There is No Handle On Your Cross

Gospel	Luke 14:25-33

Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple

Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

  ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers would all start making fun of him and saying, “Here is a man who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who advanced against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.’

In all of the movies and illustrations that show Jesus on his final journey to Calvary, a distance of about two thousand feet, or a little over a third of a mile, we are shown a man carrying a cross down the road. In the Stations of the Cross, fourteen incidents on that last journey are described.  We and all of the modern artists that depict the trek to death imagine Jesus carrying a whole cross.  This is almost certainly not true because the typical Roman cross weighed about three hundred pounds.  This would be a burden that would defeat most men.  Instead, the procedure was for the criminal to carry only the cross beam which was a much more manageable one hundred pounds in weight. A man, in reasonable condition, could be expected to shoulder this burden and carry it to the place of execution.  One other thing I would like to mention is that crucifixion was meant to teach the population a lesson so those that were destined to undergo this torture were very seldom scourged like Jesus was.  Scourging was called "The Little Death" and was carefully crafted to stop just short of the death of the recipient which is why there was an officer watching the criminal very carefully.  He was to carry out the sentence and the sentence was to be scourged not to be killed.  So, Jesus on His journey started out with a disadvantage.  He had been skillfully scourged by the Romans and normally that would have been the end of it.  As a side note, many victims of scourging later died due to infection but that followed days later after the culprit had been set "free" by the mercy of the emperor. The fact that Jesus had been scourged would mean he most likely was in or going into shock as the journey began.  Some scholars say that between the scourging and the first fall where they believe Jesus suffered internal injuries that His time on the cross would be less than men crucified in the full flower of health. 

Jesus did what He could to carry His burden but thirteen times the process was interrupted by human frailty.  And he had help according to three of the Gospels to get to the place where the vengeance of the emperor could be satiated.  

The crosses we receive in life do not come with a carrying handle. Like Jesus, we have to shoulder our burden and carry it the best that we can.  He will help when it is needed and if we ask. Our cross can take many forms.  It may be that we fall into the same sin over and over and have to constantly request forgiveness from for it and in the process learn humility.  It might be illness or pain or watching a loved one during a long and exhausting illness that leads to death.  Or it could be the diagnosis of our own doctor that predicts a descent into suffering for a time or perhaps a disease where the outcome is terminal.  Our cross is there and we all will have one or more to shoulder in our lifetimes.  The courage and good example that we set will help others bear their crosses as well.  And where we see someone in need, we, like Simone of Cyrene should be willing to help others with their burden. 

Young warrior, your cross is there, it will be a burden for you and it cannot be refused.  The only options you have are to accept your burden and bear it willingly or to attempt to refuse it making it that much harder to carry.  Don't look for a carrying handle.  We all have to feel the rough wood against our shoulder to understand more fully what Jesus went through for us and what it means to be a human being.  

If you have two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, give a listen to this brief talk about carrying your cross. 

Remember the Poor Souls in Purgatory today in your prayers.