Perhaps you’ve heard people talk about the crosses they bear. They might mention chronic pain, their role as a long-term caregiver, or trauma they’ve suffered at the hand of another. Your friend might carry a heavy burden, but if they believe that God is in control, they may affirm his call to follow Jesus with this weight on their back. “That’s just my cross to bear!”
For Christians, the cross brings to mind specific events and theological realities. Does the Bible speak about followers of Jesus also bearing a cross? Does it describe that cross-bearing in this way we commonly hear it?
Context matters. Many words and phrases may sound religious, but we should take care in our speech. When we learn to read the Bible carefully—and not just as a grab bag of holy words—we’ll find that God’s call on our lives is more comprehensive than we may have assumed.
Not in Scripture
Let’s dispense with one question up front. Referring to an acute challenge as a “cross to bear” is not in the Bible. God tells us a lot about suffering and burdens, but we don’t find this specific phrase in Scripture.
By itself, that doesn’t mean this saying should be discarded. The phrase “in the world but not of the world” is nowhere in Scripture, but it captures some important truths in a helpful way. Perhaps the same could be true of “my cross to bear.”
The closest we come to this phrase in Scripture is a sentence in Luke.
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25–27)
Let’s consider this passage in its context in Luke.
Discipleship in Luke
As Peter has pointed out, Jesus starts to head toward Jerusalem in Luke 9:51. Until he arrives, Jesus talks about the nature of his kingdom and, by extension, the nature of discipleship.
Jesus teaches about the cost of following him (Luke 9:57–62). The 72 disciples are sent out and they return (Luke 10:1–20). He teaches his disciples how to pray (Luke 11:1–13) and about the folly of anxiety (Luke 12:22–34). He uses parables and metaphors to teach about God’s kingdom (Luke 13:18–30).
In the immediate context of Luke 14:27, Jesus is speaking about the cost of following him. Specifically, he mentions three requirements—anyone who neglects these cannot be his disciple.
- Disciples must, having come to him, hate their family and their own life (Luke 14:26).
- Disciples must bear their own cross and come after him (Luke 14:27).
- Disciples must renounce all that they have (Luke 14:33).
In the midst of these requirements are two stories about the need to count the cost (a landowner building a tower, a king engaging in battle). Disciples of Jesus must know what they are getting into.
Jesus has used the language of the cross before.
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23–24)
The cross was a Roman instrument of torture and execution, so Jesus did not invoke it lightly. Those who heard would have known exactly what Jesus meant when he brought up a cross.
Jesus called his disciples to hand their lives over to him. To save their lives, they were to lose their lives for his sake. They were to renounce everything, including their closest family members.
Both Good and Bad
There may be a good intention behind the phrase “my cross to bear.” A person might be striving to be faithful in the midst of God’s difficult providence. If they know this responsibility is part of God’s calling on their life and they’ve handed their lives over to God, they embrace this burden as a disciple.
And yet, using this phrase could have the effect of compartmentalizing Jesus’s call. Referring to a particular aspect of one’s life as a cross to bear may soften the blow of Jesus’s expectation that in every aspect of our lives we are to bear our cross and follow him. We do not just give up our comfort, time, or opportunities—we are to renounce everything.
This call from Jesus is heavy, but we must not forget it is also joyful. We only need to turn the page in Luke to see the celebration we are welcomed to as repentant sinners following King Jesus (Luke 15:1–32). Jesus calls us to bear our cross, but that is not any one particular duty or condition. Bearing our cross means giving control of everything—family, possessions, vocation, life—over to our wise Master.
Context matters.
For more examples of why context matters, click here.
