Is the Cross Insulting?
In Episode 97 of Trey Knowles: Truth & Knowledge, “Is the Cross Insulting?”, Trey Knowles asks a challenging question: What does the cross really mean? To answer it, Trey presents two meanings of the cross—spiritual death and physical death—and explains why understanding the difference between them is essential. The first meaning is spiritual death. When Yeshua says in Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” Trey explains that taking up the cross means dying to the desires of the flesh. It means denying yourself, rejecting greed, pride, domination, worldly power, and what Trey describes as the colonizer's way of life. Instead of gaining the world and losing your soul, you choose to follow the way of Yeshua—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This spiritual death is not about destroying a person; it is about putting to death a worldly way of living so that you can walk in righteousness and obedience to God. In this meaning, the cross is not insulting. Spiritual death leads to life. The second meaning is physical death. Historically, the cross was an instrument used to condemn, humiliate, torture, and execute human beings. Trey connects this physical meaning of the cross with persecution and later acts of racial terror, including the lynching of Black people and the Ku Klux Klan's use of the cross as a symbol of intimidation and white supremacy. Unlike willingly taking up your own cross through self-denial, this physical cross is imposed upon another person through hatred and violence. This distinction is at the heart of the episode: there is a difference between taking up your own cross and putting someone else on one. One says, “I will deny the desires of my flesh and follow Yeshua.” The other seeks to condemn, persecute, or destroy another human life. Drawing from Matthew 12:7, John 15:20, and 1 John 3:12, Trey challenges those who claim to represent Yeshua while embracing hatred, persecution, and violence. Yeshua declares, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” The way of Cain produces hatred and death, but the way of Yeshua calls people toward mercy, righteousness, truth, and life. So, is the cross insulting? Trey's answer depends on which cross we are talking about. The spiritual cross—denying the flesh and following Yeshua—is not insulting; it represents death to the flesh that leads to life. But the physical cross, when used as an instrument of hatred, domination, persecution, and death, represents something entirely different. Episode 97 challenges listeners not merely to wear or admire the symbol of the cross, but to understand what it means to take up their own cross, deny the ways of the flesh, and truly follow Yeshua.
