If ever there is anything to reflect on as believers, it is always, so obviously, the cross. If ever there is anything more difficult to reflect on as believers, again, it’s the cross.
It is the very heart and guts of the faith.
Jesus on the cross. Darkness over the land. The cry as he dies. The curtain rips in two. The earth shakes. And the dead come out of their tombs.
There’s nothing anyone could ever say about the cross that can do it justice.
So why then attempt to write a blog post about it?
Because if we don’t continually keep coming back to the cross and reflecting on it – as much as our feeble attempts allow – then we’ve strayed from what it’s all about and are majoring in minors.
Writing of majoring in minors makes me think of music and when I think of the cross, it’s music that comes to mind also.
Maybe this is because I’m not able to reflect adequately myself and am reliant on the words of others. Or maybe it’s because the very nature of the cross leads us subconsciously to a place of worship.
For me, it’s not very long before Stuart Townend’s lyrics drop into my head:
This, the power of the cross: Christ became sin for us,
Took the blame, bore the wrath: We stand forgiven at the cross.
It’s only two lines but it encapsulates so much.
For in the power of the cross there is also mystery. How exactly does a man dying on a cross turn the tables on everything? And yet it does.
Jesus was served up the punishment of a criminal when he was actually innocent. And in so doing, he makes us the same. Our sin is sent packing.
It’s a complete reversal.
Jesus took away everything: our sin, our guilt, our shame – it’s all gone.
I think Townend chose the right verb in the final phrase of the chorus too. We may feel weak and unworthy before God and sense that we can do nothing more than linger, cowering in shame near the cross.
In reality, we stand forgiven at the cross. There’s a power in that verb. For the power of Christ has been transferred to us. We stand boldly in his grace. Not on our own merit, but on His.
…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
The egalitarianism of Christianity is worthy of reflection.
When reflecting on the cross, there is a second song that comes to my mind quite quickly and it’s always Mac Powell’s voice that I hear singing it.
This is probably because I have listened to Third Day’s Offerings II album far too many times and their Medley reworks the hymn, perfectly adding more layers to it.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full, in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace
I think that’s what happened for the centurion at the cross.
The centurions were in the military, in charge of about 100 soldiers, hence the name. They were Romans and one would assume, rather commanding figures.
Yet, in the New Testament, often these military men show great humility when they encounter Jesus.
In Matthew’s gospel it records the following:
When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Perhaps when reflecting on the cross, the centurion provides us with the model response. For all the things we might struggle to understand about the cross, if in our reflections we agree with the centurion and declare that Jesus is God, then I think we have landed in the right place.
Yours about to listen to Offerings II again,
Alison
