At the Cross

At the heart of the Apostle Paul's preaching is the word,  "...we preach Christ crucified."  (I Corinthians 1:23).  It is a hard word for preachers to preach and for those who listen to hear.  In many ways the message of "Christ crucified" is a counter culture word.  We live in an age that has convinced itself that if something is broken, we can fix it.  The message of the cross points to a brokenness which can only be fixed by external intervention. Preaching "Christ crucified" requires preaching about sin which is an outdated concept for so many who worship the psychological answers and solutions.   

To a larger degree the message of the church no longer has the power of influence as it did in earlier generations.   In an effort to draw more people under the umbrella of the church's influence, preachers are tempted to preach a "feel good" gospel which readily focuses on a loving Savior, but not necessarily a saving One.   People today seem to have an aversion to preaching that calls forth some kind of emotional response.  Sermons that teach or are entertaining have become more the norm.  

The problem is there is no way to go to the cross and see the horror of that day without our heart, the center of our emotions, being touched.  Preaching that overtly seeks an emotional response is regarded as manipulative.  Preaching trends today lean more toward "Christ, the loving Savior,"  or "Christ, the servant," or maybe, "anyone but Christ crucified."  Even as the resurrection message which is according to Scripture the central core of our faith is preached only on Easter so is it true that the only time the message of the cross might be proclaimed is on Good Friday.  What is often forgotten is that without Good Friday and the cross, there is no reason to show up with the crowds on Easter Sunday. 

The Uncomfortable Cross

When Jesus walked down the Mount of Transfiguration, He surely had the glory of the heavens resting upon His face.  As surely as His baptism culminated with an affirming vision which sent Him forth into His public ministry, so did the vision on the Mount send Him forth for the final part of the journey.  It was surely a moment which drew the attention of Jesus to the reality that His days were not only becoming fewer, but also harder.  While the cross was no surprise to Jesus, when He left the mountain it began to loom larger and larger before Him.    

Lent is a season for journeying with Jesus toward that looming cross.  While we would rather speak of the end of journey being the empty tomb, the tomb could only become a part of the narrative when the work of the cross was done.  Lent focuses on the cross.  I remember a preacher who preached a noon day service one Good Friday who said before his message, "Now I know today we remember Jesus dying on the cross, but instead of talking about such a bad thing, I am going to preach about the resurrection."  I wanted to stand and say, "Without the cross, there is no resurrection!"   

It is a strange thing the way the church wants to avoid the cross.  It does make people uncomfortable.  No one wants to confess their sins much less acknowledge them.  The Lenten invitation to repent is not something we want to do because it speaks to the fact that there is something wrong within us that can only be handled by what Jesus did on the cross. It all goes against the grain of our conviction that there is nothing we cannot handle or fix.  The gospel proclaims as a necessity the death of Jesus on the cross.  Sometimes it seems the church wants to water down that part of the story. 

Ash Wednesday, 2025

                 The Pause

 

There is a steadiness in my feet,

   a hard thudding upon the dry ground,

     relentless and unhindered they go 

       behind the One who goes just before,

         the One whose feet never hesitate

but go hard toward the waiting hill.

 

My eyes see but Him and not the hill 

    lest these feet should shirk the holy way

       of abandonment to the Father

         who waits beyond the growing darkness

             in silence until the work is done

and the deserted One cries His last. 

Seeing is knowing where I must go,

   but dare I take even one more step

     on this hard way of letting go all,

       or should this shuddering of my soul

        give me pause to count the cost again

before rough hands nail me to the cross?

The Good Stuff

When I was growing up in the Methodist Church of rural south Georgia, Lent was mostly mentioned, but not really observed.  We knew it was Lent when the coin folders were handed out on Sunday morning with a word about denying ourselves something like a coke or candy.  Each day during Lent a dime went in the coin folder and we brought them back to the church on Easter Sunday as a special mission offering.  The thought of putting ashes on our forehead as the Catholics did was just not proper Protestant behavior.   

I cannot say exactly when things began to change, but I do know by the time I got into my ministry years, Lent was a season which was more widely observed.  I remember a friend saying lightheartedly, "There is no reason to let the Catholics have all the good stuff."  There really is a lot of good stuff packed in the season of Lent.   It is unfortunate that our love affair with the spontaneous and our fear of ritual keep us from experiencing the deeper levels of meaning within the ashes of Ash Wednesday, the holy meal of Maundy Thursday, and the horror of the cross.  

Lent is also a season which calls us to be more attentive to our involvement in spiritual disciplines such as fasting, praying, reading the Word, and living generously and sacrificially.  When we truly respond to the invitation to observe a holy Lent, we find that Easter is like morning light bursting forth from the darkness and rushing over us as if a powerful wave of the Spirit has overwhelmed and immersed us in the power of the resurrection.  Lent prepares our heart for such a moment.  It would be a shame to settle for something less.

Preparation for the Journey

Lent is only hours away now.  Worship leaders have gathered the stored ashes from last year's Palm branches and are preparing themselves to mark foreheads with them as they speak the words, "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return."  Lent begins this Wednesday with the coming of Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday worship is not a joyous celebration of worship which causes everyone to leave feeling good.  It is a service of remembering and there is much to be remembered.   

It is a gathering where those who come are reminded of the fragile nature of life.  It is an uncomfortable moment for many.  Where is it that we voluntarily go to hear someone mark us with gray ashes and tell us we are going to die?  It is a reminder of our need for repentance.  Repentance is only done when we acknowledge the sins of our heart to God and ourselves and then confess them as one truly sorry for our misdoings. It is also a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  The cross is not just a story of injustice and tragedy, but one which reminds us that divine forgiveness requires an atoning sacrifice and the heartbreak of God.  It is not a moment to be taken lightly.   

A Word from Luke 9:51 is often read as a verse which marks the beginning of the final journey of Jesus to Jerusalem and the cross.  "When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem."  Jesus did not go to Jerusalem and then something happened which was beyond His control.  He knew what was waiting for Him in the Holy City and with intentionality born out of obedience to the Father's will, He chose to go.  It may have been evil which put Him on the cross, but it was love that caused Him to put His life in the hands of those who meant evil and not good for Him.  As Jesus journeyed in those days with the cross upon His heart, so should we journey with Him in this holy season of Lent.

A Culture of Confirmation

On a recent trip to a bookstore, a book entitled "The Essential Tozer Collection" showed up at eye level and a voice from within said, "This is the one."  A. W. Tozer was a prominent self educated theologian and preacher who died in 1963.  One of the first things which caught my attention was something he wrote in his discussion about justification.  "The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.  Christ may be received without creating any special love for Him..." 

It was a word which set me to thinking and I ended up writing in the margins, "We live in a culture of confirmation instead of salvation."  One of the benefits of retirement is that it has enabled me to listen to a lot of preachers.  One of the things glaringly obvious over these fifteen years is something I had noted for a much longer time.  The church offers a lot of talk about Jesus, but seldom invites people to know Jesus.  Our young are becoming part of the church culture by learning about Jesus in Confirmation groups without really choosing Jesus out of a spiritual hunger in their hearts.  It is as if salvation is of the mind and not the heart.  Too many of us preachers preach not to the heart but to the mind out of the false assumption that everyone who hears the sermon is in a heartfelt relationship with Jesus.   

If this thinking of mine has any merit, it would help us understand why the cherished mainline churches of our childhood are sliding toward extinction.  We like to say the decline is about the graying of our society, or the lack of interest younger generations have in organized religion and maybe there is a measure of truth to such observations, but could it not be that the church has become too content in teaching about Jesus?  Could it be that no one is being asked to give their heart to Jesus?  Could it be that confirmation is a poor substitute for a heart strangely warmed in conversion?

The Greater Miracle

All four of the gospel writers tell the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand.  The first three gospels (known as the Synoptic Gospels) tell it much the same.  John personalizes the event by speaking of specific disciples instead of the disciples in general.  An interesting feature of the first three is the way the disciples wanted to send the people away.  It was the only sensible thing to do in light of the great need of the crowd and the lack of anything to eat.  (Matthew 14:15).   

What Jesus said to their pragmatic thinking must have blown their minds.  "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." (Matthew 14:16). They had nothing except five loaves and two fish which was a paltry amount to feed so many.  Why it would not have even been enough to feed the twelve disciples much less five thousand people!  When Jesus responded to them by saying, "Bring them (the loaves and fish) to me," (Matthew 14:18) He says an important Word we often do not want to hear.  Basically, He told the disciples two things.  First, you do something about the need you see.  Secondly, make available what you have and it will be enough.  

What is more frightening to us?  It is one thing to see folks in need and another to personally get involved.  As frightening as that possibility is to us, the second is even worse.  Jesus wants us to give not just part of what we have, but all of what we have even it is what seems to be such a small amount.  It is the stuff of miracles.  The first miracle might be meeting an impossible need, but the greater miracle might be you and me turning loose of our stuff.