Holy Cross Day

Holy Cross Day 2012 (John12: 31-36)
“I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

The great scandal of the Christian faith is the cross.

For ancient peoples, the cross was the symbol of a shameful and terrible death. The cross is execution by slow torture. It is designed to inflict maximum pain for maximum duration before the body expires. The pain of crucifixion is insidious. The victim inflicts torment on himself as he struggles to stave off suffocation by lifting himself up on the nails that pierce his wrists and ankles.

The suffering is physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual as the victim struggles to stave off death with the certain knowledge that his survival only inflicts more pain and will eventually weaken him to the point where he will collapse, suffocate and die.

The Romans used crucifixion to show the people of the Empire that anyone who challenged the authority of the State would suffer unimaginable pain. The Romans also considered crucifixion to be a demonstration to the gods of the ancient world that Rome would maintain order at all costs. Crucifixion was a threat to the people designed to inspire fear. It was also a pledge to the gods designed to insure divine support in their mutual battle against chaos.

Someone once asked me why the crucifixion of Jesus was so important. After all, the Persians, Greeks and Romans had killed tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people by crucifixion. The victims were sometimes thieves and murders and sometimes rebels guilty of treason. Why is this one man, Jesus, so special?
It is a very good question. Jesus addresses the question in the scripture today. Of all the thousands of people who died the horrible death of crucifixion in the ancient world we remember the name of only one: Jesus.

Jesus knew that his death on the cross would draw the attention of the entire human species. He also knew that his death would draw all people to him to make a real choice to receive the gift his heavenly Father offers to the human race through him.
The gift of God in Jesus Christ is reunification with God.

The accusation that led the religious court to condemn Jesus was blasphemy. As in many parts of the world today, blasphemy was a capital offense. People believed that if you insulted the realm of the Divine that realm would bring wrath to the entire community. The only way to avoid divine wrath was to execute the blasphemer.

As today so then, blasphemy was a convenient way to eliminate someone you didn’t like. It is virtually impossible to prove you did not commit blasphemy when someone is willing to perjure themselves in court. The accusation against Jesus was that he claimed to be God. The witnesses against Jesus contradicted themselves in their testimony but the contradictions were meaningless to the religious court. They had already decided to condemn Jesus. The facts of the case were irrelevant.

Of course, Jesus did indeed claim to be God. The apostle John records Jesus’ claim in a series of “I am” statements. God the Father spoke audibly on two occasions to affirm the truth of Jesus’ statement. Jesus’ miracles offer physical evidence to support this truth. And, Jesus never violated the Law of Moses.

Nevertheless, the religious court was determined to find Jesus guilty despite the evidence. They did have one problem. Under Roman law they could not execute a prisoner. And, under Roman Law, blasphemy was not a capital offense. The Romans were largely indifferent to religious disputes. The offense the Romans were most concerned about was treason.

And so, the religious authorities accused Jesus of treason. The Roman governor, Pontus Pilate, knew this was not true. He also knew the Emperor had given him the responsibility to maintain order. The prospect that the religious authorities would start a riot and then accuse Pilate of refusing to execute a threat to the Emperor led Pilate to wash his hands (literally) of the matter and order Jesus to be executed.

Jesus was innocent of the charges brought against him. That fact is critical in understanding his death on the cross. Jesus died as the one pure perfect and final sacrifice for sin. Where Jesus was innocent of blasphemy and treason, human beings are not. Lest we miss the reality of that statement we need only review the Ten Commandments. Lest we gloss over the standard of attitude and action in the Ten Commandments, the prophets clarify for us how we violate those standards. And, lest we miss the message of Moses and the Prophets Jesus gives us a simple standard. How you treat the weakest, most vulnerable and the most marginal people in your society reveals how you would treat God himself were He in your midst.

The bad news of crucifixion is that the crimes for which Jesus died were not his own but ours. The Good News in crucifixion is that Jesus took every sin of omission or commission of every human being and accepted the consequence of those sins. As the scriptures teach: he who knew no sin became sin. He did this willingly. And it inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on him. He was only able to do this because He is the Love of God in human flesh.

The great scandal of the cross is that human beings collectively and individually chose to reject torture and kill the co-eternal Son of God. We did this because he came in the fullness of love and compassion.

Our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation recognizes the will to power of a species lost in willful separation. God folds that will to power into His perfect plan of Love and Holiness through His son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God deals with sin by embracing sin and transforming sin back into its original virtue through love.
In Jesus, God embraces the ultimate consequence of sin, death, and then transforms death back into life through love.

Because the love of God In Jesus is infinite and eternal, the love of Jesus transforms the sin and death of every human being who has ever lived and will ever live. Because the love of Jesus is infinite and eternal the life of Jesus is eternal.

The scandal of crucifixion is that human beings exercise our will to power to remain separate from God, separate from each other, separate from the image of God imprinted on our souls. The scandal of the cross is that God himself resolves the human created problems of sin and death. The scandal of the cross is that eternal life is a gift God offers to all people everywhere in Jesus Christ.

There is nothing you can do to earn God’s love. There is nothing you can do to lose God’s love. God’s love is real. God’s love is personal. God’s love is Jesus Christ. The enduring universal symbol of Divine Love is the cross.