For me the journey of Lent is dominated by the long shadow of the Cross. The meaning of Christ’s sacrifice and my understanding and response to His sacrifice is the heart of Lent for me this year. In the past years, it was easier to focus on the empty tomb and the Risen Christ of Easter morning, than to stand and look at the beaten and bleeding Jesus on the Cross of Good Friday. It is understandable that one would rather be in the beautiful garden of Easter than the dark and wind-swept hill of Calvary. But I have come to realize that to come to a deeper understanding of the meaning of Easter, I must spend time standing by the Cross of Calvary.
A series of questions confronts me at the Cross. Why was the terrible suffering and death of Christ necessary? Could not God have chosen another way to redeem us? I have always had difficulty with the extreme language of some writers that seem to portray God as demanding a blood sacrifice in payment for the sins of the world, which seems to reduce the life of Christ to some legal/judicial payment of debts. This is not to deny the reality of original sin that has destroyed the relationship between God and His creation or the reality of suffering and death becoming an integral part of the human condition. But rather the difficulty with this language is that it leaves little room for the images of Christ as shepherd, as healer and teacher. The image of a loving God who calls us into relationship with Him, of a loving Father as portrayed in the parable of the Prodigal Son is more in keeping with my understanding of the God revealed to us in Jesus.
The Cross was the sign of the reality and power of sin and death in creation and that Jesus through His suffering and death destroyed the power of death and by His resurrection open a new and living relationship with our Father. The Cross is the ultimate sign of God’s love for you and me, that restores our relationship to the Father.
As St. Paul expresses in Romans 6:5-6: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.”
I found in a little book on the Orthodox faith the following quote which helped clarify my thoughts:
“St. Isaac the Syrian writes: “God the Lord surrendered His own Son to death on the Cross for the fervent love of creation. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to death for our sake (cf. John 3:16). This was not, however, because He could not have redeemed us in another way, but so that His surpassing love, manifested hereby, might be a teacher unto us. And by the death of His only begotten Son, He made us near to Himself. Yea, if He had had anything more precious, He would have given it to us, so that by it our race might be his own.”
The Cross offers us a choice, to stay enslaved by sin, estranged from God or to chose to respond to the new life of the Resurrection and be restored to our true identities as people made in the image of God. The sacrifice of the Cross is God shattering the bonds of slavery and inviting us into His life. How awesome is this invitation, what love He has shown for us!
The question is are we ready to leave the shadows and move into the light of the new life of Christ? The shadows can be uncomfortable, but it is what is known. Responding to the call of Christ will move us out of ourselves and into a deeper relationship not only with God but with our neighbours and all of creation. Each one of us needs to look at the crucified one on the Cross and decide for ourselves. Will I reject His love shown at such a great cost?
Saint John, Innisville — Deanery of the Southwest