The cross of Christ is the center of the gospel message because the cross of Christ crushes our sinful desires, kills our sinful behavior and plants godly desires and abilities deep within our hearts. What sinful desires do you need to deny as you follow Christ? What sinful behavior needs to be killed in you as you follow Christ? What new desires or abilities do you see sprouting in your heart as you follow Christ?
Luke 23:26 – 31…
26 And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
What’s Happening In This Passage?
The first question we must ask about a text is: what’s happening here? What’s going down in this story? What important details does the author want to get across to us? The first question we tend to ask is: what does this text say to me? Or what does this text mean to me? But I would submit that the most important question to begin with is: What’s happening in this passage? So let’s break the text down a little.
1: When Simon Carries Jesus’ Cross… (26-27)
We are reminded of Luke 9 & 14 where Jesus tells us that if we are truly going to follow him then we must pick up our crosses and follow him in his self-denying, sin-killing, sinner-saving mission. The cross is no joke to Jesus. The cross isn’t a pendant to be worn around his neck or a tattoo to be imprinted on his arm. The cross is an instrument of execution. The cross is an instrument of death. The cross is an instrument of salvation. The cross is the pinnacle of Christ’s mission. And Simon, the father of Rufus and Alexander who were early church leaders, is described as the first person to step out of the crowd and pick up a cross and follow Jesus, who was bloody, beaten, bruised, shamed, rejected, and nearing death. And he followed Jesus up the hill of death with his cross.
2: When Jesus Tells The Crowd Not To Weep For Him But To Weep For Themselves… (28)
We are reminded that Jesus came into Jerusalem weeping in Luke 19:41-44 because of the wickedness of the people and the horrific judgment that was coming upon them for failing to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, the King of the universe, the God over all Creation. And now as Jesus leaves Jerusalem there is weeping again but the weeping is for the wrong reason because they are weeping for him instead of weeping about the judgment they will face that he has already warned them of in Luke 21:20-28. Jesus’ concern here is not for himself. Jesus’ concern is for the hearts and the souls of everyone who refuses pick up their crosses and follow him. Jesus’ concern is that whoever rejects him will face judgment of epic proportions.
3: When Jesus Says The Day Is Coming When Shame Will Be A Blessing… (29)
We are confronted with the truth that the Earthly things that cause us to feel shame in this life will be flipped upside down in the day of God’s judgment. The pain of not having children now will be a blessing on that day. The pain of not having a spouse now will be a blessing on that day. The pain we feel now will pale in comparison to the pain of watching our loved ones suffer on that day. I don’t think Jesus is being insensitive here either. I wholeheartedly believe that Jesus is super sensitive to the pain that we endure in this life when we don’t get the good things we want. Jesus is sensitive to our pain because he too suffered. I just think that this passage reveals Jesus’ greater compassion and concern for those of us who put these desires for parenthood or marriage or any other good thing before carrying his cross because if we refuse to carry the cross of Christ in our pursuit of even good things then we face judgment and the pain of that will be far more painful than the pain we face now.
4: When Jesus Says The Day Is Coming When You Will Beg For Destruction… (30)
We are confronted with a picture of complete, life-altering despair. This isn’t a picture of people who are in despair because they don’t get what they want. This is a picture of people in despair because they are getting what they always wanted but they are horrified by the painful outcome they are experiencing. This is a picture of people who have continuously rejected Christ and his cross and are now facing the consequences of following the sinful impulses and desires of their bellies. And the experience is so horrifying that they are begging to be completely destroyed. Begging to be put out of their misery. Begging for the mountains to fall on them. Begging for the hills to crumble on top of them. Begging to be destroyed.
5: When Jesus Says This Horror Is Nothing Compared To What’s Coming… (31)
We are again confronted with the truth that if God would send his Son, Jesus, to endure the torture and the horror of the cross on our behalf, then His wrath against those who have lived as enemies of the cross of Christ will face something far more horrific than what happened on the day that Jesus climbed up that mountain with Simon following him with a cross over his shoulders. The horror of the cross, when Jesus the green sapling walked this earth, is nothing, compared to the horror of God’s judgment upon the dried up hearts of his enemies. The question we must ask is: Are you carrying a cross towards Heaven or are you a pile of dried up wood about to be consumed by the fires of God’s judgment?
How Is This Passage Going To Be Of Any Help To Us?
The difficulty of studying the Bible for all of us is the temptation to just cram more knowledge into our heads so that we appear to be “in the know” or “wise” or “worth following”. But knowledge that speaks to the head without affecting the heart’s desires and the actions of our hands is useless. So how is this passage going to be of any help to us? How does this passage speak helpfully to the hearts of single parents, or single people, or married people, or poor people, or wealthy people, or addicted people, or angry people, or depressed people, or distracted people, or disinterested people? Let me just say that I really don’t know how to answer this question for everyone.
But I do know the truth of this passage. I do know the meaning or the message of this passage. The message of this passage is simple but hard. It’s not a complex message but it is harsh. The message that I think Luke wants to get across to us is simply this: “Pick up your cross or face the horror of God’s judgment.” No more standing on the sideline watching Jesus carry his cross in front of you. Get behind Jesus and pick up the cross he’s instructed you to carry.
If you refuse to pick up your cross then you better start weeping for yourself because judgment is coming around the corner and it won’t be a day when you’ll be crying for others. It won’t be a day when you’ll be crying about Jesus’ pain. It’ll be a day when you’re crying in agony for yourself because of the horror of that day.
But in the midst of this picture let me point out that God is loving us through this message. Jesus is putting us before himself in this passage. At this point of near death and immense physical pain, Jesus is more concerned about you and I grabbing our crosses and escaping the coming judgment then he is about his own pain and impending death.
How Do We Drill This Message Down Into The Center Of Our Hearts?
I think the cross of Christ is the center of the gospel message and the gospel message is the center of the Bible. Therefore if we are to use this message like a drill in the hand of a great dentist who is working to clean out a cavity in the center of a rotting tooth then we must see the cross of Christ as the drill in the hand of our loving Father that cleans out the sickness and repairs the gaping wound. So let me take a stab at laying out a few pastoral instructions regarding what I think it means to let the cross of Christ drill down into the depths of the desires of our hearts.
1: The cross of Christ drills: self-centeredness out of our hearts…
Self-centeredness causes single parents to fall into despair because they have no one to help them. It causes single people to use other people to quench their lonely thirst. It causes married people to treat their spouses like slaves to be used or business partners to ignore. It causes addicts to jab a vein, snort a line or roll another joint to medicate the pain of the person they see in the mirror. It causes both poor people and wealthy people alike to be consumed with the pursuit of more money so they can spend it on their sinful impulses. It causes parents to be passive in disciplining or teaching their kids the ways of the Lord because they fear rejection or feel inadequate. The cross of Christ drills out the self-centeredness in our hearts.
2: The cross of Christ drills: Christ-centeredness into our hearts…
Christ-centeredness is the healing substance that fills the gaping hole left behind from self-centeredness. The single person needs to pursue relationships that exalt Christ instead of exalting people. The married person needs to serve their spouse sacrificially regardless of the payoff. The recovering addict needs to resist addictive urges through the help of unconditionally loving relationships, accountable community and relentless truth. Poor people and wealthy people need to faithfully manage the wealth that we’ve been given and learn to be generous. Parents need to begin teaching and training our children to love God and love people. The cross of Christ drills Christ-centeredness into our hearts.
3: The cross of Christ drills: Godly desires and abilities into our hearts…
Godly desires and abilities replace the sinful desires and abilities that are buried deep within the contours of our hearts. The desire to use others is replaced with the desire and the ability to serve others. The desire to run in fear is replaced with the desire and the ability to be courageous. The desire to control everything or everyone is replaced with the desire and ability to submit and surrender to God and others in humility. The desire to have more stuff is replaced with the desire and the ability to be more faithful in managing your wealth and more generous with your wealth. The desire to protect yourself from pain is replaced with the desire and the ability to give yourself away unselfishly to others rather than hiding out in your manmade cocoon. The cross of Christ drills godly desires and abilities into our hearts.
Concluding Thought…
This passage calls us to pick up our crosses and follow Christ or face the horrors of judgment. We are called to be like Jesus by remembering that when Christ gave himself for us at the cross as he trudged up that hill with Simon carrying the cross behind him amidst the weeping and the wailing of the crowd, he was loving enough to stop and give us a final word of warning regarding the horrific judgment that was coming upon all who refuse to follow him.
So let me end with the statement and the questions that we asked at the beginning of this message. The cross of Christ is the center of the gospel message because the cross of Christ crushes our sinful desires, kills our sinful behavior and plants godly desires and abilities deep within our hearts. What sinful desires do you need to deny as you follow Christ? What sinful behavior needs to be killed in you as you follow Christ? What new desires or abilities do you see sprouting in your heart as you follow Christ?