As we consider and reflect on the message of Easter, I could not stop myself from thinking about the journey to the cross. Being crucified on the cross is one thing, but having to carry the cross by which you will be crucified is another story entirely. It was bad enough when God told Abraham he wanted his son. God could have told him that his son will go quietly in his sleep, but no, it had to be that extra bit tough, he had to sacrifice him, carry the wood and build an altar to burn him life! It is bad enough when armed robbers rob us at night, it takes the pain to another level when they write to us beforehand advising of the date and time, giving clear instructions on what to do and what not to do in preparation for their arrival including meals to be prepared. It is bad enough for a man’s bride to be violated, it takes the pain to the next level when the groom is instructed to fetch and undress the bride for the abuser and then made to watch. Imagine if the perpetrator of the above hideous crimes is someone close, a friend, a partner, a relative, a disciple etc?
How do we reconcile the irreconcilable in the above? How do you forgive the unforgivable? Before we get to forgiveness, how do we process the incidents, how do we stop ourselves from murdering another man? How do we stop ourselves from committing suicide? How do we keep it together? How do we stop ourselves from going insane? How do we stop ourselves from having a breakdown, a meltdown or whatever? In other words, how do we carry our cross with dignity and composure when every fibre of our being resists the demand to carry the cross? We have reconciled and accepted the death on the cross but to carry the cross, is a great ask. When we have accepted that the gallows is our lot, how do we accept that we are responsible for building the gallows? When we are sentenced to the chair for the crime we did not commit, how do we find the strength to carry out the job of ensuring that all the electrics of the chair work accurately? How can a human do that which is against human instinct to do? When we are called to do everything that is against all that we stand for! To build the stock that will restrain our feet, to knot the noose we will be hung in! To prepare the poison that will kill us, to prepare the legal brief that our prosecutor will use to indict us for a crime we did not commit. To sharpen the knife that will rip off our head. Yet sometimes that is just what we are called to do. As bile rushes to our mouth, our heart tightens, our chest hurts and we experience the anguish of what we are called to bear, let us remember that one had ‘walked’ this journey before us, sweating blood in His moment of anguish.
Carrying the cross is about becoming collaborator in our annihilation which is contrary to the universal human instinct of self-preservation. It is not natural or desired, it is not a job for sissies, it takes superhuman strength to do it and as we resign, fall on our knees and call upon the strength that comes from a different realm we find grace and peace to bear. Carrying the cross is when you accept your fate, when you give up the fight, when they come to kill, steal and destroy and you ask, ‘how would you like me to lie?’ Or ‘is my head still enough for you to cut off with the guillotine, it is when they snatch your livelihood and grab the food from your mouth and you ask, ‘would you like sauce with that?’ It is when with gritted teeth you say, ‘father forgive them, for they know not what they do’
Always remember there is resurrection on the third day and Abraham never had to sacrifice Isaac after all, but we must be prepared to do it and that is hard!
Beautiful Ivory 