During Holy Week and lent we (who are in the church at least) spend more time thinking about and even looking at the Cross. The Cross symbolizes to us many things, among them, love, peace, victory over death, and sacrifice. Many of us will wear the cross around our necks to show we are apart of Jesus’s Kingdom. We’re Christians. But as I was recently reminded, the Cross used to represent something completely different.
As we know, the cross before Christ was an ancient Roman form of execution and torture. It was designed to humiliate those who were condemned to die, nailed in a public place, naked to be watched and seen by the public. The Romans did this in order to show the supremacy of their power and dominance over the world. The Romans also very rarely would put to death a Roman Citizen in this manner because of the shame associated with crucifixion. They would typically use it as a punishment for political opponents to Rome, to show the opposition what might happen to them if they would defy Rome’s authority. This is why Jesus’s cross bore the epitaph “King of the Jews.”
The symbolism of the Jewish leader and Chief Priest declaring to Pilot, “We have no King but Caesar” is significant. They were rejecting God and his Kingdom on the earth in exchange for the power this world has to offer.
But what is incredible, is how this symbol of Roman power, of their dominance over their political power, now has been subverted. It represents a Kingdom and power that far exceeds what Rome ever could have hoped to accomplish. Rome had a good run from its founding in 753 BC by a pair of wolf-raised brothers, to its demise in 476 AD at the hand of Odacerthe Barbarian (Who I like to imagine looked like this, with a wolf skin on his head:
(This is actually a depiction of Atilla the Hun, who Odacer’s father was an advisor to. I am sure Atilla’s considerable fashion choices rubbed off on a young impressionable Odacer).
But Rome’s power came to an end and was replaced by a power that has lasted 2000 years and will continue to conquer things the Roman empire could never touch, sin and death in our lives.
The fact that the symbol of Roman power is now a symbol of love and forgiveness is a microcosm of the transformative power of the cross. Because of Jesus’s death and more importance his resurrection defeating death, we have access to forgiveness. We can have victory over the power of sin and death in our lives. Rome could not escape the decay of sin and decadence which is often attributed to its downfall.
But you, like the symbol of the cross itself can be transformed. I can be transformed from something horrific and shameful, into a creature of love and hope and forgiveness. I can be transformed because the God of the universe chose to come down and usurp the power of this world in all the ways that really mattered and start his kingdom invasion on the planet. This process is not done, it began on the cross, was completed in Jesus’s resurrection and is extended into any heart which declares him king over their brokenness. The next step in the process is the current and real transformation of lives that can occur. The final step will be his return to “make all things new.” In this new kingdom, which can reign in your heart today, forgiveness, love, and acceptance rule where once there was shame, hate, and humiliation. We are loved and accepted by a Holy and magnificent God. There is nothing else you need to be or do. We’re invited into Jesus Kingdom through the cross. And we’re invited to be like him, to have new life where we only had death, to love sacrificially, to forgive unendingly, to be at peace with the world.
Comments