Why the Cross?
I haven't been thinking "theologically" for a while. More devotionaly, and ministorially (is that a word? if it is it isn't spelled right...anyway). I am happy to be a Free Methodist again. Art has had to take a course on Free Methodist History to be on track for ordination, so we've been reading some books and articles together, and of course I've been listening to his papers. Both of us got our bachelors degrees at a Free Methodist college in NY, this refreshment course has truly been refreshing. My son Ardy brought up an old friend the other day - a blogger friend of ours, and an old question. Why the Cross? Having had the honor of playing Mary, the mother of Jesus in this year's Passion Play, and having to go to the cross for four nights during Holy Week, the cross became more real to me than it has ever been. Pushing past the guards to reach Him, touching His bloody feet, looking into his sorrowful eyes, watching them pierce His side...33 years before, Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul as well (Luke 2:35). When they take Him off the cross and lay Him on the stretcher, Mary rushes to His side. His body is still warm and sticky with blood and sweat. If anyone ever agonized over the question "why the cross" surely it was this women. In the rock musical "Jesus Christ Super Star" Judas asks the question "what about the cross, was that a mistake, or did you know your messy death would be a record breaker" (the man who wrote that play was a Jew). Once, when I was praying for my own dear son, in the midst of his crisis, I thought, how can I ask God to have mercy on my son when He allowed such a horrible thing to happen to His own son? But His still gentle voice reminded me of the Blessed Trinity, and how it was actually God Himself hanging on that tree of shame. He allowed Himself to suffer and die on the cross - "I lay down my life only to take it up again, no one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it down and to take it up again...John 10:18 But why? The cross is the one main thing that separates Christianity from other world religions. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ split time and changed the world. Hundreds of years before Jesus' sacrifice, the Prophet Isaiah "saw" and wrote about the event. "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon us, and by his wounds we are healed." (53:5) Doesn't that explain pretty clearly why? What does the cross show us? How ugly and disgusting our sins are to God. How deformed our selfish, sinful natures look to the Almighty, All Beautiful One. Not the way He intended when He lovingly formed our bodies from the red clay of the earth He designed to be our home. The cross shows us how much He loves us. He longs for us to understand that, and to choose to love Him back. The cross shows us that He, the Almighty, understands our pain, He chose to experience pain for our sake, that we would know how intimately He understands. Words are not enough. Words are never enough. Actions do indeed speak louder and more clearly then words. Jesus was a real, living breathing, human being - 100% Human (and 100% God). He wasn't someone's dream or fantasy. He didn't just speak this world into being, He walked on it. We can actually trace His steps. We know where He prayed, We know where He died. He came to the world He created at just the right moment in history. No other god or goddess, no other prophet or shaman, no science or logic can ... can what? can hold a light to Jesus and His Cross - what does that mean? How can I say it? Why the cross? Why do people ask that question? Why can't everyone see? Maybe, because if they accept the cross, and the peace it offers, they might have to give up their false gods and their favorite sins .Or maybe because there are so many people out there in this dark and depraved world who claim to be followers of the Lamb of God, who died to take away the sins of the world, but who are hateful and hurtful and foolish and prideful and petty. If the cross and its message are true, then people who follow Him who died and rose again should be out changing the world, not hiding in their churches holding on to their particular traditions and arguing among themselves. Tongues or no tongues, pretrib or post, guitars or organs, what kind of drums, what kind of dance, which translation is best???????LORD have mercy on us. Jesus died on the cross for me. His blood is on my hands. He died so that when I die I can be with Him eternally. He died because I was (and sadly continue to be) a sinner, in need of forgiveness. He died to save me from the punishment I deserve. He died because He loves me. He died and rose again to prove that all He has said through all the ages is True. He is the Truth! Why the cross? Because in His infinite wisdom He decided that that was the best way to act out what He wanted us to understand. I look at the cross, and I don't wonder why...I say Yes, and Thankyou, and Amen.
2 comments:
I definitely appreciate the fact that you, like your son, make an attempt to answer this question. I am sure that other than a reason to give for the subject, your choice to post this actually had little to do with me, but I appreciate you giving me the heads up for the post nonetheless. I am impressed with the level of thought you gave it, and I don't fault you for the failure to answer the question. I have long since come to the conclusion that there is no answer that doesn't involve circular reasoning or contradiction. Still I appreciate the fact that you and your son continue to give it a shot every once in a while.
I was concerned when you brought Isaiah 53:5 up early and asked, "Doesn't that explain pretty clearly why?" Obviously it does not. Otherwise I never would have asked the question that turned into a Pandora's box leading me eventually to where I am. It answers the what, and encourages the question of why, but does not answer that question.
You say that he chose to experience pain for our sake. So that we would know how intimately he understood us. An interesting premise, one that I might even be able to get behind. A loving god that wants to fully understand. It paints a pretty picture. It also tends to contradict the theory that the scenario on the cross existed as a necessity for the forgiveness of our sins. You've painted a more plausible picture as to the purpose of the cross but undercut the very issue I questioned.
I was also amused that you threw out there the bit that my Goddess couldn't hold a light to the cross especially since you included Her in a large group that included logic and science and didn't see fit to state what field it was that this illustrious clientele fell short in. After all I could make the claim that George Foreman couldn't hold a light to me and depending on the topic I would be either very right or very wrong. I would look a little foolish though if there was no implied subject matter, wouldn't I?
After this funny little bit, though, is when you get insulting, particularly on the heels of failing to clear up the apparent foolishness of the cross as a theological point. You start off with a false premise: "Maybe, because is the accept the cross, and the peace it offers," This is your first failing point. The cross never offered me any peace, other than indirectly by leading me to where I am now. The cross offers us nothing but irrational theology. It is a contradiction of this apparent lack of rationale that I sought for years. That I academically still pursue.
The concept that I make a conscious decision to stand against the cross due to a desire not to give up some sin of mine is insulting and absurd. There is nothing that I do, save worship another deity (a big no-no in your religion, but a non-entity in the question of religious choice, as I obviously couldn't believe in and worship Her if I believed in your god), that would stand in stark contrast to the tenets of your religion, thus nothing that I would choose over him and his cross.
You do have a point about all of the bad examples out there of so-called christians, but others' behavior would not influence me in such an important question either.
You say he died to save you from the punishment you deserve. This culture of guilt makes no sense to me. Yet even if this guilt existed, the requirement of self sacrifice in order to save you makes no sense either. (Particularly not when you give contradictory reasoning for his actions earlier in your post.)
Why the cross? "Because in his infinite wisdom he decided that that was the best way to act out what he wanted us to understand." Perhaps one of the best explanations I have gotten to the question thus far. It does of course relegate a less prominent role to the whole action then. If it was merely demonstrative, a walking parable, rather than a necessary action, it becomes a story, no more significant than the water turning to wine or the walking on water. One more miracle to prove a point, not a salvation for mankind.
What you have, is what I have seen. A story of a god who did something that would have little significant impact on him for the sake of telling a story to people who weren't listening beforehand and won't again after. Not exactly the drama of: "Who so loved the world that he offered up his only begotten son..."
Happy Mother's Day, MaryEllen
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