save yourself and come down from the cross!&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">He humbled himself,p> <p class="poetry">by becoming obedient to the point of deathp> <p class="poetry">&#8211; even death on a cross!p>

And whoever does not take up his cross<n id="1" /> and follow me is not worthy of me.

<t /><p class="bodytext">As<n id="1" /> they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced<n id="2" /> to carry his cross.<n id="3" />

Whoever does not carry his own cross<n id="1" /> and follow<n id="2" /> me cannot be my disciple.

and carrying his own cross<n id="1" /> he went out to the place called &#8220;The Place of the Skull&#8221;<n id="2" /> (called in Aramaic<n id="3" /> <i>Golgothai>).<n id="4" />

Now, brothers and sisters,<n id="1" /> if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?<n id="2" /> In that case the offense of the cross<n id="3" /> has been removed.<n id="4" />

and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.<n id="1" />

&#8220;He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down<n id="1" /> now from the cross, we will believe in him!

<t /><p class="bodytext">The soldiers<n id="1" /> forced<n id="2" /> a passerby to carry his cross,<n id="3" /> Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country<n id="4" /> (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

Let the Christ,<n id="1" /> the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!&#8221; Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him.<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then<n id="1" /> he said to them all,<n id="2" /> &#8220;If anyone wants to become my follower,<n id="3" /> he must deny<n id="4" /> himself, take up his cross daily,<n id="5" /> and follow me.

<t /><p class="bodytext">As<n id="1" /> they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene,<n id="2" /> who was coming in from the country.<n id="3" /> They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus.<n id="4" />

Pilate also had a notice<n id="1" /> written and fastened to the cross,<n id="2" /> which read:<n id="3" /> &#8220;Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.&#8221;

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel &#8211; and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless.<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

<p class="bodytext">Those who want to make a good showing in external matters<n id="1" /> are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so<n id="2" /> only to avoid being persecuted<n id="3" /> for the cross of Christ.

But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which<n id="1" /> the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

He has destroyed<n id="1" /> what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness<n id="2" /> expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.