Why
the Cross Offends
By Bob DeWaay
The cross was an executioner’s
device. It meant either a literal cross on which someone would be executed,
or it meant living as 
one
condemned to die (cross- bearing). Later Paul used the term “cross” to mean
the message of the cross. It might surprise people today to learn that the
term “cross” when used in the Bible never meant a Christian symbol. And
yet many modern churchgoers see the cross as an endearing Christian symbol
and have trouble understanding what it meant to the people who heard Jesus
teach about it.
Consider therefore the
implications of this teaching of Jesus: “And
He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me’” (Luke 9:23). This call to discipleship came in a section of Luke’s
gospel where the key issue was Jesus’ identity. Herod had asked about it (Luke 9:7-9) and Jesus had asked what the
people said about it (Luke 9:18).
When He asked the disciples what they thought, Peter answered correctly “The Christ of God” (Luke 9:20). So far so good—but then came
the utter shock: “The Son of Man must
suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and
scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day” (Luke 9:22). The Messiah would be
rejected by the Jewish leadership and killed. Not only that, but His followers
would have to live in this world as those condemned to die. That is what it
meant to take up a cross.
Crucifixion was a
horrible, cruel means of execution which the Romans used not on their own
citizens, but on people they wished
to intimidate, humiliate and make an example of. People who raised sedition
against Rome were usually targeted. The Jewish
people whom Jesus addressed had personal and corporate memories of crucifixion
that made the concept horrifying and loathsome. Let me explain.
The Jewish historian Josephus
described a number of incidents of crucifixion before the time of Christ.
The first involves the 
infamous
Antiochus Epiphanies in 167 B.C., the same tyrant who desecrated the temple.
Here is what Josephus wrote about that incident: “And indeed many Jews there
were who complied with the king’s commands, either voluntarily, or out of
fear of the penalty that was denounced; but the best men, and those of the
noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay a greater respect to the customs
of their country than concern as to the punishment which he threatened to
the disobedient; on which account they every day underwent great miseries
and bitter torments; for they were whipped with rods and their bodies were
torn to pieces, and were crucified while they were still alive and breathed:
they also strangled those women and their sons whom they had circumcised,
as the king had appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as they were
upon the crosses.” [1]
The Jews were very
concerned about the proper burial of their dead. By hanging bodies on crosses
(even if that was not where they had died) Rome desecrated the Jewish dead and
showed them to be cursed (Deut.
21:23).
After the Jews were liberated
from Antiochus in 164 under the Maccabees (or more correctly the Hasmoneans)
there was an extended period of Jewish rule. All was not well, however, because
one of the Hasmonean descendants, Alexander Janneus, (103-76 B.C.) became
one of the cruelest tyrants to oppress the Jews. [2] Some of his Jewish opponents
resisted him, and he took cruel revenge against them. Josephus describes what
happened: “[T]he Jews fought against Alexander, and being beaten were slain
in great numbers in the several battles which they had, and when he had shut
up the most powerful of them in the city Bethome, he besieged them therein;
and when he had taken the city, and gotten the men into his power, he brought
them to Jerusalem, and did one of the most barbarous actions in the world
to them; for as he was feasting with his concubines, in the sight of all the
city, he ordered about eight hundred of them to be crucified; and while they
were living, he ordered the throats of their children and wives to be cut
before their eyes.” [3]
This event remained in
the Jewish collective memory for its barbarism and wicked cruelty to women and
children. Crucifixion was a symbol of the torture of Jewish people by tyrants.
But the story is not over.
In 4 B.C., after the
death of Herod the Great, a revolt against Roman rule erupted throughout Judea.
Quintilius Varus, the Roman legate of Syria, brutally pacified the country,
particularly in Galilee. Here is Josephus’ description of what happened: “But
Varus sent a part of his army into the country, against those that had been the
authors of this commotion, and as they caught great numbers of them, those that
appeared to have been the least concerned in these tumults he put into custody,
but such as were the most guilty he crucified; these were in number about two
thousand.” [4]
John MacArthur comments
on this incident and applies it to Jesus’ call to discipleship: “He [Varus] put
their crosses up and down all the roads of Galilee, so people saw them
everywhere they traveled. Every crucified Jew had carried his own crossbeam as
he marched to death by crucifixion. These Galileans had seen all of that, and
Jesus was talking to them in a historical context, saying they needed to be
willing to face such a consequence rather than deny Him.” [5]
Crucifixion was offensive
to the Jews in every way. It stood for cruel tyranny by oppressors. It demeaned
the Jews. It made them cursed according to their own law. It involved barbaric
torture, and it took place where people were forced to witness it. That’s the
public mindset when Jesus taught about the cross.
So when Jesus said that
He would die in such a cursed way and yet claimed to be the “Son of Man” (that
Daniel claimed would have glory, dominion and a kingdom - Daniel 7:13-14), it was truly hard to believe (hence the title of
MacArthur’s book). And when Jesus
said this: “And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14), He was saying that the promised
Messiah would become a curse. Yes, hard to believe.
The people in Galilee who
heard Jesus teach His own future crucifixion and declare their need to disavow
self and to live daily as 
one
sentenced to the cursed death indicated by cross-bearing must have been shocked.
And worse, less than forty years earlier some of them saw brothers, uncles,
fathers, or grandfathers hanged on crosses right there in Galilee – some 2,000
of them.
Jesus’ teaching about the
cross was horrifying to them. How could anyone believe it? Who would ever
want to be a disciple under such terms? We need to get the image of golden
jewelry out of our minds and think about what the cross really was and how
offensive it still is, especially to Jews. People in the seeker movement know
this, and so they do not preach the cross. The cross will always offend the
unregenerate mind.
Paul explained it this
way: “But we preach Christ crucified, to
Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”
(1Cor. 1:23, 24). This may indeed be
hard to believe, but the preaching of the cross is God’s ordained means whereby
He saves “the called.” We must resist the temptation to water down the Biblical
message because of its native offense. God chooses the things that the world
considers weak, foolish and base (1Cor.
1:26, 27) to shame those who are wise in their own eyes.
Footnotes
[1] Antiquities 12 chapter 5.
[2] Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds
of Early Christianity, (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1987) 326, 327.
[3] Antiquities 13 chapter 14.
[4] Josephus, F., & Whiston, W. (1996, c1987). The works of
Josephus : Complete and unabridged. Includes index. (Wars 2.75). Peabody:
Hendrickson.
[5] John MacArthur, Hard to
Believe, (Nelson: Nashville, 2003) 135.
This article was based on a sermon by Pastor
Bob DeWaay that was preached on December 2, 2007 on Luke 9:18 – 27. Bob DeWaay is the senior pastor of Twin
City Fellowship in Minneapolis, MN. He has been a pastor with Twin City Fellowship
for 25 years and the senior pastor since 1995. He holds a B.A. in Bible and
Pastor Studies from North Central Bible College, and a M.A. in Theological
Studies from Bethel Theological Seminary. Since 1992 Bob has published over
90 articles on important theological issues through Critical
Issues Commentary.
