Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone?

Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there’s a cross for everyone,
And there’s a cross for me.

How happy are the saints above,
Who once went sorrowing here!
But now they taste unmingled love,
And joy without a tear.

The consecrated cross I’ll bear
Till death shall set me free;
And then go home my crown to wear,
For there’s a crown for me.

Upon the crystal pavement down
At Jesus’ piercèd feet,
Joyful I’ll cast my golden crown
And His dear Name repeat.

O precious cross! O glorious crown!
O resurrection day!
When Christ the Lord from Heav’n comes down
And bears my soul away.

The question in song for us today is “Must Jesus bear the cross alone?”  As we pause this Holy week and remember what Christ did for us, the feeling of being alone is something that is an important part of the story of what happened to Jesus that week.  When He was praying in the Garden, He was alone.  When He was standing before Herod and Pilate, He stood there alone.  When He was on the cross, He was alone.  I won’t try to explain the concept of His being forsaken by His Father and being separated from God because I can’t fully imagine or understand what that was like.  But being and feeling alone was definitely a part of what Christ experienced.

But the author of this hymn isn’t asking or longing for someone to help Jesus carry His Cross to Golgotha.  The Bible records that He did have someone there to help Him do just that.  On the other hand, the author is asking us “will we take up our cross and follow Him? ” He is asking “Will we deny ourselves and our own personal will, give it over to the Lord, and then pick up our cross and follow in the steps of Jesus?” This question is a difficult one.  It requires some introspection, but I hope it is a challenge for you to heed the words of Jesus and follow after Him, as it definitely is to me.

The phrase I want to highlight in today’s hymn is the phrase “They taste unmingled love.”  This phrase sounds almost Shakespearean in it’s phrasing.  An image of tasting love, but not just love, “unmingled” love.  The author is reminding us that there is a place where we will one day go where true love is not watered down, or mixed with sadness and sorrow, or mingled with pain and death.  On this earth, love is that way.  Love comes mingled with heartache.  As parents we love our children, but sometimes that love breaks our heart when we have to discipline or when we have to watch our children “stub their toe” or “fall off the bike.”  Our love is often times mingled with difficulties.

So what is the answer to the question “Must Jesus bear the cross alone?”  The answer is “He mustn’t.”  We mustn’t allow our lives to be so mingled with this world to the point that we are no longer willing to bear a cross.  We mustn’t allow the power of the Bible to be watered down to just another book on the shelf.  We mustn’t allow the truth of Jesus’ death, burial and bodily resurrection to be diminished to the point where some theologians have taken it.  To a point where the Resurrection is an ethereal concept, but not a physical reality.  To a point where the Disciples concocted a story, or to a point where the words of the Gospel writers are deemed hyperbole.  Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection are foundational to Christian theology and Christian living.  Without these things, we are hopeless and dead in our sins.

Paul says in I Cor. 15:13-19:

But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.