable for nothing. It will never bring life, healing or renewal to anything.  How can the dead give life to the dead? 

If you are the Lord’s servant then you have been made the salt of the earth. To serve God then, you must carry the cross that He has given to you. It is as you carry that cross that the Lord’s Resurrection continues in flesh, in you. Additionally, as the life you receive touches other lives, you will give them life and hope, which the Risen Lord has given to you.