Karoline, thank you for pointing out that taking up the cross is about speaking out against suffering of the oppress. Opens things up in all sorts of ways.
Marcus Borg wrote in his Mark volume in the "Conversations with Scripture" series, "In the first century, taking up one's cross was not yet a broad metaphor for bearing whatever hardship comes one's way, as it has become since. ... Rather, in the time of Jesus, "the cross" meant crucifixion, a Roman form of execution designed specifically for those who defied imperial authority....Crucifixion was reserved for treason.... In the world of Jesus and early Christianity, a cross was always a Roman cross." Pgs 76, 77. When I read Borg through the lens Professor Moore provided, that the story was always told and written in hindsight these combine to help me get a handle on how late first century followers of the Way would have heard the imperative to take up a cross, to lose one's life in order to find life. As always, thanks for doing this work.
