For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18 RSV)
(This was given as a talk during Dubuque’s Ecumenical Conversations – the Children of Abraham – on Thursday, March 10th, 2016.)
INTRODUCTION
The Power of God.
Victory over Death.
The reconciliation of God and humanity.
The ushering in of peace between all peoples.
All this is what the cross means to me.
But why?
The cross is an image of a Judean man who was tortured by the politically oppressive Romans. Yet, Christians identify with this image. We depict it in our sacred space, and we hang its image around our necks.
But the cross is so prevalent in our culture that it’s often seen as mere decoration. It’s easily forgotten that it’s an image of a brutalized man.
The theologian James Cone brings the reality of the cross into the 21st century. He compares the cross to the lynching tree used by white supremacists, and he’s exactly right. Hate groups used lynching to deter civil rights in America in the same way that the Romans used crucifixion to deter political uprisings in ancient Judea.
To the Romans and the Sanhedrin, the Jesus movement was a threat.
But Christ’s resurrection from the dead makes the cross a mystery – it turns everything upside down. From defeat comes victory. From humiliation becomes glory. And death becomes life.
To understand why, we must go to the beginning.
GOD IS LIFE
The first thing to know is that God is Life itself.
When Jesus reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush, he poetically says, “I AM WHO I AM.”
In other words, he says that he is existence itself. Apart from him, there is no life.
WE CHOOSE DEATH INSTEAD OF LIFE
We were created with free will to choose Life.
You see, when Jesus created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he didn’t create them immortal, but neither did he create them mortal.
Instead, he created them with free will – they were given the opportunity to choose between mortality and immortality.
This means that if they had chosen a relationship with Christ – who is Life itself – they would have had eternal life.
But instead they didn’t trust Jesus when he asked them not to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil.
They ate the fruit, and as a result they were cut off from life itself – thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
THE BRANCH EXAMPLE
I think of it this way. As long as a rose branch is connected to the bush, it thrives. It grows leaves and blooms beautiful flowers.
But if that branch is cut off from the bush, it can no longer thrive.
You may be able to put it in some water, and watch it live for a few days or weeks.
But, eventually, being cut off from the rest of the bush, it will wilt and die.
We humans are that branch.
We’ve been cut off from life. Our lives now are sustained briefly as a branch placed in a vase of water.
But that only lasts so long. We eventually wilt and die.
GOD REACHES OUT TO US
But out of love for us, God doesn’t let our relationship with him end. He reaches out to us – in love.
He reaches out to us by becoming human.
The uncreated, immaterial, and transcendent God willingly enters into creation. He willingly limits himself to the confines of a human body so that we can receive life.
A 4th century Orthodox bishop from Africa put it this way,
“God was incarnate [took on flesh] that we might be made god.” (St. Athanasius)
BUT DEATH STILL SEPARATES US
When God enters into humanity, he becomes the source of life for us once again.
But there’s still a problem. Humans die. Death still is our reality. And in death, we are again separated from God, the author of Life.
So, God willingly gives up his life – God dies on the Cross.
His death on the cross is the means by which he destroys death – for death cannot hold life.
When Jesus enters into death, his life spreads to all so when he rises from the dead, all of us rise with him.
This is the theme of the ancient Orthodox Pascha (Easter) hymn, which was sung at the chant concert:
“Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”
If we go back to our rose branch example, what Christ’s death on the cross does is graft that rose branch back onto the bush. It is again connected to life so that it can thrive and bloom.
COMMUNICATIO IDIOMATUM
But the cross is ironic.
It reverses our expectations of what it means for God to be a king. Everything gets turned upside-down. God’s power is shown through weakness.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, God didn’t reveal himself to the world through powerful empires, such as Egypt, Assyria, or Babylon. Instead, he reveals himself through the small, and almost insignificant Israelites.
God didn’t free the Hebrews from Egypt through a grand army, but rather through Moses, a murderer who stuttered when he spoke.
God didn’t speak to kings through angels descending from the clouds in grand style. Instead, he spoke through prophets, some of whom walked the streets naked, or married prostitutes.
The cross is the same pattern. God’s triumph over death is shown through the weakness of the cross.
Because the author of Life entered into death, death is reversed.
In other words, death is the threshold we now cross in order to find life. What we perceive as life now, is simply the process of dying – like the branch in the water.
And what we perceive as death in our lives is really a gateway unto Life.
THE ORTHODOX CROSS
Perhaps the greatest reversal of the cross is the idea that Jesus becomes a curse for us.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us–for it is written, ‘Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree’.” (Galatians 3:13 RSV, quoting Deuteronomy 21:23)
To understand, we go back to the Garden of Eden.
Who tricked Adam and Eve into disobeying God?
It was the serpent, right? The serpent is humanity’s curse.
Then, the serpent again becomes the enemy of God’s people after they are freed from Egypt in the Exodus (Numbers 21).
When the people complain too much about life in the desert, God sends serpents to attack them. The Hebrews get the point and repent from their complaints, so God has mercy.
“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live’.” (Numbers 21:8 RSV)
Here the curse – the serpent – becomes the source of healing.
Now look at the Orthodox cross. What do you see in Christ’s body shape?
It’s the serpent on the pole. And all who see it shall live. The curse has become the blessing.
Even our bishops still carry the serpent upon the pole.
CROSS AS SALVATION
Because I see all this in the cross, the proclamation above Christ on the Orthodox cross is not the historical proclamation. Instead it’s, “The King of Glory.”
When I see the cross, I no longer see a tortured man – broken and bleeding. I see God’s love. I see humanity healed.
For me, the cross is a sign of victory – victory over death. It’s a sign of life. It’s a sign of resurrection.
By means of the cross, Jesus shows himself to be the author of Life, the awaited King who comes to heal our brokenness and give us peace.
It may seem strange that an instrument of torture becomes a sign of healing and life, but God has always worked in mysterious ways.
Thank you.
P.S. I INVITE YOU!
This Lenten season, I invite you to enter deeper into the mystery of the cross with the Orthodox Church!
St. Elias Services
Saturdays, 5 pm (at St. John’s Parish House, 1458 Locust St, Dubuque, IA)
Sundays, 9:30 am (at Hillcrest Chapel, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque, IA)
Or find your nearest Orthodox Church by clicking here.
“What we see as life now, is simply the process of dying… Death… a gateway.”
Very good.
I’m glad you enjoyed it.