New meanings to old words

Sometimes Bible verses are not what they seem at first glance.

An accepted part of a daily prayer rule is reading from the Bible each day. This is a valuable thing – After all, one cannot claim to follow Christ if one doesn’t know which way to go. However, sometimes the meaning of a particular text can be lost because we look at it and we think we know what it means. Maybe it seems simple enough when we’re reading, but is actually deeper; maybe we miss a cultural idiom used during that time. However, sometimes we see a verse so often that our familiarity and the meanings that we have infused into that verse override what was actually meant.

[Jesus] tells them, as they travel from Galilee to Judaea for the last time, that anyone who wants to follow him must take up his cross. For us the impact of that has been weakened, but in the contemporary Roman empire people took up crosses for only one purpose — to die on them. It was a method of execution reserved by the Romans for those who challenged their power, for rebels.
(hat tip – Dcn Steve Hayes, Khanya blog)

I’d seen that verse several times before, heard it at many baptismal services…the list goes on. You can read it very easily without knowing that, and reading it simply as ’stand, follow me with your difficulties’. It’s even enshrined in a figure of speech – ‘this is my cross to bear’.

The verse has an entirely different meaning in this light, however. No longer is it a warning that following Christ will be merely difficult. Difficult, yes, and moreso: perhaps we can read ‘if you wish to follow after Me, arise, challenge the world, and die like me’.

No one said it would be easy, and they weren’t kidding around. When we talk about the Christian struggle, that’s the struggle with our temptations, with our own lack and faults, with our own failings in our attempt to live like Christ.
That’s part of the story. But it’s not the whole story.

Jesus tells us that we must arise. We cannot develop a relationship with God or win salvation by doing nothing.
Jesus tells us that we must take up our cross. We must be prepared to put in effort into challenging the world. Sometimes that will mean taking a stand against the powers of the world; other times, that will mean taking a stand against worldliness and challenging the social mores of the society we happen to live in. But, we cannot expect comfort in the Christian life. We can, however, expect persecution.
Jesus tells us that we must follow Him. Being an anarchist – even an ethically good person – won’t win Paradise, either – the point is not the what, but the why. Following Jesus is hard. It led to His crucifixion and to the death (some by crucifixion) of 10 of the 11 faithful disciples, and exile for the remaining one.

But, it’s worth it. Christ is the One who completes our life, who fulfills our life, who perfects our life. Through Him, we are truly human.