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In Matthew, Jesus teaches his followers to take up the cross, describing discipleship. Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah uses similar language to describe Isaac carrying the wood for his sacrifice, as bearing a cross on his shoulders.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 16:24
New Testament
22 So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: “God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me because you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but on man’s.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. 26 For what does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or what can a person give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
Genesis Rabbah 56
Aggadah
Rabbinic
“Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it upon Isaac his son; he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and the two of them went together” (Genesis 22:6). “Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering” – like someone bearing his own gibbet on his shoulder. “He took in his hand the fire and the knife [maakhelet]” – Rabbi Ḥanina said: Why is a knife called maakhelet? It is because it renders food [okhalin] fit to be eaten. The Rabbis say: All the eating that the people of Israel eat [okhelim] in this world, they eat due only to the merit of that knife [of Abraham’s]. “The two of them went together” – this one to bind and the other one to be bound; this one to slaughter and that one to be slaughtered.
Date: 500 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... in this sense Rabbi Ammi said, 'Think not that, "either a Jew or a crucified" is offensive; it is not offensive, but on the contrary, laudatory' (i.e., a Jew is ready to be crucified for his religion) ... Isaac, himself carrying the wood for the sacrifice (Genesis 22:6), reminded the Rabbis of 'one who carries the cross on his shoulders'. Jesus said [similarly] (Matthew 16:24) ..."
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