The Wonderful Cross

"Love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all."

(Isaac Watts)

When the Apostle Paul wrote to believers in the city of Corinth he told them he resolved to know nothing while he was among them but Christ, crucified.

I wondered about the imagery his statement must have brought to mind to these early Christians living just a few decades after our Lord's death on the Cross.

Crucifixion was invented by the Greeks and perfected by the Romans.  The historian Josephus tells us around the time Jesus died there were over 900 crucifixions in Jerusalem that year alone. That's about three each day.

Where Rome ruled, crucifixions happened.

Crucifixion was a very graphic picture of the most obscene, cruel and horrific execution known to man.  It was evidence of man's total depravity to even conceive of inventing something so utterly crushing to use on his fellow man.

And yet this is what our Lord chose as His message...the Cross:

"...foolishness to those who are perishing,

but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

(1Corinthians1:18)

Today we cherish the Cross.  We wear it around our necks.  It adorns the walls of our homes.  We treasure it as the symbol of God's great love for us.  But did you know that until about the 4th century there was no depiction of the Cross in art?  Perhaps the awful image of what crucifixion actually involved was too close a memory for the early church.

Today we celebrate the Cross, as we should.  But in celebrating the work Jesus accomplished for us by His death on the Cross, don't miss the awful cost of a love so amazing, so divine.

It is said in heaven the only man-made things are scars and nail prints.