CHRIST CRUCIFIED a stumbling block to Jews, foolishness to Greeks 1 CORINTHIANS 1:23
COMMENTARY
We need a Savior and what a great one we have, God himself. God emptied himself even to death, death on the cross that we might have life. Our first parents in Eden were told by God if they chose their will over God’s will, they would surely die, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 Let us join the prophet Isaiah in proclaiming that Jesus, our Savior and Lord, “was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins; and upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole. By his stripes we were healed” Isaiah 53:5
St. Paul tells it like it is for us Christians “WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED” 1 Corinthians 1;23. Paul was bold. Are we bold when it comes to preaching the Good News, Jesus died, was buried, and is risen for our sake.I used to have a problem when gazing upon the cross because like so many, all I saw was suffering and death.
Then my perspective changed The Cross is a sign of contradiction. I saw the love of Christ with His open arms embracing the whole world. For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19
God’s love for us is beyond all our understanding. But we believe any how in God’s infinite love for us because God told us who He is to Moses on Mt. Sinai after delivering the tablets, “the LORD passed before Moses and proclaimed: the LORD, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity, continuing his love for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin…. Ex. 34:5-7
This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and claim us as your own.” Exodus 34:9
We, too, are stiff necked people, stubborn in our ways of looking at things. Some cry out I don’t want any restrictions on my FREEDOM. Hmm, how is that going in your ordinary lives in this world? God is not restricting our freedoms. We are not FREE to sin. Sinning does not make us free but a slave to sin and its consequences, addiction, dysfunctional families, hate envy, greed…”Our hearts are restless until they rest in God. St. Augustine
What Commandments of God take away anything we need? They are not restrictions on our freedom but a self-help list to live our lives to the fullest. A man fully alive is the glory of God. St. Iraenseus. We are made in the image and likeness of God who is all good. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25
God gives his laws to make his people a people set apart, a sign to other nations. “You shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and observe them. . . . You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine” Leviticus. 20:22, 26 Holiness thus necessitates a separation from that which is unholy.
After giving the Beatitudes, Jesus said to his disciples, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect Matthew 5:48 How can that be? For man it is impossible but with God anything is possible.” Matt. 19:26
Holiness is not a human project but a response to God’s initiative, an imitation of who God is. To confront God’s holiness is also to confront our sin. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom. 3:23
CONCLUSION
We must radiate holiness to renew the church. Men and women saints have always been the instrument and sign of renewal. The answer to a world in need of transformation is for us to be the sign. We must ask the Lord Jesus Christ for the strength and courage to be true disciples and not hearers only.
Is the Cross, a sign of life or of death? Does it speak of sin or forgiveness? Despair or hope? Is it gruesome or consoling? It is all of these, The Cross of Christ, fully embraces every dimension of our lives. But as blood and water gush from Jesus’ side, life prevails over death; mercy over sin; hope over despair; consolation over misery? Thus, we call the Friday on which Christ died “Good Friday.”
The Cross, for believers, is not so much a symbol of pain, but rather of the Love God has for us. Jesus said at the Last Supper, “No one has any greater love than to lay down his life for his friends” and that’s precisely what Jesus, our Good Shepherd did when he gave his own life on the Cross so that we, might live. The Cross is not a symbol, principally, of agonizing suffering, but of the mind-blowing love God has for us.
CHRIST VICTORIOUS
Tom, your message in this writing is strong, and very good. It strikes me directly. I am embarrassed to read it.
Jesus suffering on the cross has been visible to me since childhood. Now your message of Him on the cross as incredible love is new and better.
I must not commit the sin of silence. I intend to be a visible disciple of Jesus but often I fear speaking out. I am ashamed. Peter’s denial is happening with me too.