We will be discussing what Jesus really achieved on the cross this weekend at the Gathering. As I have been reading and thinking about this conversation, a couple of things really stand out.
First, we live in a world full of expert opinions.
Gandhi said that the cross was a great example but nothing miraculous happened the day Jesus hung there.
Madonna believes that if Jesus were still alive he would follow her lead and build a giant Broadway styled cross on a stage and turn the crucifixion into a whimsical dance number.
Nietzsche was convinced that if Jesus had lived longer he would have simply blown off his convictions as youthful bliss.
Everyone has an expert opinion – and all emerge from the same broken nature that exists within my natural state. Does not give me much peace in my soul to think I might be basing my beliefs and convictions on the ideas/opinions of people who find it so easy to dismiss the greatest sacrifice ever presented the global community.
Second, it is incredibly humbling to consider what Luther termed “the great exchange”. That single act that allowed one man to physically and spiritually take on every evil thought, word and deed that has ever oozed out of my existence.
It is becoming very clear to me that we live in a world, and some of us belong to professing Christian communities, where the cross of Christ is viewed with ever increasing contempt.
Do not go through the day without pausing to consider the incredible, earth moving, unreproducible, un-matched act of sacrificial love that is now offered to you this day. Don’t hold the cross in contempt.
1 Comment
August 28, 2009 at 2:55 pm
no doubt that the cross is held in contempt, it is utter foolishness to the carnal man as Paul described. It’s only when our eyes are opened that we can see its beauty and wonder.