The Cross: alive or a relic?

I asked us yesterday to take a look at the painting of the cross from various perspectives, calling us to consciously contemplate on it's meaning. Here is another picture to think about.


I took this picture outside an ancient church in a European country. Take a good look. The building is awe-inspiring both outside and inside. In the particular town where I took it, the church steeple with the cross at the top is the highest point of the city. Most ancient churches in the old cities of Europe are like that. In fact, they dot the landscape of European territory. It's a beautiful picture to behold. The steeple and its cross stand above the rest of the buildings as a witness to the presence of God in that city. That those churches are now poorly attended is a different story; the witness of the cross remains.


Most of us who raised in less traditional churches have lost the sense of awe of the cross. Yet there is something about the cross that inspires sincere faith and elicits boundless commitment. I have particularly had the fortune of interacting with sincere Anglicans and Catholics and found some of the most devoted people I know--devoted in their relationship to God and in his cause for this world. And I have wondered, ‘why is it that we lack a similar devotion?’ It seems to me their perspective on the cross has something to do with it.

We who live in the modern era thrive on explaining everything (including people) away, or putting them in a box if we can’t understand it. God and the cross can be expounded but not fully explained. Jesus himself made a heart-rending cry as he was dying on the cross; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). At that moment, what was happening was a mystery to him. He soon breathed his last while his head slumped in death. I like the dramatic rendition of that moment in the movie “The Passion of the Christ”. A giant tear falls from heaven and cracks the earth as though God himself is gravely wounded by his own sacrifice of his only Son. Contemplating on that unexplained hour of Christ's abandonment by God—and on the grief of God—has provided countless Christians with hope and comfort as they cry out in their lesser calvaries, “My God, My God, why me?”

The goal of contemplating on the cross is not to increase knowledge, nor is it to become a mystic or monk. What I’m asking us to do is not let the cross be a passing relic once again this Easter. Seek out scriptures. We can share some of those on this devotion, and will as we go along, but the most fruitful quest will be your own search, reading and contemplation on the cross. You might even want to spend a day in a ‘holy place’, where you can set aside all distractions and allow the full meaning of the cross to dawn on you. Look for passages that give a perspective on the cross, and find out if these will not transform the way you commit to and follow the subject of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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