Contemplation of the Cross

Flogged. Pierced. Ridiculed. Slapped. Burdened. Contorted. Crucified. This is the Cross of Christ. It is horrific. We adorn our churches with a symbol of death. This is what we hold up as a symbol of hope? 

We see in Grunewald’s painting Christ stretched out, his hands upturned impaled with the nails. His head is downcast and his body distorted. He is stripped bare. Blood drips down his body. This is the “wondrous cross?” This is what Christ call us to?

We cry lead me to Calvary. Do we know what we are saying?

The Son of God died. Have we heard it so much that we are no longer shocked? Jesus, God’s very self, Creator of all, the Most High, King of kings, Commander of the hosts of heaven, the Messiah, lowered himself and died.

Yet at his death, death too was slain. As John the Baptist proclaimed, Christ came to take away the sin of the world. Christ overcame sin not through power and might, but in death. He absorbs evil and suffering so that in his death, they die too. The light takes in the darkness, and the darkness cannot remain.

 Christ’s death is not a sacrifice to save us from God; it is God’s self-sacrifice to save us from sin, to save us from ourselves. It by his blood that God reconciles to himself all things.

This is our hope, this is our call. It is the wondrous cross full of sorrow and love. Christ’s love is abundant that he would die, that he would take the full horror of the cross so that we might live. But the cross is not just to be accepted and revered; we are not just to stand in awe, we are to follow. We see more fully in the cross, in his death, Christ’s call: “I am the way, the truth and the life.”

From "Where do we go from here?" by MLK

"What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."

"And so I say to you today that I still stand by nonviolence. And I am still convinced that it is the most potent weapon available to the Negro in his struggle for justice in this country. And the other thing is that I am concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice. I'm concerned about brotherhood. I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer but you can't murder. Through violence you may murder a liar but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that."

"let us go out with a "divine dissatisfaction." Let us be dissatisfied until America will no longer have a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds. Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. Let us be dissatisfied until those that live on the outskirts of hope are brought into the metropolis of daily security. Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home. Let us be dissatisfied until the dark yesterdays of segregated schools will be transformed into bright tomorrows of quality, integrated education. Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity. Let us be dissatisfied until men and women, however black they may be, will be judged on the basis of the content of their character and not on the basis of the color of their skin. Let us be dissatisfied. Let us be dissatisfied until every state capitol houses a governor who will do justly, who will love mercy and who will walk humbly with his God. Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together. and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. Let us be dissatisfied. And men will recognize that out of one blood God made all men to dwell upon the face of the earth."