Topical Devotional Study: "Via Dolorosa"

Via Dolorosa: The way of the cross

In the last several weeks we have reflected on the two books of the Bible, Phillipians and Jonah. I hope you have grown in your walk with the Lord as you have studied and reflected with me on those books. My colleague is preparing devotionals from another New Testament book. We shall post them in April. Before then, we are going to have a topical study based on Easter. What better way to reflect on Easter than to focus on the cross.

The picture attached to this post is a famous painting known as “Christ of St. John of the Cross” done by a painter called Salvador Dali in 1951. Over the last 50 years the painting has been quite popular as a silent but powerful exposition of John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Take a few moments to look at the painting from different angles. What do you see?

First, the cross looks massive, as if everything else does not matter. It also looms over the world on which its subject looks. Clearly, the painter has placed the view point not from the perspective of someone looking from the base of the cross but from someone looking from above, as though the image were seen from God’s view in heaven. The cross makes most sense when looked at from God's eye, not from a human perpective.

Secondly, the person on the cross seems to be powerfully pushing back a great volume of darkness that wants to envelope the world. Light shines onto the world which he overlooks, and the darkness retreats behind him. It is as the scripture says, “the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining”.

What else do you see in the painting? Would you point them out to the rest of the readers on this blog on the comment bar below?

The cross a symbol of the complex patterns that the Christian life takes. Once we welcome the crucified and risen Lord into our lives, life becomes a constant adjustments towards becoming like him. It is not just the way we live our lives as Christians. The crucified Christ has a unique angle on everything that goes on in this world. The closer we live to Christ, the more different everything else becomes. People, problems, circumstances may not change but looked at from the angle of the cross, their contours change. We just need to open our eyes to see things as he sees them from that position of the cross. This reflection will be an attempt to discover some of the perspectives of the cross.

As we start out, it is important to say this: all of Christ’s life on earth was not about the crucifixion. He did not merely come to die on the cross. His three years of public ministry teaches us so much more about his purpose and about God's redemptive plan. In fact, Jesus' life and teachings before he went from the cross are a major clue on how we should live as his disciples. Some day I would love write devotionals reflecting on Jesus’ life on earth. But, the cross is a very important part of our Christian pilgrimage. It is central to the message of salvation. Therefore it is worth spending time focusing on it.

So, come with me for the next several days and let’s together re-live the most importan event on the face of this earth, "Via Dolorosa", the Way of the Cross .

Please share you what you see on the image attached.