And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23). Our
modern perspective makes it tough to understand how uncomfortable and offensive Jesus’ words were in this verse.
In our culture, the cross is often relegated to being a good luck charm. A stylish piece of jewelry, a cool tattoo, or a symbolic piece of art to hang on a wall. Even in Christian circles we’ve sanitized our perspective of the cross with pictures of a smooth-skinned Jesus with little more than small trickles of blood.
People from 2,000 years ago would be shocked at how we utilize the cross. In their time, it was considered the most painful, gruesome, and shameful way to die. Good Roman citizens were not supposed to talk about it, and the ancient Jewish historian Josephus called it “the most wretched of deaths.” Jewish people had witnessed literally thousands of their countrymen crucified on hillsides, so their picture of the cross was radically different than ours.
The Romans’ purpose behind crucifixion was simple: to provide the most painful, gruesome, and publicly shameful death imaginable. It was a terrifying way of ruling by fear. The condemned person was forced to carry the horizontal portion of the cross, weighing about 110 pounds, through the streets in a procession to the place of execution. As the condemned would walk the streets people would scream insults and spit as he walked.
Historical Roman accounts have established that rough seven-to-eight-inch nails were driven between the small bones of the wrists, rather than the palms. The soldier would then take the left foot and press it backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, one nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed.
The condemned is now crucified.
This is the picture they saw as Jesus spoke the words from Luke 9:23.
As we let this sink in, we should be assured that our journey was never meant to be easy.
Re-read the verse and reflect on what it means to you now. How does this change the way you approach following Jesus? (shortdailydevotions.com)