Cross-Carrying Discipleship

"Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" — Luke 9:23 (NIV)

Before the cross was a symbol of salvation, it was a burden laid on unexpected shoulders. Simon of Cyrene (Luke 23:26) wasn’t part of Jesus’ inner circle. He was just passing by. Yet in a moment of divine interruption, he found himself carrying the weight of suffering that wasn’t his.

To “Take up your cross daily” is not a call to martyrdom, but a call to the sacred interruptions that reshape us—moments when compassion weighs heavier than convenience, and grace invites us into something deeper than we expected.

Crucifixion in Jesus’ time was a public horror. Condemned people carried their own crossbeam, exposed and powerless. Jewish history carried traumatic echoes of this brutality under Antiochus IV. The image would have stirred visceral reactions in Jesus’ listeners.

Jesus doesn’t soften the metaphor—he redeems it. In Luke’s telling, it becomes a rhythm rather than a single moment: daily surrender, daily dying, daily rising. Today, the crosses we carry are often less visible but just as transformative—showing up for someone in grief, speaking truth in uncomfortable spaces, choosing the harder good over the easier silence.

Each of these moments—these sacred interruptions—don’t hollow us out; instead, they carve space for grace to dwell more deeply.

To deny ourselves is to die to illusions—the need to protect, preserve, perform.

In laying down control, ego, and comfort, we make space for something deeper to rise. These daily deaths are not grim—they're generative.

Discipleship calls us to recognize divine interruptions and respond not with resistance, but with readiness. Like Simon, grace may catch us off guard—yet we still choose how to carry it. And in doing so, we participate in a love that reframes inconvenience into incarnation.

This daily death makes room for something truer: Christ alive in us. Like Simon, we may not choose the moment, but we can choose to carry it with grace. By following Jesus in this way, we participate in a love that not only transforms us but also those around us.

Crucified and risen Lord, You ask not for heroics, but for steady hearts willing to carry grace. Teach us to embrace divine interruptions, to recognize the holiness in discomfort, and to walk the way of love even when the path feels heavy. In our daily denying, make us new—let us die to lesser loves, and rise again in your mercy. May we, like Simon, carry what finds us, and be Your instruments of grace in the carrying. Amen.

Peace & Grace,

Pastor Tim