“Then they crucified him…”

Death, whenever it comes, however it comes, is always a negative from an earthly point of view.  When it hits the unsaved, loved ones are permanently separated from the departed.  In stark contrast, Christians are told not “to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope” (1 Thes. 4:13).  But Jesus did more than just die.  He “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8).  This was the final downward step from leaving his home in glory, shielding his attributes, taking on flesh and becoming a servant, as the preceding verses describe.  “Death on a cross.”  The Romans had perfected this form of exceedingly torturous death where the body was mercilessly and relentlessly wracked with wave after shocking wave of pain.  The joints, especially the pierced wrists and ankles, would be screaming in continuous pain.  So would the shoulders and soft tissues surrounding these injuries and elsewhere, not to mention his back that had been flayed open by the Roman scourging and his scalp torn and penetrated by the thorns.

But that was just the physical part.  It was while all this was going on that the Father decided “to crush him and cause him to suffer and…make his life a guilt offering” (Isaiah 53:10).  That was when “he was pierced for our transgressions [and] crushed for our iniquities” (v. 5).  Bearing the sin of the world on his back or shoulders, as we say, dwarfed the physical pain.  So extremely devastating was this second kind of pain that he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).  No wonder “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isa. 52:14).  His crucifixion meant that we would never experience what he did at that moment.  Can you say, “Thank you, Lord”?

But we find still another aspect of the crucifixion that many people miss.  Several times Jesus linked his cross with ours.  In numerous places he said to his immediate disciples and us, “Take up your cross and follow me.”  Mark 8:34-37 is one example.  But something strange jumps out at us in this text:  a trade-off.  “Save [your] life [and] lose it, lose [your] life and save it” (v. 35).  What Jesus means is trade in your temporary earthbound life for an eternal one.  In essence, discipleship — carrying your cross and following him — is a trade up!  Real life becomes better both in quality and duration.  He says the very same thing in John 12: “a kernel of wheat… remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (v. 24).  At that time, Jesus was five days away from his cross.  That fact cast a shadow over everything that week.  But it still was a trade up: one seed producing many seeds if the one dies.  “…and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days…” (Isa. 53:10).  “I will declare your name to my brothers” (Ps. 22:22).  We are “his offspring,” his “brothers,” and those “many seeds,” like the original seed (see Gal. 3:16).  Imagine that.  Definitely a trade up, for him and us!

Paul was likewise clear.  Notice the gain and loss in Phil. 3:7-11, 2 Cor. 4:17 and Rom. 8:18.  Lose the bad, gain the best.  Paul left his reputation to gain a resurrection.  But the underlying point is this: you can never out give God.  Read what Paul says.  Living your life as a disciple is no sacrifice.  You don’t come up short.  Is it really a sacrifice when you come out ahead?  Better?  Improved?  Not at all.  You have only left behind your sins, problems and issues, and replaced them with heavenly blessings, eternal riches and never ending fellowship with the one true God and his Son.  Just as crucifixion was the gateway for Jesus to breakthrough his earthly limitations to new life (Rom. 6:9-10), so with us.  Jesus didn’t trade down or trade even.  He traded up when he was crucified. So do we when we follow the way of the cross.

Are you trading up?