This is the feast of the triumph of the cross. And Christianity has the cross at its core; "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself daily and follow me." That is the primary reason why the cross is central to Christianity. Renunciation of the self, forgetting the self for the sake of the other, putting the need of others before our own needs, this will always be experienced as painful. Because we are naturally self-centred, naturally selfish, this renunciation of the self goes against the grain with us. This aspect of Christianity will never be popular in any age. But in an age of self-indulgence and self-promotion, it will meet with derision and outright hostility. Yet we know that if aggressive individualism becomes the norm in a society, that society collapses. Civilisations have been built on selflessness, they have been torn down by selfishness.
But there is another side to the cross, independently almost of all religious systems of belief. This is the inevitable cross, the unavoidably cross. Whether we like it or not, whether we believe in anything or not, the cross intrudes in some form or other at some time or other, into all our lives. It intrudes in its most naked fashion in the form of broken relationships, broken marriages, betrayals or perceived betrayals, chronic illness and death itself. Those of you who have been through one or other of these tunnels will never need to have the theology or theory of the cross explained to you. The cross is not the imposition of macabre a religion or the plaything of some sadistic god. The cross is represents an attempt to make sense of the illogical and the tragic. The cross of course makes it most dramatic intrusion in the form of death. Sometimes, as in the case of a very old person, the cross has its own cruel logic. Death is embraced as inevitable. In other instances though, is in the sudden death of a young person, the cross intrudes as an illogical tragedy, enveloping loved ones in a deep cloud of doom and depression.
The cross is not the imposition of a capricious God. Rather, it tries to make sense of what is a universal experience, common to young and old, to rich and poor. The cross is the sign that our God has been there before us, that he too has been through that particular tunnel. The cross then is not simply about human suffering; it is about God's companionship with us in our sufferings and disappointments. The Christian cross is a sign of hope, not a cry of fatalism.
This is neither a familiar or popular message in a world of fast-food and instant pleasure. Jesus did not impose the cross upon us. He merely encouraged us through his example to face and embrace the cross that is at the heart of the human experience. To shun the cross is to run away from life, to avoid reality. As St. Paul tells us the cross was an embarrassment to the early Christians: "to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, the revelation of the power and the wisdom of God."
The cross keeps our minds fixed on the realities of life and of death. As Christians we believe that it is in facing up to reality that we triumph over it. And our triumph is not a personal one, but is due solely to the fact that our God is beside us and is struggling with us in our times of crisis.
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