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God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world. Gal6:14 The cross of Jesus Christ was a collision of a holy God with sinful man. It is a collision of time and eternity, death and life, love and hate, goodness and evil, heaven and hell, an agony and an ecstasy. It is a collision of opposites (St. Bonaventure). What Jesus experienced for us we may never fully comprehend. He was the God-man. He was fully human and fully divine. He was like us in all ways except for sin which he placed on himself on the cross for our redemption. The cross represents the greatest evil that man could do to man and the greatest good that God could give to man. The cross is the ticket to our redemption. St. Paul in the verse from Galatians indicates that the cross brought about his crucifixion as well. This sign of contradiction was experienced in him whereby the world is crucified unto him and him unto the world. We know in Romans chapter seven that Paul experienced this crucifixion when he says "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"(Rom7:21-24) The preaching of the cross which we deliver to bring life to the hearers brings death. For St. Paul and for us the cross raises to the surface all the shadows of the flesh that we try to hide and suppress. It is being crucified unto the world. When the message of the cross is proclaimed in its fullness and entirety it brings about sadness and an agony which calls us to repent. All of the conditioning of the past: the fears, the resentments, the sin, and the hurt surfaces for us when we hear the salvation plea. We cry and weep and recognize our failures and our need for a redeemer. What the cross did to Jesus happened spiritually to St. Paul, and spiritually to us as well. When we receive new birth and become new creatures in Christ and receive through the blood of the Lamb, his Holy Spirit, what begins is the working of death and life, sin and holiness, time and eternity. The collision of opposites brings death and this death produces new life. "Except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it dies it bringeth forth much fruit." (John12:24) That is the sorrow and the joy of the Christian life. That is the sorrow and the joy of the cross. Evidence of this law of life and death is seen in the way we speak. "For by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Math12:37) Words of the Spirit bring life and words of the flesh bring death. "Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" (James3:11) When we speak words of hate, fear, criticism, defeat, negativity and the like death is at the door. When we speak words of life, scripture, love, faith, hope, peace and the like, life springs forth. Yet in our flesh we find two laws, one of life and one of death. In our mouth we find two laws, words of death and words of life. If we would examine the way we speak we would uncover the shadows that we hide and repress and it would cause us to weep and mourn and lead us to repentance and life and prosperity and truth. Just as hearing the message of the cross brings us to repentance so too does and examination of the way we speak. So too, if we would examine the way we think we would find two laws at work there as well. The cross represents a collision for God and man in the person of Jesus Christ. The preaching of the cross represents a collision for God and us as well. So too does being filled with the Spirit, reading scripture, praying for the sick, and praying for the lost. We find two laws at work. One law brings death while the other brings life. The love that Jesus had for mankind not only brought about our salvation, it brought out the worst in man that nailed him to the cross. That same principle is at work in us. St. Paul was keenly aware of this because he experienced it so often in his life and he knew that the Christian would experience it in his life as well. The Christian walk is an agony and an ecstasy. It brings out the best and the worst in all of us and calls us to humility and holiness. We can never despair of any man when we experience the plague of our own heart. Let us keep the faith and pray for the mercy of God. Amen. |