Dead Man Walking

[dave c]

HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131am Re-Written 01APR09

Save Me Today—Part Thirty Nine: Dead Man Walking

by rev dave c

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me (Lu 9:23, NAS). We know, of course, that the cross of Jesus was the instrument of sacrifice chosen before the beginning of time itself to open the door of Christ’s body so that The Way to forgiveness and salvation would be available to all who will accept it. This verse from Luke, however, does not specifically refer to His death on the cross; rather it is concerned with the carrying of the cross through the streets of Jerusalem. Christ is calling for us to take up and carry our cross through the streets of wherever God has placed us. The importance of this call is stressed in Luke 14:27 when Jesus tells us, “...anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (NIV).

To be sentenced to die on a cross in Roman governed Jerusalem of 2,000 years ago was the ultimate curse of shame and torture (Ro 2:8). Once pronounced, the carrying out of the death sentence was so sure that, from the moment of judgment on, the convicted person was as good as dead. The trip through the streets of that ancient city from the place of imprisonment to the place of crucifixion could be summed up today by the phrase, “Dead man walking.” Weighed down by the rough hewn crossbeam of wood upon his shoulders, the wretched creature would course his way through the avenues en route to the killing field outside the city walls. Throughout this horrible, painful, and exhausting trip the condemned was in open view of the curious, the broken-hearted, and the scornful. Those who stared at him, those who wept for him, and those who mocked him (plus the whip of the Roman soldiers) were his only company as he struggled in his terrible suffering.

This is the reality to which we are called by the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23 and 14:27 when He commands us to take up [our] cross daily and follow [Him]. This is the living death to which Paul refers in First Corinthians 15:31 when he says, I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord (NIV). By Christ’s own words, until I take up and carry my cross to follow Him, I cannot be His disciple. As long as I am more concerned with my own health, my own possessions, and my own position I may be a “believer,” but I am not a disciple. At best, I am a babe in Christ (He 5:11-14). At worst, James describes my condition in 2:19, You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder (NIV). Human beings appear to be the only members of God’s creatures who can choose to believe that there is no Almighty Creator, Sustainer, and Judge. Lord, help us.

We must understand that to take the crossbeam of our own death in Christ upon our shoulders is to publicly exhibit not just our willingness to follow Jesus by our word and by our commitment, but by our literal surrender to Him of all that we are and all that we have. We must know that the death Jesus died, He died once for all (He 7:27). To live with the Savior requires our dying with Him as we walk out the remainder of our days in this world. This surrender to death must be just as sure as that which confronts the condemned as he takes his last steps en route to execution. To accept life in death is to accept being fully exposed to the abuses of those who are of this world, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1Co 1:18; NIV).

Listen to the words of Saint Peter as they are written to all who have come to a point of realization in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their lives, and to the actualization of their surrender to death in Him as living sacrifices: Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name (1Pe 4:12-16; NIV).

Thousands of people have died on crosses, and countless have sacrificed themselves for something they believed to be of noble purpose, but only Christ’s act of surrendered obedience to the will of the Father opened the door of escape from sin and death for you and for me. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit (1Pe 3:18; NIV). In Romans 12:1&2, Paul provides a translation of the propitiating sacrifice of Jesus for our lives, ...I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your [reasonable] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will (NIV). Christian sacrifice is the living out of surrendered obedience to the will of God...with our bodies, with our spirits, and with our minds. “...Not my will, but Yours.” Amen.