The Message of the Cross

Many years ago, it was my pleasure to host a small group traveling to the Holy Land. A close friend had coordinated the entire trip from start to finish. We first arrived in Cairo where we encountered our first significant culture shock. When we disembarked the plane, passed through customs and made our way into the main lobby area we noticed armed soldiers everywhere. Anwar Sadat had been assassinated by fundamentalist military officers and the government was on constant alert for additional acts of terrorism.

To make things even more interesting, I remember our group being transported through the Sinai to a checkpoint on the border with Israel. Four hours into the trip with four more hours ahead of us, surrounded by nothing more than sand, a blazing, hot sun and a few burned out tanks from previous skirmishes, our two Muslim escorts inquired of me why God elected the Hebrews as his chosen people. Aren’t we who are Egyptian, God’s people, too? That, I tell you, was a most interesting conversation. I do not remember how I answered the question, but I do remember the group and I making it across the border into Israel … safely … one hour before sundown on a Friday, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. Nothing like living on the edge.

Security was tight in Israel as well especially around the historical and religious sites, On our visit to Masada there was an elementary school class visiting for the day accompanied by their teacher and three fathers equipped with machine guns strapped over their shoulders. There was also the night when I entered an elevator in our Jerusalem hotel with a female dressed in military uniform. She was armed to the hilt. When I caught up with our guide Ezra Eini the next morning (I still remember his name after all these years, a gentle soul still regarded as one of the top guides in Israel), I asked why there were so many guns. A reserve paratrooper in Israel’s Defense Force, Ezra looked at me and said, “Steve, my friend, how would you like to be surrounded by so many enemies whose highest priority is to push your backside into the sea?” I could tell he was serious.

On this Good Friday, we are very much aware of the ongoing tensions around the globe within the human family, People are squared off against one another ready and waiting to respond to some form of threat. Since the beginning of human history, all these centuries later, we keep hurting each other. Jesus took his last breath just a few minutes ago. Immediately before his death, Jesus made a choice. He most likely could have saved himself, but he didn’t. Neither did he return the curses, taunts and insults hurled his direction. The mandate to love one another from the night before had already been violated. However, Jesus did not turn against those who turned their backs on him. Instead, he simply prayed, “Abba Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

This is the message of the Cross: Life in Christ is about grace and forgiveness, and it is about suffering and death. There is suffering for the sake of Christ, recognizing that a meaningful life is not always about getting what we want, but what God wants. And there is death to our  selfishness, pride, arrogance and our passion for keeping grudges and keeping score in order to one day get even.

When Jesus drew his last breath, he had no thought of getting even. Instead, he was consumed with faith and trust. When Nicodemus joined Joseph of Arimathea in removing Jesus from the cross, can you imagine what that was like? The crowd dispersed, making their way home. Who would be the next revolutionary to stir the pot? What they did not know at the time was that without suffering and death, new life, hope and a future are impossible. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it well, “The Cross is not the horrible end of a pious, happy life, but stands rather at the beginning of community with Jesus Christ.” (Meditations on the Cross)

As the day comes to a close ,may we take a moment or two to think about what that Good Friday was like and our part in it, even today. Are we the people who insult, curse and taunt, and wait for the next revolutionary? Or, are we the people who have a smidgeon of an idea – even in the midst of violence, darkness and death – that God is up to something?

Night comes. The world grows still. Holy Saturday awaits us. What in God’s name has happened? Let us wait with “holy patience,” allow God to do his “mighty work, and not give up, not just yet. Amen. +.

—
Steve Keeler, Pastor