The passion of Christ may leave us speechless and in awe but we cannot remain silent. The Cross of Christ brings us to a crossroad in our life. We cannot remain neutral. We either take up His cross or reject the cross. Sadly many have rejected the cross. But multitudes have embraced the cross of Christ. In the movie “The Passion of the Christ” the director has the camera zoom in on the two thieves and Jesus as they are forced to carry their own crosses up Golgotha’s hill. As Jesus wrapped his arms around the cross and shouldered it, the unrepentant thief cried out in scorn to Jesus, “Do you embrace your cross?” Yes, Jesus embraced the cross for you and me. Do you embrace His cross? Do you carry your cross?

After Jesus was beaten and flogged with a lead-tipped whip, he was so weakened that he fell under the weight of the cross that he was compelled to carry. The gospels give us this account, “A man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the country just then, and they forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus.) And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Skull Hill”). They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. Then they nailed him to the cross. They gambled for his clothes, throwing dice to decide who would get them” (Mark 15:21-24 NLT).

Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus. I believe scripture verifies that he soon came to embrace the cross and it changed his life. Take note of Mark’s reference to Alexander and Rufus, the sons of Simon in Mark 15:21. Alexander and Rufus become prominent followers of Jesus Christ and coworkers of the Apostle Paul. (See Acts 19:33 and Romans 16:13.)

The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross has no life-giving benefit for you unless you embrace the cross; until His passion becomes your passion. A cross is an instrument of death. Only Jesus could die in our place to make atonement for sin. He only is the innocent, spotless “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). To embrace His cross is to come to the end of yourself, to die to sin and self. His passion truly becomes your passion.

Jesus taught unequivocally that we cannot be his disciple unless we carry our cross. “If any of you wants to be my follower,” he told them, “You must put aside your selfish ambition shoulder your cross and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38 NLT).

Dr David Livingstone left his heart in Africa – literally. At his death, natives gently removed his heart and buried it in the Africa he so loved. Then his body was carried to the coast, where it was shipped back to England for burial. What motivates men and women to sacrifice so much for the gospels sake?

Livingstone answered that question. After 16 years of missionary service in Africa, he returned to his native Scotland and spoke at the University of Glasgow. One of his arms had been rendered useless by a lion’s attack. His body bore physical evidence of the suffering he had endured with 27 bouts of jungle fever. His face was leathery brown from exposure to the sun and elements. Did Livingstone feel he had made a great sacrifice? Not in the least. He said, “People talk of the sacrifice I have made. . . Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paying back a small part of a great debt owing to our God which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own best reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view and with such a thought. It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say, rather it is a privilege.”

Jesus Christ embraced the cross for you. Will you carry your cross for him? You cannot remain silent.

“That if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9-10).