The Call of the Cross

As Easter approaches, I, along with Christians around the world, am reflecting and meditating on the cross. Sermons, devotionals, songs, and greeting cards will be contemplating the significance and symbolism of the cross. It seems the cross most commonly symbolizes atonement or forgiveness. We contemplate our sin, Christ’s suffering on our behalf and the forgiveness we can now receive. This is all absolutely amazing and should certainly cause us to rejoice and be thankful for what Jesus did.

But what if there’s more? What if there’s a whole lot more that we should be contemplating as we look at the cross. What if the purpose of the cross is not only to inspire some thankfulness and reflection at Easter time, but is actually a call to transformation and action every single day of our lives?

I’ve been reading an excellent book called “Mere Discipleship” by Lee C. Camp. To share with you the good parts would basically be to rewrite his book. So I’ll just say, get it and read it, seriously. For now, I’ll pick out a few points to share with you emphasizing the cross.

Camp says, “The cross of Jesus increasingly became a symbol of legal atonement that could be conveniently separated from our own lives. The cross is looked upon as something Jesus does for us—he dies so we don’t have to. The cross is compartmentalized, made a handy religious device, shelving the claims that the cross lays upon us. The New Testament, however, makes very clear that the cross is not something reserved for Jesus alone. The reconciliation effected by Jesus’s cross was effected by Jesus as Messiah; the cross, however, was not for Jesus alone, but for all those who would follow him.”

How true and yet how much do we talk about this? Perhaps the Church does talk about this and I grew up in a bubble. But in my bubble, the cross was very much like a “get out of hell free” card. Because of the cross I could be forgiven for my sins, in a general sense. Because of the cross I could be forgiven whenever I messed up, in a specific sense—kind of like taking a bath. Because of the cross I could now go to heaven when I died. The cross was basically a bunch of benefits I now had access to because I believed the right things. I had no idea that the cross and following Jesus actually required something from me—everything. That it’s not “oh Jesus did all that, so now I don’t have to.” But rather, “Jesus did all that, and I am called to follow, in a very real way, in his footsteps.”

John Yoder says, “The believer’s cross must be, like his Lord’s, the price of his social nonconformity. It is not…an inward wrestling of the soul with self and sin; it is the social reality of representing in an unwilling world the Order (God’s Kingdom) to come.”

Embracing the reality of the cross is not merely receiving forgiveness and grace. It means embracing the new Kingdom that Jesus ushered in when He died on the cross. Living the way of the new Kingdom is drastically different than the ways of the unredeemed world. The new Kingdom says the way to overcome is not through might, but through suffering. Suffering how? Forgiveness rather than retaliation. Offering grace and mercy to those who have taken from you. Choosing honesty and integrity over “getting ahead.” Being misunderstood, slandered, persecuted—serving the very ones who do so. Loving your enemies rather than trying to destroy them. And possibly physical suffering. “Christians must realize that walking in the way of the cross may, indeed, lead to a cross. The way of the cross is a costly, sacrificial way of dealing with injustice, conflict, and rebellion against the ways of God.” (Camp)

This way of the new Kingdom can definitely feel radical, it is. The world preaches and teaches self-preservation, self-maximization and self-realization. The cross is foolishness to the principalities and principles of the world. The world says, “Be more realistic, following Jesus in these ways is impractical.” Camp argues that what we must be realistic about is coming to grips with the biblical claim that the Kingdom of God has won. What is impractical, is to submit oneself to those fallen orders, those rebellious empires that have been defeated and are passing away.

The cross, following Jesus, is an invitation to give up your life in order to find it. It is not simply taking on a new “belief system,” giving mental assent to “sound doctrine” so that one might “go to heaven.” (Camp) It is complete surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. Becoming a particular people, a people who reflect the ways of Jesus in how we think, act, our attitudes, the ways we treat others, how we spend our resources, etc.

Camp makes a distinction between admirers and disciples of Jesus. Admirers of Jesus happily embrace Jesus as Savior. They are willing to receive forgiveness, meaning in life, etc. but they are not willing to embrace Jesus as Lord of their life, truly. Admirers are willing to “follow” Jesus, up to a point. Disciples are willing to follow Jesus wherever it may lead them, even to a cross.

Why would anyone do this? Why should anyone willingly surrender and choose a life of service and suffering? Because disciples look at the cross and see what else it symbolizes—resurrection. Disciples are willing to walk in the way of Christ because they trust that just as God raised the slaughtered Lamb, so shall he raise those who live their lives in obedience. (Camp)

Jesus says in Matthew 16: 24-26 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

What good will it be? I know that following Jesus wherever he leads can feel like the biggest risk in the world. We think, “Really? Everything? I have to give you my whole life? I don’t know if I can handle losing everything.” I think God is saying you can’t afford to hang on to it. What good will it be to hold on to the very things that have been defeated and are passing away?

I pray that as we reflect on the cross this season, we will understand God’s wisdom. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are.” (1 Cor. 1:27-28) The call for disciples is the way of the cross, and the only way to receive resurrection life. May we embrace God’s wisdom by surrendering everything.