What do we say about the cross?

Every Lent we move inexorably from ashes to cross and the question arises again.  What can we say about the cross?  How could the suffering of the 'good', our Lord Jesus, in any way be a part of the redemption of the 'broken' (you and me)?

For Christians the cross is everywhere.  It is held up as a sign of God's commitment born out of love for all of creation....'for God so loved the world that God gave the only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life....'  We even wear it as jewelry!

The truth is, the cross is an instrument of cruel, inhumane suffering and death.  It is a symbol of everything we wish to avoid in this lifetime.  To look on the face of the suffering Jesus, even if only in your imagination, and see the love of God takes a spiritual clarity that frequently slips away from me.

St. Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles….” Foolishness.  A stumbling block.  

Oh, St. Paul.  Let's not put too fine a line on it.  The cross scares the pants off me.  At the same time, any effort to diminish the cruel reality of the cross, in my mind, serves only to dim the bright light on my brokenness and the cruelty of the world we live in. It keeps me from being truthful about myself.

To leap frog over Good Friday to Easter morning is to pretend that the pain and suffering of this world can somehow be avoided.  More than that.  It implies that Easter is a reward for those who 'live right' or 'live a good life' as if Jesus didn't do exactly those things!

And here is my final confession.  Confronting the cross on Good Friday, I know....KNOW....that I am so far beyond the pale of 'good' that I am sure God is exhausted from searching for me.  I do not understand.  I can interpret.  I can explain.  But I will never understand how the cross of Christ could cover me.

But in the midnight of my soul, it is to the cross I cling.  Perhaps I believe that something which makes absolutely no sense at all has to be the work of God.  The same God who brings us an empty tomb........