Thinking of the Cross

I am thinking about the cross again. I am afraid we don't meditate on the cross enough. Even when we do, I fear that we might not be thinking correctly about it. I think that is one of the reasons a person can wear a cross as an ornament, but not live a Christ-centered life. Or when we think about the cross we often have the image of a crucifix in our mind.

However, a crucifix is a sanitary devise. They are crafted portraying Jesus wearing a loin cloth to preserve his dignity (or perhaps our modesty). We see his head crowned with thorns, his face drawn up is s sad pout, not quite capturing the agony of his death. There is little blood and less bruising. The crucifix focuses on the work of Christ, but seems to leave the work unfinished. The image keeps Jesus perpetually on the cross for sinners, even though Scripture declares his work finished.

The cross was anything but sanitary. There was no attempt to protect Jesus' dignity or modesty. Historians tell us that prisoners were often stripped naked and forced to walk through the streets; one final act of humiliation just before death. Scripture tells us that Jesus faced different trials after his arrest. He was stricken, spit on, beaten, mocked, and ridiculed. Pilate had him flogged. This process would have reduced his back to a mass of bloody ribbons; the flesh torn from his body. His face was probably so beaten that he could not be recognized (could this be what Isaiah 52:14 meant?).

Jesus said to the Father, "I have manifested you name to the people whom you gave me out of the world"(John 17:16). But those people had abandoned him. The Father said to Jesus, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). Yet the crowds cried out, "He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him" (Matt. 27:43).

When we try to image the suffering of Christ our imagination will always fall short. We may be able to imagine the violent nature of the crucifixion and the graphic nature of the events (Mel Gibson"s movie, The Passion of the Christ, has made this easier to do). However, what we cannot imagine is the mental anguish that Jesus was under.

How can we comprehend Jesus, the all-knowing Creator, looking at the crucifixion? It is one thing to know a thing will hurt, like breaking a leg, but what if you could feel the pain--each and every ounce of it, before the break occurred. How can we imagine the the perfect fellowship enjoyed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit from all eternity? How can we imagine the kind of impact the knowledge that that fellowship would be interrupted for a time would produce? How can we imagine what it would feel like to know in full God's holy anger toward sin, and to know that you were going to taste it all?

When we think about the cross, and I am convinced we must think of it often, we must do so with humility and awe. We must do so know that Christ has completed his perfect work and received in his flesh the full punishment for our sin. We must do so knowing that as often as we think of it we will be tempted to sanitize event, even as we are tempted to sanitize our own sin.

May the Lord help us to remember the cross rightly. I pray he etches it on our hearts and that he causes us to remember it often with reverence and gratitude. May he remind us often that it is because of the cross that we stand righteous before him. To him be glory and honor.