Jesus was not alone

On a rotten hill outside of Jerusalem, a troubling teacher was murdered on a cross. He was not alone. He was not the only troublemaker in Jerusalem that spring day.

“I have been crucified with Christ,” wrote the Apostle Paul. (Gal 2,20)But Paul wasn't the only one. "You have died with Christ," he told other Christians. (Kol 2,20)“We are buried with him,” he wrote to the Romans. (Röm 6,4)What's going on here? None of these people were actually on that hill in Jerusalem. What is Paul talking about? All Christians, whether they know it or not, share in the cross of Christ.

Were you there when they crucified Jesus? If you're a Christian, the answer is yes, you were there. We were with him, although we did not know it at the time. That may sound like nonsense. What does it really mean? In modern language we would say that we identify with Jesus. We accept him as our deputy. We accept his death as payment for our sins.

But that's not all. We also accept – and share in – his resurrection! "God raised us with him." (Eph 2,6)We were there on Easter morning. “God has made you alive with him.” (Kol 2,13)“You have risen with Christ.” (Kol 3,1).

The story of Christ is our story, if we accept it, if we agree to be identified with our crucified Lord. Our life is connected with his life, not only the glory of the resurrection, but also the pain and suffering of his crucifixion. Can you accept it? Can we be with Christ in his death? If we affirm that, then we can be with him in glory.

Jesus did much more than just die and rise again. He lived a life of righteousness and we share in that life too. We are not perfect, of course—not even perfect by degrees—but we are called to partake of the new, abundant life of Christ. Paul sums it all up when he writes, "We are buried with him through baptism into death, that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in new life." With him buried, raised with him, alive with him.

A new identity

What should this new life look like now? “So you also, count that you are dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. So do not let sin reign in your mortal body, and do not obey its lusts. Neither present your members to sin as weapons of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as dead and now alive, and your members to God as weapons of righteousness” (verses 11-13).

When we identify with Jesus Christ, our lives belong to him. “We are convinced that if one died for all, then all have died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and rose again.” (2Kor 5,14-15).

Just as Jesus is not alone, so are we not alone. When we identify with Christ, then we are buried with him, we stand with him to a new life and he lives in us. He is with us in our trials and in our successes because our lives are his. He shoulders the burden and he gets the recognition and we experience the joy of sharing his life with him.

Paul described it with these words: “I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2,20).

"Take the cross on you," Jesus challenged his disciples, "and follow me. Identify yourself with me. Let the old life be crucified and the new life reign in your body. Let it happen through me. Let me live in you and I will give you eternal life. "

When we set our identity in Christ, we will be with him in his suffering and in his joy.

by Joseph Tkach