1 Corinthians 1.17 - 2.8 1144 SO WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE CROSS So British Airways have ruled that an employee dealing with the public may not wear a cross as a sign of her faith even though Sikhs may wear a turban. It will be interesting to see what happens if this goes to appeal. There is a weakness in the lady’s case: it is that Christianity never obliges us to wear a cross as an ornament although we are required to carry a cross, which is a harder thing. But why is the cross so central to Christian faith? Why should that lady be right to feel she is being denied something precious? Why should it so important for Paul to write to the Corinthians? 2. 2 ‘I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’ I remember as a young Christian at a church bible study hearing a lady almost complaining about the cross. She said she didn’t understand it and was it necessary? Wasn’t Christianity about doing good and loving your neighbour? Well, I was young in faith and though a bit of a hothead I was so shocked by what she said and also that no-one else not even the minister leading the group gave a response that I didn’t answer either. Maybe one of my motivations in ministry is to try and answer that question as clearly as I can because if Christianity is only about being a good person why bother being a Christian ? You can be have any religion or no religion at all and be a good person. There are good caring kind Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and also atheists who do good things. The distinctive thing about being a Christian is that Jesus died on the cross and that makes the difference because through his death we can come to God Because he died our sins are forgiven. A preacher in America keeps a note on his desk in large letters, where he can see it all the time ‘So what?’ What difference does that make? It reminds him when preparing a sermon not just to tell people what the Bible means but what it means for them that day. A good discipline for a preacher and a good question to place against different ideas about the cross. Some see it as the pointless tragic death of a well meaning visionary; some see it as just representing all the innocent suffering of humanity. But if the cross is the tragic death of a good man - ‘So what?’ Why should we highlight Christ’s suffering over anyone else’s? THE EXAMPLE OF THE CROSS Some suggest that the cross gives us a challenging example to follow. And there is something to that theory. Scripture does speak of the cross as an example to us: as Jesus endured suffering without retaliation and recrimination so should we, his followers; Peter writes about this in his first letter.: (1 Peter 2.21-24) 21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. ‘ Now there’s an example of what it means to deny yourself and take up the cross. The all too human desire to always justify ourselves the urge to get back, to get even, tit for tat to have our good name vindicated the temptation to ‘spin’ the facts to make us look good and others bad - all of that, and it can happen to the most religious of people is forbidden to the cross carrier, that’s part of the ‘so what’ of the cross. But there’s more. THE RESCUE WORK OF THE CROSS Peter goes on: the cross is more than an example for our lives it is the way in which our lives are saved and we find fellowship with God. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, (so what?) ‘so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’ The cross is indeed our example but it must mean more. The press last week recorded the award of posthumous bravery awards to the families of two men who drowned at Owenahincha beach after they had brought out life buoys to a couple struggling in the water. They rescued people but they died themselves: a great tragedy. But at least their families and friends have the comfort they didn’t die in vain and the people they rescued have the thought no doubt that their life is precious because someone died to save them Those deaths move us by their example of human bravery and yes sacrifice and because people were rescued. If Jesus’ death does not rescue us, then what was the point? THE FOOLISHNESS / WISDOM OF THE CROSS But the cross is also, Paul says, something stupid, a foolishness (1 Corinthians 1.18 ) ‘to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’ … 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.’ In the culture of Paul’s time the Jews thought the cross stupid and worse than stupid, blasphemous because they were looking for their Messiah to achieve their freedom with wonderful miracles to defeat the Romans and along come these followers of Jesus and tell them that the Messiah is really a man who died an accursed death hanging on a cross. That was so unthinkable, gross, but that was the way God chose to save us. As for the Greeks, they just found it rather strange and ridiculous that these Christians should say that an all powerful eternal God would commit himself to a frail body and actually die as a criminal to save us. How incongruous! Incongruous means ill fitting, unusual, strange. It is a word used about the cross in a recent article about a brain surgeon in London, a skilled and caring man; the journalist was allowed to watch him operate on a woman with a brain tumour; as she lay there on the operating table they noticed she was clutching a small wooden cross. The journalist commented: ‘an incongruous sign of faith in a setting so dependent on science’ Maybe I’m too hard on him, but I sense in his attitude the ‘wisdom of the wise’ that science will save this lady and not the cross. That is not to knock for a second what science can do. Thank God for it, but understand there are spiritual issues beyond the scope of science. Later in the ward she thanked the surgeon profusely but she still held on to her cross. Incongruous? Foolish? Did she not have a greater wisdom a faith that whether the operation succeeded or failed she was trusting in Christ crucified and that there were realities even greater than all the skill and wonder of medical science and brain surgery. How do you respond to the cross? Is it stupid, irrelevant? Or do you find it just too gruesome to think about? We need to remember that there is a point and a purpose to Jesus’ suffering and the Bible wants us to concentrate on that. This language of blood and sacrifice our basic pride, our sense of being all right as we are, able to manage on our own that you can sort things out with God on your own terms. The reason that many reject the blood of Christ is that it declares against our intellect or our goodness or our church membership or our doctrinal correctness or our good feelings or even most prayerful moments and our most zealous commitments as reasons for being accepted by God and it simply states that if we would know God we must confess our sin and say that we need a saviour and trust that saviour Let me put this way, however crudely; the blood of Jesus Christ is not negotiable, not optional for those who like that sort of thing and to be ignored by those who don’t The Bible makes clear the basic principle that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9.22) and that wonderfully and positively whatever we have done wrong, however far we are from God the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin; for it is through the blood of his cross that Jesus has made peace. We are required to remember simply that for our sakes he was crucified and to offer nothing else to God as a reason for acceptance. You do not even have to wear a cross or hold a cross but we are required to carry a cross in humble submission to God and in a Christlike response to whatever the world throws at us. I hope you have seen what is so important about the cross. It is a challenging example for us because it is also a work of rescue for us. It may seem to be foolish but it is so wise because it brings us back to God It may seem to be the way of weakness but in it is true power. THE WEAKNESS / POWER OF THE CROSS Paul found himself in Corinth up against some powerful people, people who talked a good talk, who seemed to have all the answers people who had the ear of the wealthy and the power brokers in society and besides them Paul looked very weak and weedy. But that didn’t matter. Paul realised that all he had to do was all he could do, to proclaim Christ crucified because this is God’s wisdom. This is God’s answer to the mess we are in. And the people of power had not a clue about it People like Pontius Pilate who passed sentence on Jesus or the Roman governors or the Jewish leaders trying to imprison or execute the early Christians . And the world rulers today still don’t have a clue. What brought down the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism? What brought about a change of power in S Africa. What has kept the troubles in Ireland from being worse than they were? When all the books re opened and all the reasons are known You will find that humble cross centred Christian prayer and humble cross centred Christian faith were right there in the process And if you want an answer to militant Islam, look in the same place: isn’t it clear that all the military might, all the ‘shock and awe’ of the campaign in Iraq is only likely to make things worse - but that’s what happens when we fight in human strength. Paul knew a better way, the way of weakness that is true power. (1 Corinthians 2.2-5) ‘For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. Pontius Pilate hadn’t a clue about real power; the Roman legions and the Jewish lawyers and the clever philosophers all thought they had their hands on some kind of power but through the ages Christians of all kinds know the secret. An unknown poet put it this way comparing the deaths of Jesus and of the powerful general Alexander the Great Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three; One lived and died for self; one died for you and me. The Greek died on a throne; the Jew died on a cross; One's life a triumph seemed; the other but a loss. One led vast armies forth; the other walked alone; One shed a whole world's blood; the other gave his own One won the world in life and lost it all in death; The other lost his life to win the whole world's faith. Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three, One died in Babylon; and one on Calvary. One gained all for self; and one himself he gave; One conquered every throne; the other every grave. One would be God; the other as God became less; The one lived but to blast; the other but to bless. When died the Greek, forever fell his throne of swords; But Jesus died to live forever Lord of lords. Jesus and Alexander died at thirty-three; The Greek made all men slaves; the Jew made all men free. One built a throne on blood; the other built on love, The one was born of earth; the other from above; One won all this earth, to lose all earth and heaven; The other gave up all, and all to him is given. The Greek forever died; the Jew forever lives. He loses all who gets, and wins all things who gives. The loser is who grasps, the winner is who gives Listen to Thomas á Kempis, in The Imitation of Christ ‘In the Cross is life, in the Cross is protection from our enemies, in the Cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the Cross is strength of mind, in the Cross is joy of spirit, in the Cross is the height of virtue, in the Cross is perfection of sanctity. There is no salvation of the soul, nor hope of everlasting life, but in the Cross. Lord Jesus, help us to respond to the message of the cross simply, humbly, thankfully, trusting you, following you unashamed to carry whatever suffering that involves.