In
his book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala tells the story of a
soloist at Brooklyn Tabernacle. She was invited to sing at a church and was
told in advance, “We want to ask you not to sing any song that mentions the
blood of Christ. People feel uncomfortable with that, and our goal here is to
be user-friendly.”
Uncomfortable about the blood of Christ? Today, many churches even find the frequent observance of the ordinance of remembering the death of Christ in communion to be a distraction in their up-beat worship services. Some churches even relegate the practice of believers’ baptism, with its symbolism to the cross, to a private adjunct activity, following a main service.
To be honest, we want a happy Christianity, without symbolic reminders of sin. A Christianity with minimal need of reflection. The cross invites us to reflect on the heinousness of sin and the heavy price Jesus paid for it. Forgiveness of sin is not amnesty. Forgiveness is possible because Someone paid the price for sin - death on a cross.
As an atheist, the late Christopher Hitchens could not accept this Christian doctrine. On one occasion he said, “I find something repulsive about the idea of vicarious redemption – you can throw your sins onto somebody else, vulgarly known as scapegoating.” Hitchens understood the message of the cross, but he was not prepared to embrace it.
The cross of Jesus Christ differentiates Christian faith from religion in general. Religion tells us what we must do in order to achieve forgiveness. Christianity insists that forgiveness has already been paid for on the cross. Paul contended, whereas Jews demanded miraculous signs and non-Jews (Greeks) looked for wisdom, he preached Christ crucified – a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to non-Jews.
As a matter of fact, Paul argued that God’s power was evident in the cross of Christ. Whereas others depended on oratorical skills and philosophy to make an impact; for him, it was the cross of Christ that enshrined the power to make an impact. To the Corinthians Paul said, “When I came to you...I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). He was convinced that what others considered foolishness, was God’s demonstration of power.
In addition, whereas we view death as coming to the end of the road, God viewed the death of Jesus as the beginning. But why would God use the horrific death of Jesus on a cross to bring new life? Paul provides two answers. The first, no one other than God could get the credit. Absolutely no one could bring new life from death – that is a demonstration of divine power. Paul’s second reason is that no one can boast about what he or she accomplished. The truth is, new life in Christ cannot be acquired by any human effort.
The Bible calls this grace – undeserved favor. In one of his letters, Paul said, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8).
But couldn’t God have accomplished grace by some other means, probably, not as severe as the cross? The logic is simple – punishment must be commensurate with the crime. Because of the severity of sin, severe punishment was inevitable. Hence, the worst sinner could find God’s grace, because of the cross.
Furthermore, if we could have paid for our sin, then what would happen to those who could not afford to pay? Also, if we could have paid for our sin, we could boast about our ability to help ourselves. Because of the cross, such boasting is not possible, in that new life in Christ is a gift. Since it is free, one may ask, wouldn’t it then cheapen the gift? The question implies that my contribution increases the value of God’s gift – ludicrous thinking.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul argued that any attempt to add to what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, nullifies the value of the gift – “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned” (Galatians 1:8)!
The 17th century hymn-writer Isaac Watts got it when he wrote: “Forbid it Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God; All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.” This Easter season might be a good time to return to the words of Fanny Crosby’s hymn, “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross”, or Elizabeth Clephane, who in 1872 wrote “Beneath the Cross of Jesus”.
There
is no user-friendly version of the Gospel. Without the cross, we are presenting
another gospel, not the one God offers to anyone who seeks Him. Like Paul, I
contend, “I am not ashamed of the gospel...” I further contend that the cross
is still the best antidote to the narcissism and violence in our culture today.
