Cross Purposes

This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish Sunday, July 21, 2013.  The Bible verses are Mark 15:16-39.

One of the best-loved hymns of all-time is The Old Rugged Cross.  I was really kind of surprised it did not go farther in our hymn tournament than it did, although the hymns that went farther are all really good, too.  It made it to the Elite Eight of our bracket challenge, defeating All Creatures of Our God and King, Just As I Am, and When We All Get to Heaven before narrowly losing to What a Friend We Have in Jesus.

The Old Rugged Cross was written by George Bennard in 1913.  George Bennard was born in Youngstown, Ohio.  His family moved to Albia, Iowa, and then to Lucas, Iowa, when he was young.  He aspired to be an evangelist, but he had to support his family when his father died suddenly.  He later got married, was active in the Salvation Army, and preached throughout the United States and Canada before retiring to Reed City, Michigan.

Bennard wrote a number of other hymns, but none of the others became famous.  He wrote The Old Rugged Cross the day of a revival service he was holding in Albion, Michigan, where he was living at the time, and it premiered that evening.  At some point, the famous evangelist Billy Sunday heard it and started using it his services, and it became popular all over the country.  The success of the song did not make Bennard wealthy.  He sold the rights to a music publishing company for five hundred dollars.

The cross is, of course, one of the greatest Christian symbols there is.  I think that fact tells us a lot about our Christian faith.  The cross is, as Bennard says, an emblem of suffering and shame.

See, crucifixion was not a punishment that was given to just anybody.  In fact, it was not even the only way of putting someone to death.  Crucifixion was reserved for people who had committed the worst crimes possible.  First, you had to carry the crossbeam of the cross, which weighed about a hundred pounds, out to the place where you were going to be executed.  Then you would be tied or nailed to the cross, completely naked.  Then you would be exposed to the elements, and to the scorn of all the people, until you died.  The actual death could come in any number of ways.  It could be heart failure, running out of air, infection, dehydration, you could be killed by animals, or lots of other things.  

Crucifixion was a particularly slow, cruel, painful, and shameful way to die.  Crucifixion was intended to be a deterrent.  It was supposed to be a warning to people not to do what this person had done, or they'd die the same way.

And yet, the cross is probably the number one symbol of our Christian faith.  Why?

The cross reminds us of what Jesus did for us.  This punishment, the worst punishment humans were able to come up with, was given to the one person who has ever walked the earth who was without sin.  Jesus Christ had done nothing to deserve it.  All of us had.  We humans deserved punishment for our sins.  But Jesus had not.  Yet Jesus endured it.  Jesus took our place on the cross.  He suffered that punishment for each one of us, for you and for me.  Think about it.  The one person who had done nothing to deserve punishment took on the worst punishment possible.

And he did not have to.  To me, that's the most amazing thing about it there is.  Jesus did not have to do any of it.  He could've put a stop to it at any time.  And he did not.

As the song says, he “left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.”  That's something we need to remember.  Jesus did not begin to exist when he was born on this earth.  That was when he came here.  Jesus has existed since the world began.  You remember in John, where it says “It the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God.”  That's talking about Jesus.  Jesus is the Word, the Word made flesh.  Jesus existed in heaven long before he came to earth.

What the song reminds us is that Jesus made a deliberate choice to come to earth.  It also reminds he came to earth for a specific reason.  Jesus chose to come to earth specifically and purposely to be crucified, to take the punishment for our sins.  He did not have to.  He chose to.

After he was on earth, Jesus still could've put a stop to things at any time.  He could've backed off from some of the things he said and did.  He could've made some concessions to the Pharisees, said and done some things to get himself out of trouble.  When things got tough, he could've gone into hiding.  Or, he could've allowed his disciples to protect him.  He could've raised an army and fought.  He could've used his divine power to wipe out his enemies and take power on earth.  There are any number of things Jesus could've done to avoid being crucified.  Even when he was on the cross, he could've used his power to come down.  He did not.  He accepted the punishment.

And he did it for us.  For you and for me.  As the song says, he did it “to pardon and sanctify me.”  And you, too.  Through Jesus, not only are our sins are forgiven, our sins are wiped out completely.  That word “sanctify” means to make holy.  We are not made holy because we're so great.  We're not made holy because of anything we've done.  We're made holy because of the incredible, willing sacrifice Jesus made for us.

Think about what that says about our faith.  The most important Christian symbol is a symbol of sacrifice.  It's not a symbol of power.  It's not a symbol of wealth.  It's not even a symbol of holiness.  It's a symbol of sacrifice.

What that does for us is remind us that, as Christians, we are supposed to sacrifice, too.  That's what the last verse of the song tells us.  We are asked to be true to that cross.  We're asked to be true to the sacrifice Jesus made.

How do we do that?  I think the way we're true to the cross is to do what Jesus told us to do.  The way we're true to the cross is to live the way Jesus told us to live.  The way we're true to the cross is to love the way Jesus loved.  We are to do to others as we'd want them to do to us.  We are to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We are to do that no matter what anyone else says or what anyone else thinks.  We are to do that even if it's inconvenient or even costly to us.  That's the way we bear the shame and reproach of the cross, the way Jesus did.

That's not easy.  Jesus knows it's not easy.  We're not expected to do it perfectly.  If we could do it perfectly, Jesus would not have had to come in the first place.

But we should not use that fact as an excuse.  Even though we cannot do it perfectly, we're expected to try to do it perfectly.  We are expected to do everything we can to live the way Jesus told us to live, to love the way Jesus told us to love, to do what Jesus told us to do.  If we are going to accept what Jesus did on the cross, if we're going to be true to the cross, to the sacrifice Jesus made, we cannot do any less.  We should not use our imperfection as an excuse for not doing everything we can.

Because Jesus will “call us some day to our home far away.”  We will lay down all the trophies we've won on the earth, all the things we've achieved, all the accomplishments of this life.  In other words, some day we all die.  But if we truly cherish the cross, if we truly love the cross, if we truly understand what it stands for, we don't have to fear death.  Because Jesus died on that cross, because Jesus took the punishment for our sins, we know our sins are forgiven.  If we accept what Jesus did, if we cherish that cross, then we will some day go to share Jesus' glory.  We will exchange that cross for a crown.  Not a crown that makes us kings, but a crown that makes us children of God in heaven.

The Old Rugged Cross.  Not a symbol of power or might.  Not a symbol of holiness or virtue.  A symbol of sacrifice.  A reminder that Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us.  And a reminder that we are to make those same sacrifices for others.  If we do, we truly will be true to that old, rugged cross.  And then, someday, we will share in Jesus' glory in heaven.