The Way of the Cross

The term “way of the cross” has always puzzled me. It sounds like something nuns and highly spiritual people might be involved in doing. Another  term that is more common in my protestant circles is “dying to self.” This seems less complex. All one has to do is put aside your own wishes. Right. I have come to suspect that they are actually the same thing and are not in any way easy.

When we accept the humanity of Jesus, we allow ourselves to see him experiencing  the same struggles that are common to all of us. We see Jesus as a real human. He left His power as God up in heaven with God, the Father. We must accept this in order to truly be in awe of God’s plan that was put into the hands of a real person, albeit one without our sin nature. Jesus, walking this earth, is a lowercase “him” but is now an uppercase “Him” as He is one with God the Father.

So what does this have to do with the “way of the cross or dying to self?”  It is crucial that we realize this. Scripture tells us that we are to “take up our cross.” Obviously Jesus died on the cross once for all of us. We cannot take up a cross to earn our way to heaven. We are told to become like Jesus. My tendency is to  think of this as being loving and kind, doing good, and loving God. This is important, but it is not the entire picture.

The way of the cross means following in Jesus’ footsteps as a human. Not to Golgotha but to God. Jesus, the human being, walked our walk. He had to choose God’s way rather than his own over and over. He died to self on his way to his crucifixion that means our salvation. Jesus gave up personal ambitions and desires to be yielded to God’s will. In Gethsemane, his terrible torment of spirit as he yielded to God’s will, was pain in body, mind, and spirit. He was terribly lonely, isolated, and likely frightened as his friends and family did their own things or slept.

There is no way that we can suffer as Jesus did. He was suffering for all humanity.  However, we are called to a type of Gethsemane by yielding all that we are to God. Our will is to be His. We must offer this as He will not take our will from us. What can we expect? I think we are to expect life with things we like and things we don’t. We are allowed to see Jesus suffer as he yielded his life to God in Gethsemane. Basically he told God what he wanted, how scared he was, how painful the task was and so on. This part we can do very well. We are called to take the final step and yield to God. We are to surrender our will to God in a similar fashion.  Jesus did this daily. We are asked to do this as well.

Are we to seek pain or self punishment or martyrdom? If we seek it, it is in our own power and we are in charge.This is not what God desires. What we are called to do is put God in charge. We are to see God in all circumstances…good, bad, or indifferent. We can be like Jesus and pray for deliverance from troubles, but we are to do so and then accept what God is allowing. We are to praise Him In all circumstances,

This is so hard. We will practice letting God be in control over and over. I often seem to be struggling with the same issues. I believe we will do this until God has given us all the opportunities we need  to learn to accept His will, not our own. This was the path He chose for Jesus to walk. Why would He not send us by the same path? We are pretty arrogant if we think we don’t need the same guidance He gave Jesus.

I wonder why I find this so hard to understand. Perhaps because I would be losing patience if I were God. Praise God, He looks at our struggles, refusals, and tantrums with grace. He loves us. He will work with each of us for as long as is needed and His love will not decrease. It will be a great deal easier on us if we will follow Jesus’s example and say “not my will but yours” to our God in all things. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us follow this “way of the cross” so we can be conformed to God’s will in order to walk in true peace.