TAKE UP YOUR CROSS

This is why I love seminary. It's because I learn stuff like this every day...

In my Scriptures 3 class (the gospels and Acts) with Dr. Hulitt Gloer we're going over the time period of Jesus. We briefly sketched out a history from the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC to the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 AD. In a nutshell, the Jewish people were fed up with political domination and oppression by the first century - the time of Jesus. Around this time, many Jews started to look for hope in an apocalyptic sense. In other words, they lost hope in the world around them, and they expected God to come down and intervene on their behalf. They were expecting a Messiah to set things right, to bring in God's holy rule.

During the 1st Century and even beyond, there were numerous Messianic movements. You couldn't go far without somebody saying, "Follow me, I'm the Messiah." For the Jews, it was great political turmoil, and for the Romans who ruled over the Jews, it simply was annoying. Of course, all of these movements were absolutely mowed down by the Romans.

Here's the part that blew me away in class the other day:

Around 6 AD one of these Messianic movements was headed by a man named Judas of Galilee (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot). He started a revolt, and it was absolutely obliterated by the Roman army. But the Romans didn't just quelch the rebellion. They crucified about 2,000 men all in the region of Galilee. 2,000! That's a lot of dead bodies, and Galilee is not a big territory. Obviously, the Romans were making a statement - don't jack with us.

Now, most scholars think that Jesus was actually born around 6 BC - 2 BC, not 0. So, if Jesus was born that early, that means he was probably between 8 and 12 years old. Jesus lived in Nazareth, at town in the region of Galilee. Chances are that Jesus as a young boy saw all of these people, his countrymen, crucified like they were nothing. Chances are that this image was ingrained in his head as a kid. That had to make a massive impact on him as he grew up in the political turmoil of his day.

It made me think about when Jesus said to take up your cross and follow me. What was he thinking about when he said that? People, following Jesus isn't pretty. It's not fun, and it's not always happy. In fact, sometimes it sucks. So why do we do it? It doesn't make any sense to make him Lord over our lives. It's so much easier to just forget about it and move on. OR - another question. Do we really take up our cross and follow him like he meant? Do we really give it all up to God? Or, do we pick and choose what makes sense for us in America where we can sacrifice a little bit and still live fat and happy.

Now I give my time, I give my tithe, I serve in the church and sometimes in the community as a whole, but is it enough? Is it ever enough? What is enough?

Jesus already showed us what enough is on the cross.... Everything.

Seminary... this ain't Lifeway.