The cross of Jesus Christ (Part I)

It is an impossibility for any person to claim relationship with God, without first going to Jesus and trusting in what He accomplished at the cross.  For it was at the cross that God’s salvation for us was accomplished.  It was at the cross where we understand that we bring nothing to God to atone for our sin and make things right, but as Romans 5:6 teaches us, “At just the right time, when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” 

When Jesus went to the cross He suffered fully for us, as God and Man.  In Mark 15:23 we read just one way Christ did that.  Moments before the Roman soldiers drove the nails into Jesus’ feet and into His hands, we read that “they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but Jesus did not take it.”  This wine mixed with myrrh was the only act of mercy from the Romans to their victim. 

This wine was a strong drink that would temporarily numb the prisoner so that they would have some relief as the nails were driven into the hands and feet.  Why did Jesus refuse it?  One simple explanation is this, to say that Jesus suffered fully for us, means that every step of the way, His suffering would demonstrate His willingness to suffer fully.  This means without seeking escape, relief or comfort.  He suffered fully. 

In Hebrews 4:15 there is a curious verse to help us here.  The writer tells us that though Jesus was “tempted in every respect as we are,” He was without sin.  At the cross, we see Jesus, ready to bear the sins of the whole world, showing us His sinless perfection, even in the face of horrific suffering.  The Apostle Peter reminds us this way in I Peter 2:23, “When He suffered… He entrusted Himself,” to the Father in heaven, “who judges justly,” not to man. 

If you or I were being crucified and were offered some relief, we would not only take it, but also beg for mercy and more.  Yet we do not see that in Christ.  Jesus who was both God and man, was “tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sin.”  At the cross, He showed us His full deity, never yielding to sin, showing us every step of the way that He was willing to suffer fully for us.

One application for us here is that when we follow Jesus and walk also in His steps, we too will find within ourselves through the agency of the Holy Spirit a power beyond ourselves to suffer for His cause.  We will find a resolve to press on in terrible circumstances, to suffer when it requires a power way beyond ourselves.   

Foxes book of Martyrs records the traditions of how the first disciples suffered and gave their lives away.   It is recorded that John Mark was torn limb by limb in the city of Alexandria, after preaching against the Egyptian idol Serapis. 

Recently I read through an article in a Voice of the Martyr’s newsletter, a ministry committed to the persecuted church around the world.  The article was a call to pray for one Iranian pastor who was arrested and now for years has been repeatedly beaten because He refuses to renounce Christ.  The pastor desires that others would see Jesus in him for his suffering.        

Here in America we hardly have to suffer for our faith.  Suffering for us is a bad meal, or maybe to skip lunch.  Suffering for us is an old car that needs repair, or a few physical aches and pains or financial struggle.   But even in these mundane things, we cannot point to Jesus if are not willing to show to the world something about how we are willing to suffer like Him, which is willing to seek God’s glory, instead of a life of comfort and ease.      

I believe this partly the idea when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church and said, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.”  The idea here is a willingness to not only lay down our lives for His cause, but a willingness to yield our self-comfort, self-interest and self-fulfillment for His cause!