Reverend Theodore W. Cooley, 1984
The Lenten Season has traditions which I have found helpful in my personal devotional life. In particular, the emphasis of some of my brothers and sisters in Christ have on the crucifix, the physical reminder of our Lord’s agony on the cross, requires my involvement as well. This reminds me of the scandal of our faith: the executed and despised Lord who went before all of us to shame even into death. While all about me social status and the possessions purchased to proclaim class and cultural distinctions tend to dominate our Western civilization, the cross and the agony of the crucified remind me of another value system that our Lord proclaimed and followed in humbling himself even unto death on a cross.
In direct contrast to the socialized conformity of the Western culture, the Cross stands in judgement and challenge. Judgement because we have fought to remove pain and suffering from all the aspects of our lives. Certainly, it is to be hoped that unnecessary pain and suffering can be alleviated from the world. But for all of us there is both pain and suffering that is simply part of our human condition and which we remove at the risk of compromising our humanity. The judgement of the Cross stands against our avoidance of pain and suffering which is both redemptive and cleansing in nature, enabling us to better accept our human condition and the Salvation of the Cross through and beyond our humanity.
Challenge is present in the Cross as it stands against us to lift us from the apathy and conceit of our lives to the caring and sharing exemplified on the Cross. We who seldom get beyond ourselves in instant satisfaction and satiety do not understand our brothers and sisters of faith who have few satisfactions and never satiety of material possessions. The Cross is the bridge which leads us beyond our current dominate culture to accept ourselves and others in light of Scripture, humanity, and justice in the world. The Cross is the challenge to go beyond the narrowness of our lives to the faith of all in Christ and the identity of all creation in the able hands of the Creator.
There are times in my own life when the very emptiness of the Cross is a limiting factor in understanding the pathos and the love of God in sharing death in public degradation to bring His love to us. The usual worshiping centers of our congregations, whether in glass, wood, or stone, are sanitized with emphasis on the resurrection rather than the defeat of death. Public execution is not an adequate part of my heritage. I have found it to be a necessity, particularly in Lent and approaching Easter, to broaden my understanding of the Church to include the art of Jesus’ broken body present on the Cross, that I may be adequately reminded of the magnitude of God’s Sacrifice for me. Horrible and grotesque as these renderings may be, they are a necessary reminder of my own humanity and the gift of life that Christ has presented to me.
The Word became flesh to be sacrificed for my sins and the sin of the world. The broken body of my Lord on the cross is a necessary prelude to the empty cross where the power of the resurrection is celebrated in the victory over death on Easter. Without the crucifix, the broken Body, the failure of death, and the powers of darkness are brought from the cosmic level to a children’s story. The Cross that calls me to worship is now empty only because it was once occupied by my Lord and Savior. In preparation to celebrate the victory which leaves the cross bare I must remember again the Lord hanging there, sacrifice for the sin of the world.
Seeing again the broken body of my Lord, I can return to the themes of judgement and challenge, for they have a new reality when I am confronted anew with the sacrifice for me. Now judgement becomes the gift of life, given that my life may be changed, given in love that I may share in my humanity with all the peoples of the earth, all who will walk into the valley of death. Jesus has already taken the powers of God into this valley, that I may fear no evil and accept the judgement of all humanity, for our common sin far transcends the cultural and economic evils of our present day.
Acknowledging Christ on the Cross, I am challenged anew to present myself to Him in service, knowing both the powers of darkness and the victory of the open tomb. The challenge of witness and service is cleansed of personal ambition and greed, for the stark reality of my Lord’s death confronts me with my morality and bridges beyond personal concerns to the Good News of Easter. The Cross is more than symbol, it is the path, the bridge, the way from death into life, from self to others, from defeat and scandal to hope and victory. But Christ must be seen in his agony that the full magnitude of the empty cross and the true meaning of the worship setting may be known. Easter always comes, but to know the might and power of what we celebrate, the Savior must be on the Cross, that He may again be present in Spirit and Power as we view the victory present in the empty cross.
Lent, 1984