Colossians 2:13-15

What does the cross mean to you? Many people in the world today view it as a symbol of Christianity, but stop and think about what it represented in Christ’s day. Nobody wore a miniature cross around the neck or displayed one in a place of worship. The cross was a torturous means of execution, and the mere thought of it was repulsive.

Yet believers throughout the ages have chosen this as the sign of their faith. In fact, to remove the cross from our teaching and theology would leave nothing but an empty, powerless religion. The subjects of death, blood, and sacrifice have become unpopular in many churches because they’re unpleasant and uncomfortable topics. We’d prefer to hear about the love of God, not the suffering of Jesus.

But let me ask you this: How could anyone be saved if Christ had not been crucified? Some people think all you have to do to receive God’s forgiveness is ask Him for it. But a sinner’s request can never be the basis for His forgiveness. He would cease to be holy and just if no penalty was imposed for sin. According to Scripture, there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Heb. 9:22). Christ had to bear the punishment for our sin in order for God to grant us forgiveness.

Every time you see a cross, remember what it really was–an instrument of execution. Then thank Jesus that He was willing to be crucified so the Father could forgive you of sin. Though the scene of your redemption was horrendous, Christ turned the cross into a place of great triumph

The world of belief-systems and worldviews is a complicated playground of stories, storytellers, and allegiances. What makes it most complicated is perhaps what is often our inability to perceive these interacting powers in the first place. That which permeates our surroundings, subconsciously molds our understanding, and continuously informs our vision of reality, is not always easy to articulate. The dominate culture shapes our world in ways we seldom even realize, and often cannot realize, until something outside of our culture comes along and introduces us, and the scales fall from our eyes.

Further complicating the great arena of narratives is the fact that we often do not even recognize certain systems for the metanarratives that they are, or else we grossly underestimate the story’s power. Whatever versions of the story we utilize to understand human history—atheism, capitalism, pluralism, consumerism—their roots run very deep in the human soul. This is why Bishop Kenneth Carder can refer to the global market economy as a “dominant god,” consumerism, economism, and nationalism as religions.(1) These deeply rooted ideologies are challenged only when a different ideology comes knocking, when a different faith-system comes along and upsets the system that powerfully orders our worlds.

This is perhaps one reason Christian scripture calls again and again to remember the story, to tell of the acts of God in history, and bear in mind the one who is near. For into this world of belief-systems and worldviews, God repeatedly tells the story of creation and the pursuit of its redemption; Christ comes and proclaims a kingdom entirely other. The narrative we discover introduces us not only to a new world but a world that jarringly shows us our own.

The signs and scenes of Holy Week alone challenge many of the cultural norms we have grown accustomed to unthinkingly, turning upside down ideas of authority, power, and glory, presenting us a kingdom that reverses everything known. What kind of a king crouches down to his subjects to wash their feet? What kind of a leader tells those under him that the way to the top requires a dedication to the bottom? What kind of meal promises to lift us to another kingdom where we are ushered into the presence of the host? What kind of host claims he is the meal? “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'”(2)

Holy week asks the world to remember the last moments of a rabbi and his disciples—a meal shared, a lamb revealed, feet washed by one who is both king and servant. But so it also introduces us to another story, invites us into a kingdom entirely different than the one before us, and connects us with the God who reigns within a realm that is both here and now, and also approaching. In the Lord’s Supper, we are literally “taking in” this kingdom, which unites us with Christ in such a way that feeds us to live as he lived.

When the apostle Paul called early followers not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect, he was reminding them that there are overlapping and contradicting stories all around them, but that the story of God must be their orienting narrative. In other words, we are not left the option of living unaware of all the subconscious ways in which we are formed by the world. Living into the kingdom of God means recognizing the power of God’s story beside every competing narrative. We destabilize these foundational stories by living into God’s reality in Christ by the power of the Spirit. Likewise, as we live further into the story of God’s reign, with our very lives the world sees the subversive power of a narrative that moves far beyond the systems of “consumerism,” or “nationalism” or “pluralism.”

We cannot escape the world’s formative stories nor should we want to escape the particular place where we have been given the gift of time.(3) But the story of Christ’s last days on earth presents a narrative that upsets any convenient embracing of lesser kingdoms. The more we find ourselves drawn into this different kingdom, a world breathed by the Father, proclaimed by Christ, and revealed by the Spirit, the unchallenged, unseen storylines of the world come sharply into focus. The more we taste and see of the kingdom of God, the more we taste and see of the kingdom of earth as well. Like Paul, at times something like scales fall from our eyes and the Spirit compels us to stand up and see anew, going further into the unlikely reign of a suffering servant, where we are mysteriously given strength in his wounds.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Kenneth Carder, “Market and Mission: Competing Visions for Transforming Ministry,” Lecture, Duke Divinity School, Oct. 16, 2001, 1.
(2) Cf. Luke 22:19.
(3) Jesus himself prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but I ask that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

Morning   “On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.”    Luke 23:26

We see in Simon’s carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church

throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then,

Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a

cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts

you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.

But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon’s,

it is not our cross, but Christ’s cross which we carry. When you are molested

for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you,

then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ’s cross; and how delightful is

it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!

You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is marked

with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red shoulder is upon

that heavy burden. ‘Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes

before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow him.

Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion

of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it.

That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the

transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so

with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier

end.

And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it

gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while

at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love

the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it works

out for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

 

Evening    “Before honour is humility.”    Proverbs 15:33

Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our

hearts of self, God will fill them with his love. He who desires close communion

with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, “To this man will I look, even

to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Stoop

if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, “He descended that he

might ascend?” So must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards;

for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by

them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. “Blessed

are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” with

all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by

deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it without

growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and

extremity of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is

because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let

your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown

for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that

you are kept low for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never

ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is

scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be

blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow

men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with

which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in

every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the

genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

 

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.   Isaiah 2:3

It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to rise above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is good for us to cut down these thorns and briers, because heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest.

Where will we find a better scythe with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? There are places in the world where the lowlands are a breeding ground for sickness. Doctors will often suggest that their patients head for the mountains where they can breathe the clear, fresh air. Heeding such advice, the valley dwellers leave their homes among the marshes and the fever mists to inhale the bracing elements upon the hills.

It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety and all the ills that gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below and enable us to climb! We are too often like chained eagles fastened to the perch, and even worse, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain and might even, if it came to the test, be loath to have it snapped.

May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, reach the top of the mountain, so that we can enjoy communion with the Most High.

The family reading plan for April 4, 2012

Proverbs 22 | 1 Thessalonians 1