Bottom Line: To pick up your cross and follow Jesus implies a responsibility to walk the Way.

Takeaways

• Crucifixion in the ancient world was a humiliating and painful way to die. After being stripped naked and hung on the cross, it could take days to die from exhaustion or asphyxiation.
• The Romans crucified non-citizens as a way to keep subjected peoples in check and it wasn’t rare. The Romans crucified thousands of people outside the city walls as a warning for all to see.
• Crucifixion functioned similarly to the way lynchings functioned in the American south.
• Knowing all of this, Jesus was still obedient to the Father and continued to walk the Way to crucifixion. He was one under authority, responsible for carrying out his mission.
• He asks us to also take up our crosses and follow him—to walk the Way … there’s no “Sunday only” Christianity being promoted here.
• And, as difficult as taking up the cross may be, it’s the Way that leads to transfiguration.