Missing The True Significance Of The Cross In Your Life
Every Christian displays a Cross on his or her person, commonly around their necks, and sometimes as a tattoo on their hands. You will find Crosses in their homes, and even in their vehicles.
For the Christian clergy and religious, it is prominently displayed as a symbol of their vocation, so that the people who come in contact with them will give them the respect due to the men and women of God.
And, for the majority of the Christians, it remains just that. A mere symbol of their Christian faith, denuded of all the horrific sufferings, pain and utter humiliation meted out to Jesus that day, 2000 years ago, at Calvary.
Present day Christians fail to understand the true significance of the Cross in their lives, because they have grown up seeing crucifixes in our churches which are the ultimate of man's creativity, with an equally beautiful specimen of humanity on the Cross, albeit with a few red splashes on the body.
As a direct result of churches competing with each other to display the most beautiful Cross they can get their hands on, present day Christians have completely missed the horror and agony which Jesus underwent before, and during, His crucifixion.
They have been spared the fact that before Jesus was crucified, He was subjected to public humiliation, abused, beaten and disfigured. His beard was torn out and a crown of thorns placed on His head as a gesture of mockery. Even when Jesus was dead, His side was pierced with a lance, so that blood and water gushed out. (Jn 19)
But the Scriptures have no qualms about stating the actual facts about the events that happened 2000 years ago. In its usual direct way of presenting, in equal measure, the good and the bad of people and events, the Holy Bible does not shy away from unfolding the shame, agony and humiliation underwent by our Lord Jesus.
And in doing so, it brings to light for us just what God accomplished for all mankind, by offering His only beloved Son on the Cross, as a sacrificial Lamb for our sins.
Old Testament prophecies, also, don't mince any words about the details concerning the sufferings and death of Jesus. In fact, so relevant are the prophetic Scriptures, that we can see how they unfold in minute detail before and during the crucifixion of Jesus: "I bared my back to those who beat me, I did not stop them when they insulted me, when they pulled out the hairs of my beard and spat on my face." (Is 50: 6)
What happened that day 2000 years ago was so utterly horrific that the Roman scourging faithfully enacted in Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" made viewers recoil from the violence and cruelty. Isaiah spoke prophetically of the horrific disfigurement which Jesus was to endure: "Many people were shocked when they saw him; he was so disfigured that he hardly looked human." (Is 52: 14)
And the crucifixion that followed was the most horrendous form of execution ever devised by men, involving excruciating pain and personal humiliation. The heart rendering cry of Jesus, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" contains the depth of suffering that we will never be able to understand.
So, when we gaze upon the crucifix, we need to really feel the horror, agony and humiliation of Jesus within the deepest reaches of our hearts and minds to know the full extent of our sin and accept the great act of love of Jesus dying on the Cross for us. Then only will we really understand the true significance of the Cross in our Christian lives.
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