The Cross: A Symbol of Hope

From the earliest days of Christianity, suffering people have turned to Christ on the cross for consolation. We see in him one who suffers as we do. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are."

During slavery, the slaves in this country identified with Christ's suffering and death. He was despised and treated brutally, just as they were. By his suffering and death, Jesus identified with those who were enslaved and took their pain upon himself. (Moltmann, p. 48). They were no longer abandoned in their suffering, because he was there. And they were also with him in his suffering and death. In the words of the old spiritual, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" They were there, through their shared fate.

Likewise, in Latin America, among the indigenous peoples, the great feast of the year is not Christmas or Easter-it is Good Friday. People turn out in droves to walk the Stations of the Cross. Again, they see their own suffering in Christ's crucifixion and death.

Most of us in the United States are not suffering as exploited and oppressed people. Nevertheless, all of us go through times of great suffering-at the death of a loved one, divorce, illness and disability, watching someone you love suffer and so on. We too turn to Christ on the cross when we are in pain. And it is indeed consoling to know that Christ understands us fully. He stands in solidarity with us in way that someone who has not suffered cannot be.

But Christ came into the world and suffered death on the cross not just for consolation. He came for transformation. Knowing we are not alone or abandoned in our suffering is already the beginning of transformation. But Christ is also the symbol of hope and freedom for all suffering people.

Jesus did not die passively. He died carrying out his mission of bringing about the kingdom of God-the kingdom of justice and love. He deliberately provoked the imperial and religious authorities in order to challenge the exploitation of the poor and oppressed. He defined himself in terms of his faith and his mission, rather than allowing himself to be defined in the world's terms. In the eyes of the world, he died a failure. He died a criminal's death, helpless in the hands of his enemies. To die on a cross was to be cursed under Jewish law, and was considered the most humiliating death by the Romans.

But in reality, he died obedient to his calling, in the power of his faith and trust in God. The world did not take his life from him, but rather, he gave it freely, for the sake of God's people. As he says to his disciples, "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord."

What a difference it makes whether we suffer passively and let our suffering define us, or whether we actively choose to trust and obey God, in spite of what we may suffer. "Be of good cheer," Jesus says, "for I have overcome the world." Because of his faith in God, the world could not defeat Jesus, even when it crucified him.

The resurrection is God's yes to Jesus, and his no to the powers of this world that destroyed him. In the midst of Jesus' apparent defeat, God gave him the victory by raising him from the dead. The cross has been transformed from a weapon of humiliation and torture into the instrument of liberation from sin, suffering and death.

No wonder that military regimes in South America have from time to time banned the Stations of the Cross. The crucified Christ stands for the transformation of suffering and the hope of liberation.

And so, we come and we stand at the foot of the cross, to be judged, to be challenged and to be transformed. The cross judges us to the extent we treat others as less than human, or participate in systems that dehumanize people. The cross challenges us to follow Christ in his mission of bringing about justice and love, without concern for the world's values, and the world's opinions. And the cross transforms us by freeing us from fear, so that we can truly give ourselves over to love.

Let us adore the One who loves us, who gave his life so that all might be free.

REFERENCE: Many of the ideas in this sermon are drawn from Jurgen Moltmann's The Crucified God Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993. Originally published in German, 1974. ISBN: 0-8006-2822-5.