The Cross is a paradox. It is both wonderful and cruel. It is freedom and captivity. It is grace and justice.
We often think of the Cross in tender terms, remembering that our freedom was won on the Cross. It was at the Cross that Grace and Mercy became a stark reality. It was at the Cross that we find our Savior. But, think for a moment of the Cross. The Cross was the harshest, most inhumane form of punishment that was in use in the Roman world. Its victims could linger in tormented life for days. Those that hung on the cruel timbers would face the derision of those who passed by. More than the physical suffering of the Cross, our Lord endured the greatest of all sufferings – separation from the Father. Understand, in all of eternity, this had never happened. Jesus Christ enjoyed a perfect relationship with God the Father. In those dark moments on that one Friday, Jesus Christ experienced the horrible weight of the world’s sin. The Word tells us that He became sin, He did not just bear our sin; but, there on that Cross, He became Sin – vile, wretched, putrid, divisive. At that moment and for three horrible hours, the Savior of the world was alone. God had turned His back on Sin nailed to the Cross. The Blood flowed. The Punishment ran its course. The Savior gave up His life. Death claimed the Eternal God.
We should no longer look at the Cross with velvet glasses. The Cross meant a radical commitment to the Cause. God the Father totally gave over His perfect Son to the torment of being Sin on the Cross. Jesus the Son totally gave Himself over to the punishment poured out by His own Father. The God of Creation became the Sin of the world. All because He was totally committed to restoring the relationship that was broken in Eden.
The Cross means total commitment. The Cross demands the whole person. The Cross demands the whole soul. The Cross demands everything that you are! When you come to the Cross of Grace, It requires you to let go of all the garbage in your life and accept the True and Living God. It requires that you realize that you cannot make it on your own. It requires to look outside of yourself to understand that all your good deeds are meaningless before the sacrifice of the Cross and the demands of Holy God.
You cannot make it on your own! You cannot find freedom from sin without the violent, bloody Cross. Stop thinking you can! The Cross is a radical commitment. Coming to the Cross means Freedom from sin. It means a relationship with the One True God. It means giving up your idea of making it to heaven on your own. It means finding the One Person who is greater than you. The Cross is indeed a radical commitment. It requires all of you – everything! Will you give all? The work on the Cross is done. All you have to do is believe that your Cross was occupied by Love and Grace. All you have to do is believe that Jesus died in your place. A radical idea? Absolutely! Why? Because it goes contrary to the humanistic thought that you can make it on your own. The Cross is radical, and the Cross radically saves!
