4 Comments

I was wondering about this last year. After all, Jesus hadn’t died on the cross at this point so his call to “take up your cross” would have seemed very strange when first heard.

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Wow... I honestly never really thought about that aspect of it before! They were still surprised when He went to be crucified.

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Is there any evidence that women were crucified?

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I think there has to be some level of separation from what’s considered “normal” culturally to experience this kind of daily cross bearing towards the execution place. If we limit “self-dying” and “self-denial” to only neglecting certain self indulgence and the attainment of some level of moral perfection, we’re no different than Buddhist monks in their monasteries.

Jesus did not abide by the current cultural/societal/religious ways of his fellow Jews. Even his religious leaders despised him and wanted him dead. He defied what was considered the norm—he behaved outside the norm. His words and deeds were beyond the ordinary, divorced from what was culturally accepted as the norm. It was this behavior which, in part, led him to the cross. Are we willing to do as he did?

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