Jesus Takes Up His Cross

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

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In the time of Jesus, under the Roman penal system, criminals on their way to execution normally carried the cross-piece of own cross. This was to accentuate not only the aspect of physical torture and duress, but to shame. The weight of all of this is real. Not only physically, but in every other aspect of what it means to be human. The strain on emotion, mind and spirit is tremendous. It is one thing to bear ones cross away from scrutiny and peering eyes, it is quite another when it is well within public view. Not only being observed with the naked eye, but also full exposure to ridicule, judgment and derision. While innocent.

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In this step along the way of the Stations to the Cross, we see another layer of Jesus taking on evil. In Jesus willingness to “be lifted up” and endure the agonizing steps that it would take to get to that pinnacle moment, he is displaying to all who are watching that this is what love looks like. The cross is at the core of this beautifully, mysterious “way” of love that Jesus reveals. To see Him is to see God. To see Him is to see the Father. This whole thing is not some disastrous mistake. More importantly, it wasn’t God just letting something terrible happen to His son, or anyone else for that matter. Love is revealed - “lifted up” - when he ultimately will die under the weight of the worlds evil. Exposing the serpent and crushing its power at the very moment that it appears to have won. The snake is destroyed. Exposed. On the cross.

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As we journey there are moments of excruciating mistreatment and times of being misjudged. This can seem unbearable especially when we are innocent of the charges being levelled against us. Lean into the truth revealed here. Love will win. Love will turn the tables every time and expose evil for what it is, even when it seems that all is lost or that the trauma being experienced or that we are experiencing will never be healed.

In Jesus taking up His cross He signals to us that we do not have to live under the power of condemnation and shame. The snake, for all its shaming and condemning does not have to kill you. The cross stands tall in the middle of the human story. A sign post of hope and salvation. Believe in Jesus and live.

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Art by Scott Erickson