And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:27)

A Cross Without Wheels

The hangman’s noose is an offense to most people and is considered a hate crime in some circles. It would be disturbing to see a man walking around trailing a strand of rope with a hangman’s noose tied around him. The last public hanging in the United States was August 14, 1936, attended by a crowd estimated between 10,000 to 20,000. Jewelry stores do not carry gold hangman’s nooses for people to wear, and it would be offensive to see shirts emboldened with the noose.

If a First-Century Roman citizen were alive today and saw the jewelry of golden crosses people wore, they would be horrified. It would be incredulous to see crosses emblazoned on clothing. Nobody in the first century would put a cross (or three crosses) in their front yard or on a hill or field. The cross was a symbol of horrendous torture and suffering. Citizens of the Roman Empire were all too familiar with crucifixion as the Roman government punished thousands of people with crucifixion. Crosses with bodies in various stages of decay lined many streets.

For the Jewish mind, the cross was a despicable curse. No glory and honor was given to a man who was nailed to a tree. Everything about the cross was humiliating, agonizing, painful, and final. For a Jew to be crucified was the most horrible manner of death. The Law of Moses required a man who was crucified not to remain overnight, defiling the land that God gave Israel. He was to be buried that same day. The crucified man is accursed of God. There was no gold jewelry to bring honor to the cross.

Jesus taught His disciples to bear a cross to show allegiance to the King of Kings. Using this kind of language in the Roman Empire was radical and offensive. When the modern mind hears Jesus encourage men to bear a cross, there is an immediate softening of the image of the cross to be something glorified as a symbol of purity and righteousness; something with diamonds encased on it. It was anything but those images. To bear a cross was to remove self and accept the will of God completely. It was the highest level of suffering and cruelty.

Men try to show piety by carrying a cross through the streets of Main Street, USA. Most often, it is the entire cross, made out of soft wood, easy to carry, with padding for the shoulder and probably a wheel at the base. The man wears comfortable shoes and likely has a backpack for water and snacks for his journey. Ironically, the man portrays a complete misunderstanding and vivid misrepresentation of what Jesus did. Jesus carried an eighty-pound piece of timber on a back that had been severely beaten by the scourging. The Lord was abused, spit upon, slapped, kicked, prodded, and beaten on the head with a crown of thorns.

Jesus did not have a wheel on His cross. His ordeal so weakened him that he fell beneath the load. The Romans made Simon of Cyrene carry the cross. Then they nailed the Son of God to the timbers and watched Him die a miserable, horrible death. Men have replaced the cross of Jesus with a padded cross with a wheel. They should be ashamed of themselves. Jesus never intended for anyone else to bear that cross. He was the Son of God, and only He could bear that cross. Jesus suffered so we could rejoice in what the cross accomplished.

The glory of Jesus is found in the resurrection. Jesus took on the wrath of God to die for the sins of the world, and the Father raised Him from the dead. To bear a cross is not to take a piece of wood and try to be like Jesus. No man can be like Jesus! Bearing a cross to be a disciple of Jesus is to devote one’s life totally to Jesus Christ without turning back. A. W. Tozer said, “To be crucified means, first, the man on the cross is facing only one direction; second, he is not going back; and third, he has no further plans of his own.” And to add a fourth – he does not request a wheel.