During these days of Lent, we are drawn to the cross of Chirst as we reflect upon His suffering and death. It is for me a somber reflection. For in the cross I see how much in need of grace and mercy I am, how often and how easily I have failed, fallen short, sinned. But as I look to the cross, I know it is an empty cross – Christ is no longer there just as He is no longer in the tomb. Through the empty cross and tomb, the resurrection reverberats within my heart and soul, giving me hope and encouragement for this life here and now.
The cross provides for us a tension if you will – a tension between life and death, light and darkness, forgivness and condemnation, hope and hopelessness, healing and brokenness. Without the cross of Christ, we are condemned to the darkness. Without His life-giving sacrifice, our lives are lost. For God is so holy that He cannot be in the presence of sin. Or more accuratly, we could not be in the presence of God without being blotted out. Why do you think Moses had to cover His face in the presence of God on Mt. Sinai?
Christ has removed that barrior of sin that separates us from a loving God. Jesus came to make God known to us and to all people – that we might know Him as our Heavenly Father, a God of love, grace and mercy. Through Christ, we will one day stand in the very presence of God Himself!
So we come to the cross in this state of tension. Our sinfulness inclines us to remain in the darkness. Our faith calls us to the light. We come confessing our sins, including those “secret thoughts and desires which I cannot fully understand but which are all known unto thee” (Lutheran Book of Worship – a confession). To which the resurrected Christ proclaims to us forgivness of sins and newness of life.
The cross means we no longer have to accept our state of brokeness without any hope, but rather we can embrace the light of Christ, His hope and His redeeming love. The great hymn writer Issac Watts put it so well in his timeless hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross – When I survey the wondrous cross On which the prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss and Pour contempet on all my pride.” Amen to that.
