A man was walking through a Tokyo department store in the Christmas season. He noticed something strange, even offensive. It was someone nailed to a cross. But the person wasn’t Jesus, it was Santa.*

At first perhaps we might think that this is the ultimate sign of the horrid commercialization of Christmas. However, it might be the case that the store owner simply didn’t know what they were doing. Perhaps he or she knew that people liked that cross symbol with a person on it but didn’t realize it had to be a specific person. Since shoppers seemed to like this Santa guy, perhaps he or she felt it would be okay to combine the two.

Regardless of what they were (or weren’t) thinking, this story serves as a warning to us: Are we just using the cross, or do we take it seriously? Do we appreciate what Jesus has done for us on it? 

But there’s something else. He also told us to carry one. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). 

We’re going to spend a few devotionals thinking about that idea.

The first thing we need to do is un-sentimentalize it. Today we put it on jewelry and hang it on our walls. And so we should. But in the first century a cross was detested and feared. The word itself was not used in polite conversation. It was a shaming, torture and execution tool used by the governing Romans. A modern equivalent might be the electric chair. Imagine if we all walked around with a mini electric chair around our necks!

When Jesus says to deny yourself he is referring to that selfish part of you which resists God and his kingdom. Put your ego and pride in the electric chair — murder them! Put your me-first sinful inclinations in the electric chair — murder them! Only then will we be liberated from lesser things to follow the King of grace and truth.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Notes and extra content:

–“What does it mean to carry your cross?” Sermon. February 2, 2025. Click here.

–*Richard Mouw, Praying at Burger King (Eerdmans: 2007), 80.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.