Week 14—Sunday Matthew 27:39-44
Matthew 27:39-44
CROSS IMPOSED OR INHERENT?
We are asking whether the cross is imposed or inherent. If the cross is in our blood, then it, as Mrs. Herrmann says “is writ large in the universe. It is the ground plan of the universe.” When you face life, the cross is inescapable. There is a Bengali film entitled An Astonishing World, written by a non-Christian. It is the story of a converted pickpocket who ends up kneeling at the foot of the cross and is forgiven and converted. Why did this Hindu author have the pickpocket end up at the foot of the cross? There was simply no other place for him to come out except the cross. Neither Hinduism nor Islam nor any other faith could provide a place of forgiveness and redemption. The cross was inevitable.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, the crowd around the cross cried: “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” Unwittingly they put their finger upon the deepest thing in life—he was saving others, therefore he could not save himself. That is the deepest law of the universe: those who save others cannot save themselves trouble, pain, suffering, or death. A mother and father bird grow lean in foraging for food for their little ones. And if a serpent makes its treacherous way up the tree, the mother bird will throw herself into the open jaws of the serpent. She is saving her family; herself she cannot save. A mother goes down to the valley of the shadow of death to bring a child into the world. She is saving another; herself she cannot save. Ants crossing a stream will make a bridge of their dead bodies, clinging together in death that the rest might walk across their dead bodies to safety. They are saving others; themselves they cannot save. The cross is inherent. It is not merely written in the Scriptures; it is plowed into the facts of life.
O Father God, the universe is not alone the work of your hands. It is the work of your heart as well. Your heart is written into it. We see it exposed again and again, and we stand in awe and we worship. For everywhere we see your cross of love. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: The cross is the most important spot in the universe.