The Cross

As Jesus looked down from the cross and scanned the crowd he saw people weeping in pain and agony watching Him die. They did not quite understanding what this all meant but they knew that He who went about doing good… loving and caring for others didn’t deserve to be there. There were also those that were sneering, jeering and cheering His plight. The Bible says they were “wagging their heads” and “hurling insults”…making fun that He could save others but not Himself. Finding comfort and satisfaction in His pain because at the time it seemed greater than their own. Smug in the satisfaction that that will never be them….They would never do anything that would put them on that cross, they knew better…and yet Jesus asks all who wish to follow Him to do just that.  What a contrast…as Jesus hung on the cross dying …He looked into the eyes of those that loved Him and those that loathed Him…His mother weeping and the soldiers selling His garments and yet…..He viewed them exactly the same (how does one do that?)… all while He lived out His purpose by dying for them all.

I was watching a movie yesterday and a condemned man was about to be executed and a nun was telling him about Jesus. She explained how Jesus was killed because He was considered a rebel. The prisoner said “just like me” and the nun said “no, not like you. Jesus was killed because He transformed the world with love…you stood by as two people were murdered”. Two other men were crucified along side Jesus. Three men two different reasons for their cross. Two men were on the cross because they refused to deny themselves, the other because He did. We all suffer at times and feel the weight and pain of the cross we bear…the question is which cross do we bear?

Matthew 16:21-24

New International Version (NIV)

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Our highest example is Christ looking down from the Cross and saying “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” Luke 23:24. When we get to that level of consciousness where we can separate from our own pain and see others clearly as God does then we have truly discovered the Kingdom of God within and our experience here on earth will be transformed. In our desire to become whole (one with God) we are not searching for ourselves, we are searching for the Kingdom…we are looking for the place inside us where God dwells. That’s where we will find the real peace that passes understanding not just the concept, that’s where the faith of a mustard seed will truly grow, that’s where we will find salvation….with a little s..(the dictionary defines it as the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc)…it is in this place of salvation we then surrender ourselves to be used as agents of light. This I know for sure if you are not willing to give parts of yourself away you will never completely live out your life’s purpose. The Lord told me recently “you have to wake up and stop viewing everything from the lense of only your own experience. Everything is not as it seems to you. Go deeper, look harder and come higher. That’s where you will find Me. And in that process find yourself…and then yourself in Me…and then Me in you. This is where you will find my Kingdom and then you will consistently navigate and respond in this world as Christ did”.  God’s agenda is the only one that matters, it’s the only one that will last, everything else is merely chatter, confusion and conflict which will lead to divisiveness, destruction and death.

We are all human therefore imperfect by nature but as long as we always stay open to instruction and guidance the spirit of God within will purposely, patiently and sometimes painfully (depending on how high our tolerance for pain) guide us into all truth.  Don’t be deceived by your cross know your cross and make sure it is the cross of Christ. The lies we tell ourselves entrap and imprison, the truth shall set us free.  We will be able to tell if we are being spiritually receptive by how the truth of God’s word manifests itself in our lives.

Matthew 13:4-9

New International Version (NIV)

4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

With Love,

Ms Wanda, GAC