An Imposing Cross
“Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20-21)
Most retailers impose their will upon us by the layout of their store. Grocery stores keep the milk and eggs in the back, forcing you to on a harrowing exodus through aisles of snacks you don’t really need. Retailers attempt to divert customers to the right, forcing you to make a full round of the store. Their design dictates our decisions and directions in life. But what of the cross? Does the cross determine our daily decisions?
Consider the life of our Savior and His disciples at this point. These twelve men were called to a wonderful office, and they had every reason to celebrate. They were the captains of the fire station, the managers of the store, the best player on the winning team. They had every right to go have a few cold beers and celebrate the momentous day! Or did they? The cross imposed upon them a different agenda for the night. These men denied themselves a celebratory meal, instead choosing to serve others. “Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) Is the cross imposing upon us the same decisions? How many nights do we hear of someone sick, of someone needing a hand, of a weekly prayer meeting, and we make some excuse that centers around self? “I’ve had a long day.” “I really need to finish a project that could honestly wait another day.” For those who claim the cross, the cross makes claims on you.
More than their time, the cross imposed upon these men the ire of those outside. Jesus spends His evening serving others at His own expense, and He is deemed a few cards short of a full deck. But has not the cross always been a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks? J.C. Ryle states: “Zeal about money, or science, or war, or commerce, or business is intelligible to the world; but zeal about religion is too often reckoned foolishness, fanaticism, and a sign of a weak mind.” If we are drawing lines with culture’s crayons, we are not being living in the blood-drawn lines of the cross. Bringing the gospel to the politically unsafe, to the culturally unsound, to the physically unappealing may lead to accusations of all sorts, but such is the way of the cross. What does the world think of our values? Is the cross dictating our decisions and directions in life?
