A Pastor on Northern Vancouver Island wrote to online study group this message: "I'm having difficulty with the Gospel this week; what is this cross that I am to take up, and what am I to deny in following Jesus?" Another Pastor, a student minister in the United States wrote: “I find this a hard gospel text because it talks about suffering rather than joy.”

The cross has always caused problems to people.  Brutal and barbaric - the cross was a tool of political power for the Romans.  They maintained their power because of the fear of death on the cross. When one was condemned by the state, the condemned literally had to "take up his cross" and carry it to the public place where he was to be crucified.  It was part of the humiliation process, the mechanism of social control for which crucifixion was invented.

The cross was an instrument of suffering and shame - and no more so than among the Children of Israel - where the scriptures themselves declare: "cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree". To die on a cross was a sign that one died cut off from God, and cut off from the people of God - a sign that the person was rejected.  And of course in the case of Jesus this was very true.