In The Cross of Christ, British theologian John Stott reminds us that 1st century Christians were identified as “people of the cross.” From the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, he told his disciples to “take up your cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). In fact, in Christian theology, Christ’s crucifixion has always been the foundation of the good news. Most importantly, Jesus death on the cross brings humanity into a relationship with God and begins a cosmic shift toward world renewal. For millennia Christians have believed that the cross defeats death, sin, and evil. Certainly, this is good news, but this was not always the case.
In the 1st century, the Romans used the cross to torture insurrectionists, rebels, and disturbers of the peace. The cross was a device used to slowly, brutally, and publicly kill those who rebelled against the Empire. In fact, after one particular rebellion in Israel, the Roman army lined the road to Jerusalem with hundreds of victims dying on crosses. To put it in modern terms, this is the way the Roman Empire disposed of terrorists and rabble rousers. Roman soldiers were experts at killing, and the cross was the culmination of their tortuous science. Because of the way prisoners hung on the cross, they would begin to choke on their own blood. The only way to survive was to push up on one’s pinned feet in order to catch a breath. Crucifixions were meant to be elongated torture, with the aim to last multiple days.
The most famous historical crucifixion was sentenced to a Jew from Nazareth. As customary for crucifixions, they wrote Jesus’s crime above his head: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (John 19:19). The cross revealed that this “king” had been gruesomely defeated by the most powerful empire of the time. Even Christ felt abandoned as he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). For Jesus, the cross was a place of desperation and forsakenness.
A cross no longer represents a tool of Roman oppression but a divine act of love, a reminder of Christ’s continued presence, and the promise of a renewed and resurrected world. Through the cross, we know that despite the evil that surrounds us, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, have always been moving toward us in love. Therefore, for those of us who have found union with Christ through faith, we can experience his comfort and new life. Specifically, two truths about the cross can help shape our hope in the midst of suffering.
First, because Christ was utterly forsaken, we are promised that we will never be abandoned in our suffering. Theologian Jurgen Moltmann in his book, The Crucified God, expounded on this idea by explaining that Jesus was utterly forsaken by God the Father so that we would never be alone. Moltmann describes that God the Father’s grief at the Son’s death was all-encompassing and the Son’s abandonment by God the Father was literally earth-shattering. Their separation was horrific, marking a brief moment when the triune God chose separation of divine fellowship. Christ took on this separation, caused by sin and evil, and embraced it. In his death, he took on forsakenness from Father God so that we would never experience life away from his presence. That’s why Jesus tells us “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). In our suffering we can know that in Christ “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Christ has embraced separation so that we will never be abandoned.
Second, the cross of Christ inaugurates a new kingdom. But where does Christ reign? His death seemed to destroy his dream. But in reality, it was the start of the beginning of Christ’s kingdom. Three days after his death, Jesus was raised, and the world was awakened to a new king and kingdom. Those united in Christ now await the return of our king and participate in a kingdom that is both here now, and yet to come. In his book Surprised by Hope, theologian N.T Wright explains that Christians work to build for a kingdom that will one day come down to earth and renew the world. We wait for the full manifestation of his resurrection power to right the cosmos and utterly defeat sin, evil, and death. For Wright, the resurrection is the prototype for world renewal, and we continue to await the full manifestation of this already started kingdom. In our suffering, we are reminded that we serve the King, and we await his cosmic renewal of all things. Therefore, our suffering is infused with meaning, knowing that nothing we lose is utterly lost, nothing beyond repair, and no one beyond resurrection. In the cross of Christ, we are reminded that for the Christian, our suffering will ultimately give way to life.
Published in the Edmond Sun: Sunday Sermon 5/4/19