This week, Jonathan Round reflects on why every road seems to lead back to the cross.
Dirt crossroad surrounded by grass
I suppose I had never thought much about this before, but a small group of people sit down to pray and talk over the direction of the teaching at The Well, matching speakers and topics, developing themes to bring the church forward, and provide a platform for change in us all, individually and together.
Being honest, I wasn’t that excited about the subject areas when they were announced – Fasting; Giving; Prayer; Generosity; The Cross. Fundamental, certainly, but how much revelation could be left? Quite a bit, as it turned out!
With many jobs or roles, you start with the basics, then add layers on top that make you more useful. As a medic, I began by learning biochemistry, anatomy and physiology, then learnt about pathology, and next practical clinical skills. Only then was I ready to learn about the art of identifying the illness and treating a patient. Each level built on the others, but also left them behind – I rarely need much anatomy or biochemistry now.
The journey of a Christian is in so many ways completely opposite to this.
The absolute basis of our lives is the love of God for mankind, and nowhere is this better expressed than in the Cross. It might be pretty graphic, but what stronger way could there be of expressing love? But rather than ‘getting’ the message and moving on to bigger and brighter truths in our faith, we are drawn to keep coming back. But unlike a gold mine, which becomes exhausted and empty when the mineral is extracted, there is no end to what the Cross can teach us. It is as if the more you dig, the more there is, and the purity higher and higher still.
If I were (humanly) planning a curriculum for being a functional and effective Christian, I suspect I would start with the Cross, and thoroughly understand what it means, and let the Father completely transform the heart of the student. Then we could move onto more “practical stuff” such as healing, transforming the world and so forth. There would be no need to go back to the Cross – it would be there in the background, permeating the Christian’s life with understanding of selfless love, sacrifice and justice.
Good job I don’t run this course then!
God knows us so well. The full revelation of the Cross may well be more than
our minds, maybe even our spirits can take. It’s as if, when we consider the message of the Cross, it can expand our hearts a little, allow our eyes to widen a little more as we consider how much we are loved, and how far Jesus was prepared to go to rescue us. And the same happens again and again as we come back to that place of revelation.
In our Father’s curriculum, the Cross is no mere basis for functioning as a Christian, it is our beginning, it is our example, it is the end, it is the ultimate expression of the depth, breadth and intensity of God’s Love for his Creation.
Let’s keep coming back for more!