Matthew 10:38 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 10:38

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The expression ‘he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me’ was one that Christ used on more than one occasion – in instructing the disciples concerning their mission here, in correcting the disciples attitude following Peter’s foolish reproof (Matthew 16:24), in warning the multitude about viewing discipleship too superficially (Luke 14:27), and in speaking to the rich young ruler (Mark 10:21). It was a concise summary of the Christian life, but what did it mean? Clearly it was a reference to Roman crucifixion, and the custom which required the victim to carry his cross to the place of execution. In each case the instruction is to take up one’s cross and follow Christ. He too is bearing a cross and he is going ahead of us. As Hendriksen points out, this metaphor is misused today and applied to any sort of suffering experienced by converted and unconverted alike, but that is not what Christ means. He refers specifically to the suffering that his disciples endure for his sake, because they have chosen to identify with him. This is a voluntary taking up of one’s cross, not the crucifixion victim being compelled carry it to the place of execution against his will. But why would anyone voluntarily opt for suffering? Of all roles that could be chosen to illustrate the Christian life, why does Christ select this one: a condemned criminal going to be executed, and forced to suffer the final humiliation of bearing the means of his own execution to the place where he will suffer the most shameful of all deaths? Because, given the rebellious state of this world, and given the nature of Christ’s mission of redemption, if we wish to follow him then there is no other option. He did not come into this world as a triumphant general, subduing rebellion before him and asserting his power. He left the world for the moment with its rule and power. He came not as the Lord of glory, but in the likeness of sinful flesh with all its attendant weaknesses, and he allowed the world to do to him what it wished to do, to demonstrate it true character. The world judged him in a phoney trial in which false witnesses were called, and the King of righteousness was eventually condemned as a criminal. If that was allowed to happen to the master, then nothing less shameful can be expected to happen to the disciple. We cannot change the nature of the world; it will remain what it is until the final judgment. Christ must deal with it, not us. Its treatment of us is therefore always going to be the same; there is no way around this. But is this image only about persecution? Is it not also about our relationship with a fallen world? Yes, this too. For the world is a danger to us as a persecutor, but also as a tempter to lure us back into its folds. The corrupt regime of this world was allowed to continue even while he was in it. But he maintained the greatest possible distance from the ways of the world. Satan tried to draw even the Son of God into the world by temptation, but Christ turned his back on it and commanded Satan to get behind him. It was his will that the world’s influence should continue and that his disciples should learn to resist its pull. They too would need to deal with the world, he therefore set them an example and turned his back on it. This too is part of the imagery of taking up our cross and following him. The world has nothing to offer him, and he has turned his back on it. Like Lot leaving Sodom, he will not look back because he is never going to return to what is about to be destroyed by God, and we must imitate him in this. The cross is therefore a picture of self-denial in a fallen world.

Application

We see Christ ahead of us bearing his cross, and we so much desire to be identified with him, that we are ready to be identified with his shame and suffering also, if that is what it costs. In the present context, that suffering involves being rejected by family. Is this too high a price to pay for discipleship? No, it is a small price to pay, for the glory of belonging to Christ. He has so ordained things that in this fallen world discipleship always has this price attached to it. ‘When tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word’ (Matthew 13:21), the true disciple will not be offended. He expects to pay a price. Not that we can earn salvation by our suffering; it is always free and by grace. We do not present our sufferings to God and expect him to reward us for them. We simply regard this path to the cross as the necessary path we must walk if we wish to be with Christ. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He set us a perfect example of how to live and what we should expect as his disciples.

This is not a standard for some disciples, but for all. Do we understand this? Some want to live comfortable lives even as believers, but there is nothing comfortable about bearing your cross to the place of execution. You have in effect renounced the world and all that it might give you. We do not deliberately court suffering, but neither do we avoid it if it comes for the sake of Christ. We prefer the shame of the cross and of discipleship to the honour of the world. The disciple is known by his willingness to bear that shame.

Questions

Did Christ by this metaphor tell his disciples in advance that he was going to be crucified? Certainly, when they looked back later on all his sayings, they would realise that he knew this. But it was later in his ministry that he spoke more openly of his death (Matthew 16:21), but even so, the disciples were slow to understand these things. It was not necessary for them to know at this time that Christ would literally be crucified in order to grasp the meaning of this saying.

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Matthew 10:38 Commentary and Bible Study