save yourself and come down from the cross!” ¹ 

And whoever does not take up his cross ¹  and follow me is not worthy of me.

Whoever does not carry his own cross ¹  and follow ²  me cannot be my disciple.

He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!

Besides all this, ¹  a great chasm ²  has been fixed between us, ³  so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

As ¹  they were going out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced ²  to carry his cross. ³ 

and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ¹ 

Disarming ¹  the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross. ² 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me.

and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ¹  If you are God’s Son, come down ²  from the cross!”

“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ¹  now from the cross, we will believe in him!

The soldiers ¹  forced ²  a passerby to carry his cross, ³  Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country ⁴  (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

Then ¹  he said to them all, ²  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ³  he must deny ⁴  himself, take up his cross daily, ⁵  and follow me.

got into a boat, and started to cross the lake ¹  to Capernaum. ²  (It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.) ³ 

and carrying his own cross ¹  he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” ²  (called in Aramaic ³  Golgotha). ⁴ 

Pilate also had a notice ¹  written and fastened to the cross, ²  which read: ³  “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.”

Now standing beside Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ¹ 

this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed ¹  by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. ² 

When they had accomplished ¹  everything that was written ²  about him, they took him down ³  from the cross ⁴  and placed him ⁵  in a tomb.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless. ¹