By Pastor Don Schatz

Never Fear

 “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” 
Galatians 6:14.  The English Standard Version 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).  Many years ago someone asked if Jesus had been executed by electrocution, would we wear gold electric chairs around our necks?  Would such a sculpture hang over the altar in our places of worship?

Do not waste time trying to decide how you would answer the young man’s question.  It is a nonsense question, a question asked to try to trap one in a nonsense conversation.  Such a question seeks to deflect attention away from the ignorance and lack of understanding of the one asking it.  The image of the cross serves to remind us of the extent of God’s love for us.  The wisdom of the cross is grasped through faith.  How could such a horrific symbol of human cruelty be wisdom, let alone divine wisdom?  The Lord God made it a symbol of divine wisdom by dying on it, for all humankind.  It is a symbol of wonder at God’s love.  It is an eternal statement of God’s mercy and grace.

We do not worship the cross.  We worship the One who died upon it for us.  We worship the One who rose triumphantly from cross-tortured death, for us.  We worship the One whose manner of execution stands as a reminder that humankind’s inhumanity to itself, in whatever form that may take, and its total rejection of God, the Lord God has already defeated in the cross of Christ.  The proof?  The empty tomb.

Do you wear a cross?  Are there crosses on your walls at home?  Far be it from us to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  “Lift high the cross, the Love of Christ proclaim!”

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado