The Cross

Last night at the Good Friday service, a giant lit cross was carried to the stage and lifted into the rafters. This powerful moment and image was followed by the cross being talked about as a tool of torture and the device used to kill our Savior. In the same breath it was mentioned that a device intended to be an instrument of such cruel and horrific torture, humiliation and death would be used by God as a symbol of hope, joy and peace for all of us.

That’s the short of it.

Now to add my thoughts….

As I was watching it being lifted into the rafters, and listening to what the speakers were saying about it, I started thinking about what the cross means to me.

The cross was known as the most devastating device of torture, humiliation and death of its day, and it may be the most horrific torture device ever created. But that’s not what I see. When I look upon the cross, I marvel at the fact that God could take an instrument intended for great evil and use it as such an incredible symbol of hope for us all.

If the devil had it his way, the cross would be the place where our hope for salvation was crushed. He would use it as a symbol to break our wills and destroy our faith. That was his plan all along. He put such hatred into the hearts of those who had praised Jesus’s name only a week prior, that they clamored for his torture and death. They screamed “Crucify Him!”

It sure looked like the devil’s plans were winning out.

The thing is that the enemy’s plans are destined to fail. They always have, and they ultimately will when Christ returns.

Our Savior could have called down the full force of the heavenly host t his aid. He didn’t. He stood quietly and accepted every bit of the pain and torture they visited upon him and died a sinner’s death. He was brought low, so that He could be raised higher than we can fathom. He carried the device that would bring His death, because He knew what came next. He knew that the devil’s plan would fail. The cross would become the greatest symbol of the hope we have in Jesus.

I’ve seen the cross in many different forms, in many different places. But it’s always there as the symbol of God’s love.

There are two instances that have stuck with me since I first saw them.

Earlier this year, I saw it at my feet as I called out to God. On the last day of a weekend camping trip with friends, I sat at the shore of a lake with my eyes closed and hands held out. As I prayed with head bowed, I distinctly heard “open your eyes and look down.” As I did I saw at my feet the sticks you see in the image below. I didn’t place them there. I had sat in that same spot twice the day before but didn’t see them there. I prayed hopefully and expectantly for a sign. God answered. It wasn’t the answer I wanted. It was the answer I needed. All any of us need to do is put our prayers at the foot of the cross. God will take it from there.

 

 

In June of 2002, I was blessed to travel to New York on a theatre trip. One of the sites we saw was Ground Zero. We were there mere months after the heinous act that destroyed the towers, killed so many and threatened to send our country spiraling into darkness. I remembered the story of two beams left standing amidst the rubble. They stood in the shape of the cross. It wasn’t until I was standing outside the fenced off area, viewing the beams from a distance that it sunk in. In the midst of so much death and suffering, God left us with a symbol; a symbol of His love. Looking upon that “cross” my heart was broken into pieces, but it was simultaneously mended because I knew that God was at work, even in this horrific act. He would work to bring greater good for us all through this terroristic act.

 

 

There it is. The choice is yours. You can view the cross as a symbol of evil, or you can see it as the symbol of God’s love for us. He loved us so much that He did not withhold even his only Son from torture and death for our salvation. I hope today, with Easter approaching, you find resoluteness in the knowledge that the cross is not where the devil won. It’s where he lost for all time.

Happy Easter!