The Cross

World religions all have their symbols. Judaism, for example, has a six-pointed star, Islam has a crescent moon, Buddhism has a lotus blossom. And all these symbols are attractive. But the universally recognized symbol for Christianity is an instrument of death.

That choice is even more amazing when we consider the horror and the torture with which crucifixion was regarded in the ancient world. Crucifixion was invented by barbarians, but it was taken over by the Greeks and perfected by the Romans. It has been called “the cruellest method of execution ever practiced” because it delayed death until the maximum torture had been inflicted on its victim. In fact, it was possible for a victim to hang on the cross for days before dying very slowly of suffocation.

The Roman Empire considered crucifixion such a terrible form of execution that they did not allow any Roman citizens to be executed in this manner except in extreme cases of treason. Cicero, a writer who lived shortly before Jesus was born, once said this about crucifixion: “To bind a Roman citizen is a crime, to flog him is an abomination, to kill him is almost an act of murder: to crucify him is – what? There is no fitting word that can possibly describe so horrible a deed.”

Crucifixion was so painful and such a horrible way to be tortured and killed that a new word had to be created to describe it. The word “excruciating” was invented to describe the pain and agony of the cross. The word “excruciating” literally means “out of the cross”.

And yet, with all the horror of the cross and crucifixion, knowing that Jesus died such a death, Christians have chosen the cross as a symbol to identify themselves with. And unless there’s a good reason for choosing that symbol, putting it in front of a building or around one’s neck on a chain makes no more sense than engraving a guillotine, hangman’s noose, or electric chair on my business card or tombstone.

Why, then, does Christianity have a cross as its symbol? Why has this visual image remained central to the identity of Jesus’ followers through the centuries? Why preserve the memory of so awful an event as crucifixion? Why remind ourselves constantly so that we are all focused on the death of Jesus of Nazareth? Why does it matter?

In the Bible, what matters the most? Among all the do’s and don’ts and should and shouldn’t, what is essential? What is indispensable? The Old Testament? The New? Grace? Baptism?  What really matters?

What do we tell people who come to us lost in the maze of organized religion, bewildered by the differences between churches, and confused by the 1001 “central issues” about which we seem so concerned?

What do we tell people who have all but turned off to Christianity, who need to believe so badly but can’t decide what is worth believing, who long to see something relevant and alive in the church today.

What is the part that matters? What is at the heart of it all? When all the additions and periphery and lesser matters are stripped away, what is left that can change a life.

We read in the Bible that the church is the bride of Christ. It is the body of Christ. But, as important as the church is, it is never presented in scripture as the focal point of the Christian faith. Rather, the church is a redeemed group of people who come together to focus on the part that does matter and to share that message of grace to others.

It goes without saying that our world is in great need of some basic ethical and moral teaching. All around us, we can see the tragic results of lives lived outside the boundaries of God’s commands. Although the Bible teaches a standard of morality, morality is not at the very heart and centre of the gospel message.

Doctrine is important. And true faith will be concerned about sound doctrine. False teaching will never lead us closer to God. But if the search for correct doctrine becomes the focus of our faith — the part that matters — then what one believes assumes greater importance than the person in whom one believes. And putting doctrine at the centre will cause the church to divide over a multitude of differences and disagreements. As important as correct doctrine is it is not in itself the part that matters.

Human beings are emotional creatures and the expression of emotion is an important thing. Some have made the mistake of trying to exclude all emotion from worship, and that is wrong. Then there are others who react against the coldness of formal ritual and have sought to focus all their spiritual attention on their emotions. To them, the focus of their faith is feeling good about God. If they go home from worship with a good feeling, they are content. But emotion cannot be the focus of our religion.

All these things have their place and are important in our search for a relationship with God. But none of them is the part that really matters. None of them belong at the very centre of what following Christ is all about. They all contribute to the centre, they all point to the centre, but they are not the centre.

Consider this, the cross rests on the timeline of history. We even date our years from around the time the events of it took place.

According to Paul, the cross is what counts.  History has done everything to it but ignore it. That is the one option that the cross does not offer. Paul called it “the core of the gospel.” If the account is true, it is history’s hinge.  If not, it is history’s hoax.

The claim of Jesus altered the world and its promise has never been equalled.

It was the cross and the empty tomb that formed for Paul the core of Christianity — the part that really matters. Paul says, “Of all the things I preached to you, this is the most important thing that I said – I told you about the cross.” That is what they believed and that is what saved them. The cross is at the centre. It is the clear and consistent teaching of the entire Bible. The cross is at the centre.

Each of the gospels climaxes with the events surrounding the cross. Roughly one-half of Mark’s gospel relates to the events leading up to and including the day of the crucifixion. The apostle John spends roughly nine out of his twenty-one chapters covering the last day of the life of Christ. And all four of the gospel writers fill their book with references to the cross. They point to its coming. They tell its story.

The preaching of the apostles in the book of Acts is the preaching of the cross. That one theme unifies all the speeches that we have in the book of Acts.

Peter’s message on Pentecost was a message of the cross in Acts two.

In Acts four and Acts five, after healing a lame man, Peter had a chance to offer his defence before the Sanhedrin, which was really a message of the cross.

In Acts eight, when Philip was talking to the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus, Philip used a passage from Isaiah about the cross as his text.

In Acts ten, Peter preached the cross to Cornelius, and in Acts thirteen Paul declared the message of the cross in his talk to the synagogue in Antioch.

In Acts seventeen, the cross was the central part of Paul’s message in the city of Thessalonica.

Time and time again the message of the first century New Testament church was the message of a crucified Christ.

The thread that runs throughout the letters to the churches of the first century is the message of Jesus and the cross. The epistles are commentaries in explaining the impact of the cross on the lives of those that would follow Jesus.

In Romans 6:3-4, Paul explains that baptism is a uniting with Jesus and the cross

In Galatians 2:20, Paul explains that Christian living means being crucified with Christ and allowing Him to live through you

In 1 Peter 2:21, Peter describes the suffering of Christians as walking in the steps of Jesus as he suffered on the cross

The cross is at the centre of our faith. Some people choose to wear a cross as jewellery as a constant reminder of the cross in their daily lives. But, more importantly, the cross is at the centre of our worship and our lives.

We gather to sing songs like: The Old Rugged Cross, Jesus Keep me Near the Cross, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.

In our prayers, we give thanks to God for sending His Son to die for our sins.

We gather around the Lord’s Table and remember the one event in the life of our Lord which he specifically asked us to commemorate – his death.

The cross is at the very centre of Christianity. It made up the core of the gospel story, and the apostles’ teaching and writing.  Everything that we are and everything that we do as Christians is done because of it. The songs that we sing, the prayers that we pray, the observance of the Lord’s Supper — all of that relates to the cross. None of it has any meaning apart from the cross.

You are not a Christian until you have seen the cross and understood its message. It does not matter how often you have attended church services, or how many good deeds that you have done for others. None of those things matter without the cross.

Is the cross at the centre of your life?