The Cross: A Duty to Die for Delight

Luke 9:23 –
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The Cross: A duty to die for delight.
Bear strong on me shoulders beams heavy – damp
Dross mixed with blood, but death is gain in sight,
Reproach befalls with Christ outside the camp.
Splinters show no smooth compliant repose,
But of two planks – one hangs thyself secured.
Sag-fixed with nails, thrice, eyes then plucked by crows,
Herein shows sweat spilt sacrifice endured.
Is this but not the cost of hedonism?
From whence one dies in flight for highest joy,
Could such pursuit lay in grave catechism?
Yea, a holy pleasure shall one employ -
Engage man’s chief end with rigorous thrust:
Praise Christ to treasure forever – I must.


An Exposition and Examination of - The Cross: A duty to die for delight.

Lately I have been deeply moved by a common verse in scripture. However, upon recent meditation my affections have been plunged deeper within the crevasses of its lines. I am speaking of Luke 9:23. Here, Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Putting myself in the disciples’ place, the thought of denying one’s self in order to bear a cross must have sounded fanatical and foolish. Roman crosses were not a pleasant site. Rather, they were a severe act of public humiliation and disgrace. Crosses are where people condemned as criminals were pierced with three nails and left to hang in the heat of sun while crows come to pluck out their eyes. Exhaustion and dehydration would weaken the body and suffocation would make it hard to breathe. This reality, often times, is lost in our modern interpretation of it. Sometimes we are told, “Be a good Christian and bear your cross,” when the context of such statement is referring to a small deficiency or a mere personal inconvenience. Crosses are where people die, and here Jesus is saying, “Die to self and bear a cross,” for you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). What seemed to move me even more was not just the thought of dying to oneself but rather the motivation behind it.
What would compel someone to forfeit their life and possessions in order to die? Paul saw the answer, and he tells us in his letter to the church of Philippi. He writes, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain…even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me…for Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or whether by death.” Moreover, Jesus commands us to follow him, that is, himself. In searching the scriptures we find Jesus’ motivation which propelled him to die, even to die on a cross. We turn to Hebrews 12:2, “Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” For a Christian, self-denial is not the abolition of joy. Rather, it is the pursuit of pronouncing lesser joys as loss and the greatest joy as gain. Paul’s act of self denial was a pursuit for greatest gain, and likewise Jesus’ act of death was a pursuit for greatest gain. Both pursuits in the act of self-denial and death on a cross were pursuits for joy. For Paul it was his fullest joy in the glory of his Savior and for Jesus it was his fullest joy foreseeing his infinite glory being enjoyed forever by his purchased people.


For His glory and our Joy,
Andrew