CROSS PURPOSES 1: EMBODYING GOD’S LOVE
Of all the religions of the world, the one with the strangest symbol of faith is one you are probably familiar with. The primary symbol of that religion can be troubling, scandalous, even abhorrent. In fact, in parts of the world, it is divisive and dangerous.
The symbol is the cross. It was not, at first, an ornament, like the cross some people wear on a chain, or place along a roadside to remember someone who died in an accident. The cross was like the electric chair, only worse, for it represented the most shameful death of its time. Romans used it only for non-citizens, and even then only for lower-class people. Jews considered crucifixion to be the most shameful way to die, as Deuteronomy 21:22-23 spelled out, “If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole…anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.”
So imagine a group of people, brainstorming a new religion. As they write their ideas on a marker board, would anyone suggest that the leader of their religion should be condemned to die a shameful, gruesome death? Who would think that would be a good idea?
The Apostle Paul recognized how offensive the cross was for unbelievers, but he insisted that the cross was the crux of God’s plan of salvation. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-24, he said, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called…Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
What is wise and powerful about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross? How did the death of Jesus on the cross bring salvation to all who believe in him? What does the cross mean to you personally? Those questions are not so easy to answer, even for Christians, because the meaning of the cross is deep, just as God’s wisdom and power are deep.
In this Lenten series, we will explore the purpose of the cross—the wisdom and power of the cross for our salvation. We will look at the cross from several different angles, focusing especially on the power of the cross to transform our lives. We begin today with a simple, profound truth:
THE CROSS EXPRESSES GOD’S LOVE.
Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Many religious or spiritual people vaguely identify God with love, as an impersonal force or principle. The love of their “god” is like a hug from the universe: a warm feeling, blessings to enjoy, or a sense of affirmation. The idea or sensation of love is their god.
Of course, the Bible says, “God is love.” God’s love, however, is more than a vague, abstract concept, or a warm feeling of comfort. God is real and personal, and his love is expressed in action. 1 John 4:8-10 says, “God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” The love of God took on flesh in the person of Jesus, and it culminated in his death on the cross.
***The difference between love as an idea and love as action is obvious. Our grandchildren live far away from us, and when they call, we tell them we love them. Last month, however, we went to visit them. We hugged them, we took care of them while their parents were away, we played with Legos and taught them card games. We did more than that, however; we awoke in the middle of the night when they had nightmares, and we disciplined them when they needed it. After a week of loving them in person, we returned home, exhausted! Love is more than a vague idea; it is action on behalf of another.**
The Old Testament is, at its core, a story of God’s love in action. God chooses Abraham, and promises to bless him and his descendants. After a couple of generations, Abraham’s descendants end up in Egypt, and God is pretty much forgotten. Yet God has not forgotten them; he remembers his covenant to love and bless, and redeems his people from slavery. His servant Moses leads them through the wilderness, and Joshua leads them into the land God promised to give them. God is committed to loving his people.
Unfortunately, God’s people don’t always trust and respond to God’s love. The book of Judges recounts a pattern: The people go their own way, and they are oppressed by the pagan people around them, until they cry to God for help, and he raises up a leader to deliver them. When the judges are replaced by kings, the pattern continues; the people and their leaders reject the love and blessing of God, seeking instead gods that promise prosperity, fertility, and good times. Even the best kings fall short of trusting God.
When God’s love is rejected, does he give up? No, the prophet Hosea presents a poetic picture of how God continues to love:
Hosea 11:1-7 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them. Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.”
God showed his love as a tender father, and also as a father who disciplines his children. After many years of rebellion, God allowed the Babylonians to take his people into exile. Love is not always hugs; sometimes love is discipline.
Yet even as God sent his people into exile, he did not stop loving them. He went on to say in Hosea 11:8-11, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?...My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man—the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities. They will follow the LORD; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle them in their homes,” declares the LORD.”
God graciously allowed some of the Jews to return to the land of Israel, but they still rejected his love. By the end of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi gives God’s analysis of the situation: Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?” They still didn’t get it!
What more could God do to show his love?
Create a good earth, and bless people with good things? Did that!
Reach out to Abram, and promise blessings for all? Did that!
Deliver his people from slavery, and bring them into a good land? Did that!
Teach everyone laws and guidelines for good relationships and a healthy society? Did that!
Raise up leaders to show his people the way to a good life with him? Did that!
Send prophets to speak God’s words of correction and hope? Did that!
Punish the ones he loves, while seeking a restored relationship? Did that!
What more could God do to demonstrate his love? There was one more thing, but it was almost inconceivable. We can only imagine the response of the angels when the plan was revealed in heaven, for it stretched the limits of what even God can do.
The plan was audacious. The Son would be born into a world in rebellion against God’s love. The powers of evil would be marshalled against him, and as a man, he would depend on the Holy Spirit to sustain and empower him. He would be caught in the crossfire of the brokenness of humanity, “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He would identify with God’s covenant people, whose leaders would resist his authority. Finally, he would be (in the words of Isaiah) “despised and rejected,” condemned to die a shameful death on a cross. Even worse, he would so identify with those who rejected God’s love, that he would endure their painful separation from God, as he would cry out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
It was a costly plan, for it would require God the Father to give his one and only Son for the sake of the world. God the Son would have to humble himself, as Philippians 2:7-8 says, “He [Christ Jesus] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
It was a scandalous plan, for God would share in the shame of human sin, hanging on the cross. It was a risky plan, for God’s love might be rejected. It was a bold plan, as God would go “all in” for the sake of those he loved.
Why would he do it? There is contemporary Christian song that speaks of God’s “reckless love.” Of course, God’s love was only reckless from a human point of view; God knew exactly what he was doing, and what it would cost. God committed to the cross because of his deep commitment to love people—people like us.
What kind of God does this? What kind of God humbles himself to take the form of a man, endures the scorn of rebellious people, and accepts the shame of the cross?
Some people think all religions are basically the same, but the cross puts the lie to that. In no other religion does God love people enough to die for them.
In some religions, gods live in their own world, paying attention to humans when it suits them. In other religions, gods reveal principles of living, which people are wise to follow. The gods of some religions rule over nature, and may occasionally become involved in the world. Some gods can be manipulated, and respond to offerings given to tap into their power and favor.
It is hard to think of any religion whose god or gods are committed to loving people. In no other religion is God so deeply committed in love, as to die for the sake of humanity. No other religion can say, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
What does the cross mean for us? It is impossible for us to fully comprehend the deep wisdom and power of the cross and resurrection, and in future weeks we will see the cross and resurrection as a means of atonement, reconciliation, redemption, and substitution. Yet the simplest meaning of the cross is as deep and profound as any: The cross shows the depth of God’s love!
Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
When you see the cross, how does it affect you?
***Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger (archbishop of Paris from 1981 until his retirement in 2005) once told a story during a homily, about a group of boys in Orleans, France, back in 1939. The boys wanted to have a bit of fun, and dared each other to go inside the church and confess a made-up list of terrible sins to the priest in the confessional. One of them, a Jewish boy named Aaron, took up the challenge.
Aaron marched into the confessional, but the priest, who was both wise and holy, immediately knew what he was up to. Without showing any sign of annoyance, the confessor gave him a simple penance: to go up the altar, kneel before the large image of Jesus being crucified, and say three times, “Jesus, I know you died for me. But I don’t give a damn.”
“Hah! Easier than I thought,” Aaron told himself. So he went up the altar to do his penance. “Jesus, I know you died for me. But I don’t give a damn,” he shouted.
“Jesus, I know you died for me. But I don’t give a damn,” he declared a second time.
“Jesus, I know you died for me. But I don’t give …” He could not go on.
The following year, in August of 1940, Aaron was baptized and took the name “Jean-Marie.”
“And,” Cardinal Lustiger wrapped up the story, “that boy is standing here now, speaking to you.”**
If you understand and accept that Jesus Christ loved you enough to endure the pain and shame of the cross, you will be forever changed. As 1 John 4:14-16 says, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
Because of the cross, you can “know and rely on the love of God.”
You can trust God to save you, if you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord.
You can trust God’s love enough to obey his commandments, and seek his will for your life. 1 John 5:3 says, “This is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome…”
You can trust God enough to persevere, even when circumstances make it hard to believe in his love. As Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
You can trust God enough to love other people, even the kind of sinners Jesus died to save. When we do that, we understand the depth of God’s love, as 1 John 4:10-12 tells us, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is made complete in us.”
The cross shows us the depth of God’s love.
“For God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
