The Untameable Cross

Tomorrow is Good Friday, the penultimate paradox of Christianity, a celebration of a death that brings life. We do well to approach tomorrow with hesitancy, with bated breath, with a slowness in our step and a quiver in our voice.  Tomorrow is the great upheaval, the day when the evil and violence that we've welcomed into our beds is overthrown, but not with a greater act of power.  Rather, the darkness of the human heart is revealed for what it is in the face of God's submission to sacrifice. No one took his life- he laid it down. God submits to death.  And at the center of it all stands the cross.

I think we've become too comfortable with the cross.  We've tamed it and simplified it so it looks good on our walls, compliments our flower garden, and spices up our outfit as a crystallized accessory. We've forgotten, or maybe chosen to forget, the scandal of the cross.  This object that we've become so familiar with, that decorates our homes and stands at the center of our houses of worship, is nothing more than a torture device.

In Jesus' time, a cross was not looked upon with fondness of heart.  The cross conjured up images of disfigured, beaten bodies, streams of blood flowing from hands and feet. One could hear the sound of agonized screams of pain, or staggered breathing as those hours from death struggled to breath. One could smell the feces, the urine, the vomit as criminals nailed to the wood lost control of their systems, their bodies shutting down. Rome, who made torture an art form, considered the cross to be their masterpiece, their magnum opus.

That we have crosses on our walls, jewelry, clothing, or back windows of our cars is akin to covering our possessions with pictures of the electric chair. We do well to remember that the cross is not first, a religious symbol that brings peace, but a symbol of our wickedness, our depraved nature.

Although it is a symbol of ancient forms of torture, today, it IS a symbol of peace and love, that salvation has been accomplished. When we look at the cross we see that the evils of this world, the sick and twisted ways we perpetuate violence day in and day out, will never have the last word.  No matter what depths we may stoop to, we see, at the cross, the love of God descending to our level, grabbing our face in his hands, and speaking three simple words - "It is finished."

The cross is a reminder that even the darkest forms of humanity are not averse to the light of God's redemption.  The light always overcomes darkness.  And though darkness covered the land at Christ's death, the light that breaks the dawn on Easter morning reminds us the resurrection is just around the corner. So this Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, may we be simultaneously made uncomfortable and comforted, repulsed and invited, saddened and overjoyed, at the sight of the cross