The Offense of The Cross
Beloved in the Lord, this Wednesday, March 5th 2025 begins the penitential season of Lent. It is a time of the church year where we reflect on the Passion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We begin this season of the church year with Ash Wednesday. A day in which we come and receive ashes upon our foreheads and are reminded that “from dust we were formed, and to dust we shall return.” It is a time in which we are reminded, as declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:12-13). Lent is a time that we focus intently on the cross of Jesus as we remember his life and bitter, suffering death on the cross for us.
Yet over time, the cross has lost it’s punch and meaning for many. Senkbeil in his book “Dying to Live” has this to say about the cross:
“Somehow the cross has lost its punch for the majority of us. When so many crosses hang on so many of our walls and adorn so many of our sanctuaries, St. Paul’s dramatic claim seems strange: ‘the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18).’ Having become a standard form of costume jewelry and a routine piece in punk rock regalia, the cross has lost some of its shock value. Yet even our jaded ears can hear a certain bite in the apostle’s blunt words. The preaching of the cross, he insists, is ‘a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23). And the cross is offensive to the human mind, one you grasp its underlying message. On the surface, the cross seems quite tame. Moviegoers have gotten used to blood and gore as standard fare. But there’s nothing entertaining about the cross. Though there was plenty of blood and gore at Calvary, the message of the cross goes much deeper. There was much more there than met the eye. It was not just a question of the torture Jesus endured, but the shame he bore” (pg. 57-58).
Who’s shame did Jesus bear upon that cross? Who bore the shame of you and me? It was Jesus who carried our sins, our guilt, and our shame to the cross. The very cross which is meant for you and me. Yet Jesus, the lamb of God, went to the cross to take away the sins of the world. For you. For me. Yes, the cross of Jesus should cause offense. Because it was the cross that was meant for poor miserable sinners like you and me. Yet at the same time it is “In the Cross of Christ I Glory.” It is in the cross of Christ that you glory dear child of God. For as we sing in this beloved Lenten hymn:
“When the woes of life o’er take me, Hopes deceive and fears annoy, Never shall the cross forsake me; Lo, it glows with peace and joy.”
As we begin our Lenten journey together once again, I pray that not only will you find offense in the cross of Jesus, but that you will also see the cross of Jesus that glows with peace and joy. For it was by Jesus’ life and death on the cross of Calvary, that gives us true peace and joy. Peace in knowing that our sin, death, hell, and the powers of satan have been defeated. Peace in knowing that your sins are forgiven. Peace and joy, knowing that even though the “wages of sin is death,” because of Jesus, we shall live also.
Let us pray that our dear Father in heaven, for the sake of His beloved Son and in the power of His Holy Spirit, might richly bless this Lententide for us so that we may come to Easter with glad hearts and keep the feast in sincerity and truth. Let us furthermore look to the cross of Jesus this Lententide and not see the guilt and shame of our sins which crucified Jesus on the cross. But help us to see the peace and joy that we have by looking at the cross of Jesus and knowing that we have been freed from the oppression and slavery of sin, death, hell, and the powers of satan. Amen!