Pondering A Word

Jesus says in Matt 16: 24  “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

The meaning of this saying is quite direct. The whole passage is challenging. As we sat reading it together in our ladies’ group, I started to wonder about the word used for ‘cross’.

What was Jesus referring to? In our Christian tradition we have become accustomed to one interpretation and all commentaries suggest the same: the cross of crucifixion. There is an explanation of the carrying of the cross: people doomed to suffer this fate were often ordered to carry their own cross. What puzzled me was the context: Deny yourself. Take up your cross… Most people did not have a cross or beam at hand which could be used as a means of torturous death. It was not a thing you had in your possession, which you then could decide to pick up and take with you.

            I asked the questions to my group, and one started to wonder with me, while others repeated with pathos the interpretation we have often heard: that it means to give up all and follow Jesus. I am ok with that. The interpretation may stand.

            When I came home, I found a Greek New Testament and found the word: stauros. In the dictionary it was explained as a pole, a stake, a cross. In the NT it is translated ‘cross’ because the vast majority of times it is used to refer to the cross of Jesus.

            Now my imagination is taking over, and I was wondering if it could be a stake, a cross beam of a tent construction – then meaning: take this piece down, bring it on the journey as you follow after me… Paul uses the image of having your tent pegs loose, as being ready to uproot and move on.

           Or could it be like a rod, a staff indicating authority of sorts, or…? Well, probably not. It is more like something you put in the ground. In classical Greek, the word is used for palisade, stakes forming a fence.

           

            In the context Jesus is using it, it seems reasonable that it has to do with denying oneself and following him.  I may ponder further what the ‘stauros’ could be that would illustrate this for his listeners.  How do you 'deny yourself'? It does not indicate asceticism and eastern yoga practice, I think. So, what does it mean? To be ready to die? That comes close to the traditional interpretation. And, as I said, I am ok with that. If I deny myself, do I then accept an other? Are we talking about authority?

           

            In our use of terms, we ‘stake out’ land, we plant a flag to claim ownership. But it would be too far fetched to suggest any such usage in the times of Jesus. Still, a person can wonder and ponder.