THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS

Every year the Christian world celebrates the Lent. It is a solemn religious observance, in the liturgical calendar of many Christian denominations  which begins on Ash Wednesday, and covers a period of six weeks culminating on Easter Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church, the Reformed, the Lutheran Church, the Anglicans, the Methodists and  some evangelical churches observe the Lenten season as a long held tradition. It has been so ingrained as a religious tradition, that the ritualism has overshadowed the real meaning and significance of Lent, in the Biblical sense. 

The Message of the Cross, is the heart of the celebration of the Holy Week. The Message of the Cross of Christ is to most of us an old Message in the sense that the tradition is repeated year after year, but no matter how old it is, it remains a life transforming message.

As Christians perhaps we need to revisit the message of the cross of Christ with a fresh new look, and imagine ourselves standing on that hill, where our savior died that dark Friday. 

The Message of the Gospel of Christ could be found there and we need not look elsewhere.

My friends as we gaze at the forlorn figure of the Christ on the cross it is my hope that you too will embrace Him as Lord and Savior.

The great Saint and Apostle Paul of Tarsus, spoke  succinctly of the Gospel message, which the whole Christendom is observing today. 

He said,  “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:1–4).

The message of the cross of Christ is clear and simple. There is no need for us to go into theological or philosophical studies to grasp it.

St. Paul said there are three important things which we need to think in the gospel message. 

First, the Man on the cross “died for our sins.” We are all sinners. As Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

When we speak of sin there is no difference! No difference between the corporate lawyer, the drug dealer, the rapist, or the judge. No difference between a rich politician, a bank robber, or refined graduate of the Ateneo. And no difference between a gangster or an upright member of Rotary or Sto. Nino Parish.  

Apart from the grace of God poured forth at the cross, we would all be going to hell.

The reality of sin needs to be acknowledged by all who approach the throne of God for salvation. A sinner must acknowledge the hopelessness of his guilt before God in order for forgiveness to take place, and he must understand that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Without this foundational truth, no gospel presentation is complete.

Second, the person and work of Christ are indispensable components of the gospel. Jesus is both God (Colossians 2:9) and man (John 1:14). Jesus lived the sinless life that we could never live (1 Peter 2:22), and, because of that, He is the only one who could die a substitutionary death for the sinner. Sin against an infinite God requires an infinite sacrifice. Therefore, either man, who is finite, must pay the penalty for an infinite length of time in hell, or the infinite Christ must pay for it once. Jesus went to the cross to pay the debt we owe to God for our sin, and those who are covered by His sacrifice will inherit the kingdom of God as sons of the king (John 1:12).

Third, the resurrection of Christ is an essential element of the gospel. The resurrection is the proof of the power of God. Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting that is death and the victory that is the grave’s (1 Corinthians 15:54–55).

And finally my friends, please ponder on this: Unlike all other religions, Christianity alone possesses a Founder who transcends death and who promises that His followers will do the same. All other religions were founded by men and prophets whose end was the grave.

The  Christ  who died on that cross whom we venerate Lent after Lent offers His salvation as a free gift (Romans 5:15; 6:23), that can only be received by faith, apart from any works or merit on our part (Ephesians 2:8–9).

As the apostle Paul tells us, the gospel is “the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16). The same inspired author tells us, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

God Bless all of you my dear friends.