The cross (part 2)

The blood of Jesus…purifies us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

When you look at the cross, what do you see?  There are people who realize how bloody awful the cross was, and it disturbs them.  They look away, sickened or disgusted.  For some, the unfairness of it all is repulsive—they wonder how a just and righteous God could spare sinners and treat His own Son so badly?  It just doesn’t seem right to them.  Others squirm at the sight of blood—they don’t like to deal with blood when their kids get cuts and scrapes, and they certainly don’t like to think about blood while they’re worshiping in church!  And some turn away from the cross because of guilt—they don’t like to think that their bad behavior helped put the Son of God in such an awful position. 

Honestly, Jesus’ death at Calvary was a gruesome event.  It almost seems maudlin that some crosses feature Jesus’ dying body.  But we need to appreciate what Jesus went through on that bloodstained piece of wood.  We need to remember why He was there in the first place.  We are sinners, each and every one of us.  We don’t obey God’s commands.  Jesus said, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself ' (Matthew 22:37-39). But we don’t live this way. We don’t love God more than everything else; we don’t treat our neighbors with the same level of concern that we have for ourselves. 

Because we are sinners, we have no right to expect anything from God except His punishment.  We have no right to expect Him to answer our prayers for help, or that He would spare us from going to hell when we die.  Thankfully, God loves us despite our sinfulness.  That love prompted Jesus to bear the awful responsibility for our sin on the cross, where He suffered everything that we had coming to us.  It was bloody awful, what Christ went through, yet He suffered all of it willingly so we might be forgiven and welcomed into God’s magnificent home when we die. 

When we see the cross, we see God at work.  He is a just God who punishes wrongdoing. At the same time He is a compassionate God who took drastic action to spare us so we can be His forever.  It is good to see the suffering because Jesus did no small thing on our behalf.  Seeing the price He paid for our sin ought to drive us to our knees in humble gratitude for our salvation.