“Sometimes the prominence of the cross blends into the background hum of Christianese.”
How can one moment change eternity? How can blood on a board be the road to freedom? How can one act of sacrifice swallow up every act of human selfishness? How can a King, in the act of dying, establish an eternal throne? How can someone who wouldn't save Himself, provide the path to save everyone else? Let's face it, the cross is a paradox. This central point of history, this benchmark for all salvation, is a vortex of upside down, ins and outs. Its both judgement and mercy; injustice and justice; death and life; surrender and conquest; fragility and strength; humanity and divinity; wrapped in wood and nail; flesh and blood.
Does the paradox of the cross bother you? Does it seem strange that so many contrasts, so many twists and turns can be found in the grains and stains of the wood? Maybe you've never thought about it before? Sometimes the prominence of the cross blends into the background hum of Christianese. Has the image of the cross lost its mystery for you? If it has, then, isn't that another paradox? I mean, as Christians, how could we take for granted that which we could never be good enough to deserve? How could we consider 'common' that which was conceived in the heart of God from before the creation of the world? "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight" (Eph 1:4)
The fact that the cross is either 'foolishness to those who are perishing' or 'the power of God to those who are being saved' (1 Cor 1:18) is fitting, and, hey, also a paradox (does anyone see a theme developing here?). The cross should either offend, or amaze, but never should it bore. Its claims are too fantastic; its acceptance too transforming; its rejection too costly! The cross has cast a shadow on every soul since its supporting post first hit bottom and the flesh of God ripped and bled as the heart of a man cried out, "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?" (Mat 27:46)
No one can escape that shadow; it beckons; it calls. Its presence is so grand that the world's attempts to ignore it require much more intentionality than most are willing to admit. Oh, they can scoff at it, they can distort it, they can trivialize its image by making it into a trinket to wear, or an image to mock, but that doesn't change it's God-given mystery, or power.
To tell you the truth, I'm comfortable with the paradox of the cross. It makes sense to me. Should not the starting point of our faith embody a signpost for our journey? Isn't each Christian life also a paradox? Die to live; surrender to win; power through weakness; maturity through pain; joy through suffering; last is first; lose to gain.
As we approach the cross and the empty tomb this year, take some time to rediscover, or even discover for the first time, the message, the power, the reality of the cross. There are treasures to be found and a lifetime of puzzles to ponder. But, at the same time, it's Sunday School simple — "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) OK, let's all say it together . . . "Complex and simple, isn't this yet another paradox?!"