Lift High the Cross

September 17th, 2014 Posted in writing

Around the year 300, Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, declared that in Jerusalem she had discovered the cross of Jesus. Over the ensuing decades and centuries, pieces of that cross came into the possession of churches, monasteries, chapels and individual believers all over the world, so many that it’s hard to believe that all of them were from the cross Helena found.

But whether or not pieces of that cross exist in so my places, on a deeper level the cross of Jesus can be found anywhere there is human suffering, especially suffering that is unmerited or comes from the hatred or indifference of others. The cross should remind us that the crucifixion is not a once-upon-a-time event that happened centuries ago. It still happens.

But even more importantly, the cross is a powerful symbol of hope, for it proclaims that Christ understands our suffering because he experienced suffering himself, only to rise again. Because of his rising, the cross symbolizes the defeat of death, including all the little deaths we go through in our lives. And the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews wants us to realize that Christ has compassion on us because of what he suffered.

The cross of Jesus is thus a reminder of suffering undeserved and, at the same time, of grace undreamed of. So, we ought to be proud of its challenge and its consolation and “lift it high” indeed.

  1. One Response to “Lift High the Cross”

  2. By Pat Ostrander on Sep 17, 2014

    This message is a bit more relevant to me these days… as we’re facing a harder “cross” than we have had to before, and I need to focus on the hope side of that equation. Thanks for the reminder, Frank, truly!

Post a Comment