It’s impossible to add to the story of
love written by Jesus upon the cross.
All we can do as mere mortals is to use that story to encourage one
another. Part of the encouragement
comes in recognizing the role of the cross in God’s plan. By discerning the role of the cross in
salvation history, we can come to a proper understanding of its ability to
shape our lives as disciples of Jesus.
The first thing to note is that Jesus’
suffers in a scriptural way, to fulfill a scriptural purpose. In other words, Jesus’ suffering is not
something we read of for the first time in the gospels, in fact it is foretold
in scripture long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Psalm 22, a rich text rooted in Jewish
scripture, is quoted five times in the Passion narrative of Jesus. We see it as prophecy when v. 18, “they
divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots”, is
fulfilled in Mark 15:24:
“And they crucified him
and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide
what each should take.”
And again
when v. 7, “All who see me mock
me; they make mouths at me; they wag
their heads”, is fulfilled in Mark 15:29-30:
“And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and
rebuild it in three days, save
yourself, and come down from the cross!”
We also see Psalm 22 cast as prayer,
when Jesus uses the language of Jewish faith to exclaim in Mark 15:34 “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
We see our Lord
not only fulfilling the prophecy of scripture, but also using scripture to
pray. In doing so, Jesus teaches us something
very real about genuine faith. In the
words of Eduard Schweizer, “it is a radical expression of devotion
to God which endures in every adverse experience- a devotion which continues to
claim God as ‘my’ God and will not let him go although he can be experienced
only as the Absent One who has forsaken the petitioner.”
Jesus suffers in a scriptural way, to
fulfill a scriptural purpose, which is no less than the reconciliation of all humanity
to God. We see this symbolized in a few
ways, the first of which is the rending of the veil in the temple. The only other time when the word “rent” is
used in the gospel of Mark, describing something being torn open, is in 1:10 at
Jesus’ baptism. There the heavens are “rent”,
the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the Father speaks words of
affirmation. Just as the heavens were
rent at his baptism, now the curtain in the Holy of Holies is rent at his
death, rent from the top to the bottom, symbolizing not only divine initiative,
but a renewed access to God through the atoning death of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit descends
to earth and takes on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ death, the Holy Spirit, God’s
abiding presence leaves the temple, and is now capable of taking up residence
in the human heart. The other way we see
this purpose symbolized, or announced, is through the proclamation of the
centurion. It is the centurion in charge
of Jesus’ execution that proclaims him to be the Son of God. Way back in the very first verse of the
gospel, 1:1, Mark began with this declaration,” the beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Now, on
the cross, and through his sacrificial death, Jesus’ true identity is revealed
to the world. Not only is it revealed,
but it is revealed through the lips of a Roman centurion, a soldier of the
emperor who competes with Jesus for the world’s worship and adoration. Imagine what it would mean for a Roman
Christian to see in the story of the gospel, that even a soldier of Rome could
come to knowledge of who Jesus is, and make the good confession that he is the
Son of God. We should not let the cross
obscure our ability to recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus reigns, not despite his crucifixion,
but because of it. Perhaps Venatius
Fortunatus put it best in his Passion
Hymn when he declared, “God has reigned from a tree.”
I probably haven’t told you anything you
didn’t know, in pointing out that Jesus crucifixion was the fulfillment of
prophecy found in scripture. You probably
also knew that Jesus crucifixion was for the purpose of our redemption. While I haven’t told you anything new, I hope
that I can at least encourage you to think about it in a new way. You see, as I pointed out in the last blog
post, the cross is as much about formation as it is forgiveness. God forgives us of our past, because he has
plans for our future, big plans. Sadly
though, the cross too often moves us to gratitude…but not discipleship. As Thomas a Kempis would say in his book The Imitation of Christ, “Jesus hath now
many lovers of his heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of his cross.” Or, in words perhaps a little more relatable
to our generation, Ben Witherington III would simply observe that, “some are
more willing to wear the cross than bear the cross.” We cannot love what the cross represents,
while at the same time shying away from what it requires of us. Don’t just give thanks for Jesus’ cross, take
up your own.
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