Lenten Season Message-The "centrality" Of The Cross!!!-Part 1

CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS!!!-Part 1

“Jab tak rahega , Samosae mein Allu, tab thak rahega Bihar mein Lallu” (till potato remains in the Samosa, till then Lallu will remain in Bihar…an apt rustic translation befitting the person eh…) shouted the angry supporters of Lallu Prasad Yadav, the Chief of Rashtriya Janata Dal party and Ex-Chief Minister of Bihar State (the second largest in India in terms of Lok Sabha seats) some years ago (2013 to be more precise), even as he was being whisked away by the police from Ranchi High court after being convicted in the infamous fodder scam. A jail sentence of five years awaited him then, however this earthy, street-smart Political maverick has since made a strong comeback both in State and National politics!!! Now for the catchy afore-mentioned slogan… for the uninitiated Samosa with spiced, mashed potato filling in the CENTRE is an Indian snack relished by every Indian from “Kashmir to Kanyakumari”…(in the Biblical parlance the equivalent of Dan to Beersheba- 1 Sam 3:20). Really what is in the centre makes the difference in a sandwich too, isn’t it?

Now coming to the spiritual realm in this 2-parts Series, I am inspired to focus on the subjects related to the “Centrality of the Cross”. If a tree was the cause of the original sin, then it follows that our wise God would use yet another tree in mankind's history to usher in salvation. Firstly…

Of Cement and Conciliation…

Though Adam by sinking his teeth into the forbidden, through his actions conveyed to His Creator that he wanted to be wanted live independent of the of the very One who had given him life in the first place, all along the benevolent God had spoken through several ways (Heb 1:1) about the reconciliation He had planned between the estranged mankind (represented by Adam) and Him.

That reconciliation would come through the Cross. In other words Cross was “central” to God’s wise plan of Salvation which would “cement” the broken relationship between Him and His prized creation (man made in His own image-Gen 1:27).

With advancement of medical science, several startling medical truths are coming to the fore on routine basis. One among them is that the protein-Laminin- which binds all the cells (keeping body together as one functional unit) virtually is a Cross-shaped “cement” as though to suggest that in God’s infinitely wise mind Cross’s eternal purpose all along had been one of “binding” between two parties (Him and Mankind).

Of City and Clock…

Where else could God’s Pascal Lamb (1 Cor 5:7) die other than in God’s home (Jerusalem-Psalm 132:13-14 NLV) and what other time could He die other than at 3 pm just like the original Pascal lambs were slain in respective Jewish homes on the First Passover festival at evening time (Exodus 12:1-6 KJV-Evening for Jews would mean 3pm-5pm)!!!

Also Jerusalem by virtue of its location in the MIDDLE of the World (Ezekiel 5:5), typified Jesus’ mediatory Ministry of bringing about reconciliation between Holy God and sinful mankind (1 Tim 2:5).

At this stage, I intend to increase the intensity of the spotlight on the subject of Adonai God (the Sovereign One seated at the throne-Isa 6:1)… it would stun many of us when we observe the sequence of events leading upto the Cross as to how the Almighty had “everything in His Sovereign control in order everything takes place at the right place and in the right time”. Now consider this Scripture in the background of Jesus’ arrest “in the night before His crucifixion” and Judgment of the High Priest (Matt 26:57-66). Next day morning...

“Then the entire council took Jesus to Pilate, the Roman governor. They began to state their case: “This man has been leading our people astray by telling them not to pay their taxes to the Roman government and by claiming he is the Messiah, a king.”

So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

Pilate turned to the leading priests and to the crowd and said, “I find nothing wrong with this man!”

Then they became insistent. “But he is causing riots by his teaching wherever he goes—all over Judea, from Galilee to Jerusalem!”

“Oh, is he a Galilean?” Pilate asked. When they said that he was, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas, because Galilee was under Herod’s jurisdiction, and Herod happened to be in Jerusalem at the time.” (Luke 23:1-7)

Before I go any further, for the uninitiated a picture of the Geo-political “climate” at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion is essential to understand better the COMPLETE picture of God’s Sovereign control over the sequence of events.

For smooth governance, the Land of Palestine was divided by Rome into 6 provinces’ with three provinces of

A) Galilee, Samaria and Judea (North to South in the Western side of River Jordan)