Taking up our cross and Following Jesus

wow…I am actually in a seminary class right now. I am SO tired that I decided to write a blog post to keep myself awake. blog #2 7 months later.

We are talking about the social political ethic of the cross. What do the cross and violence have to do with one another? Jesus rebuked Peter for refusing to accept the reality that Jesus would have to die. We have been reading Yoder’s the “Politics of Jesus”. Yoder refers to the ethic of the cross as the “price of social nonconformity”. Jesus died at the hands of the powers of this world (religious and political) on a Roman cross, but the act of Jesus’ death on the cross was the ultimate defeat of the dark spiritual powers behind the religious and political powers.

I just taught on what it means to “Follow Jesus” this past Sunday. We will continue to look at this topic for another week. We in evangelical Christianity have been guilty in the past of completely divorcing the social and political elements of the teachings and life of Jesus, especially both the spiritual and the social/political elements of the cross. What does it truly mean for us to take up our cross and follow Jesus?

We have made it easier on ourselves by spiritualizing and individualizing what it means to pick up our cross. No, to pick up our cross means to walk in the WAY of the kingdom, the WAY of the cross, the WAY of Jesus; which is difficult narrow path that leads to persecution, suffering, and potentially death.