No Christ Without the Cross

             “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.  Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. Never, Lord! He said. ‘This shall never happen to you! ‘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,”  Matt. 16:21-23

Peter wanted a cross-less Christ.  A great teacher.  A charismatic leader.  But a dead one? A suffering one? Unthinkable. That can’t be right.  But according to Jesus, the very idea that He might be Christ and yet not face the cross is blasphemous.  An idea with demonic origins.  It cannot be so.  Jesus won’t stand for it.

If you take the cross away from Jesus, you strip Him of His mission.  You devalue His life.  You nullify His authority. And you stand against His crowning triumph and glory.

Jesus withstood the taunts of the soldiers.  He was silent before the mocking crowd and the preening government officials.  But He will not remain silent when someone tries to separate Him from the very reason He came to earth in the first place.  There is no such thing as a cross-less Christ. Read Matthew 16 

Prayer– As we continue to prepare for Easter, we need to be reminded of Jesus’ willingness to take on the cross.  Consider that this act was His choice, a willing submission, for the sake of us all.  Amen

 In Christ,

Mack