The Cross that Transforms

 During Lent we are on pilgrimage together moving towards the cross. We are journeying to the theological crux of our faith, to Holy Week, the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. The readings today on the second Sunday of Lent are a wonderful juxtaposition of lessons from Genesis, the gospel of Mark and Paul’s letter to the Romans. In Genesis we read about Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac, foreshadowing God’s willing sacrifice of his son Jesus for our sakes.  In Mark’s gospel we hear Jesus proclaim his mission to undergo great suffering, to be killed and after three days rise again. He adds that all who would be his disciples must take up their own cross and follow him. Discipleship means taking up your cross and following Jesus. Then in Romans we read Paul’s reassurance that even though we endure hardship
and are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, because there is nothing in the whole universe that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So let’s take a closer look at the conversation that these lessons are having concerning Jesus and our own lives as his disciples.  First, in Genesis we have the example of Abraham. Abraham lived by faith. When God promises him that he will be the Father of a great nation, Abraham believes the Lord. It says in Genesis 15:6: “And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness”.  Then the Lord makes a covenant with Abraham. But Abraham doesn’t always act in faith. Living by faith is something he has to learn over time. In the very next chapter Abraham decides that since his wife Sarah is barren he will have to take matters into his own hands. He takes a slave woman, Haggar, and has a son by her. But the Lord tells him, no, your own wife Sarah will be the mother of your heir. Your heir will be through the power of God, not through your own power. Then when he and Sarah finally have their beloved son Isaac, the Lord tests Abraham’s faith to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son and heir to the promise, his only son Isaac. And this time Abraham faithfully obeys, trusting the Lord completely. Because he does not withhold even his son Isaac, he has a deep experience of God’s graciousness in providing the ram caught in the thicket, and he names the place “The Lord will provide.”
The Lord does provide the sacrifice, the sacrifice for the whole world in sending his son Jesus.  This is the central message of the gospels and of Jesus’s message in Mark today—he says “the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
Peter’s first reaction when he hears this is to tell Jesus this is not the right message. The strategy is all wrong. This isn’t what’s supposed to happen, Peter thinks. And it’s even worse that Jesus is announcing this to all of his listeners. “He said all this quite openly,” Mark says. Jesus sharply rebukes Peter because he is setting his mind not on divine things but on human things. Peter doesn’t yet fully understand God’s ways. Like Abraham, he will come to understand later, but he doesn’t yet. He doesn’t understand the meaning of the cross. He hasn’t yet learned that if you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you lose your life for Jesus’ sake, you will find it.  What does Jesus means by this? What does he mean that we, if we want to be his disciples, must take up our cross and follow him? Luke’s gospel says take up your cross daily. What does it mean to take up one’s cross daily? To answer that question for ourselves we need to understand the significance of Jesus’ cross.
When Jesus went to the cross God astonished the world. God transformed something that was done with great evil intent into something that is the greatest good the world has ever seen. The cross was the place of the greatest transformation in history. Captivity to sin was transformed to forgiveness and freedom. Alienation was transformed into reconciliation. Shame was transformed into glory. Hatred was repaid with love. The resurrection three days later verified the truth of what took place on the cross and the transformation continued. Through the resurrection brokenness was transformed into wholeness. Death was transformed into life. The cross is the place of transformation.
Through the cross the perverseness of the world’s understanding of power and glory was revealed. The world uses power to gain advantage over others, using other people to get ahead, like rungs on a ladder to climb on. The world uses power to amass wealth, to increase ownership and to protect possessions. The world seeks glory through material success and human approval and accolades. The cross and resurrection show that true power lies in humble obedience to God, and glory lies in loving unconditionally, laying down one’s life for sinners.
         What does this mean for us as Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him? The cross is our place of transformation also. 2000 years later, the cross is still the place of transformation. It is the place where we become like Jesus. It is the place where we are transformed into the likeness of Christ. Taking up the cross and following Jesus means we allow the transforming power of the cross to have its way in us. The kinds of transformation that God works in us are in our hearts. God is concerned about our hearts becoming pure and loving, because it is out of our hearts that our actions flow. The transformation of the cross changes bitterness and hatred into loving one’s enemies and doing good to those who hate you.  It changes self-condemnation to the ability to receive God’s love and forgiveness. It changes self-absorption and worry into trust in the Father’s care and provision. It changes neediness that craves human approval into a deep knowledge that you are a beloved child of God for all eternity. It changes living in anxiety to knowing God’s peace that passes understanding.
         This is what Paul rejoices in in the passage from Romans 8.  He says, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is the truth that sets us free. Do you know that deep inside? Does that truth live in you? If it’s not strong in you yet, ask God to make that the core of your being. He will do it.
Transformations happen when we allow God to work his work in us day by day, little by little. Life on its own will bring on the trials and challenges and crises that can become the crucible for inner change. We don’t have to go looking for them. When we are following Jesus through them they become our cross of transformation. The joy of the cross is that whatever suffering or trial life brings to us, God will bring much greater good out of it for us. The cross redeems everything. Romans 8:28 says, “all things work together for good for those you love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
         Discipleship is taking up our cross and following Jesus. An old Baptist hymn that we sang often in my church growing up is called the Old Rugged Cross. You may know it. It says, “I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.”  Clinging to the cross, taking it up, requires letting go of other things, doesn’t it. That’s the hard part. That means we have to be willing to let God show us what he wants to change in us. We might be working on changing all kinds of things that God isn’t concerned about. What God wants to change might be very different from what we want to change. Have you noticed that? I would like God to make me somebody who is vivacious and loquacious and tells great jokes and makes people laugh and is the life of the party. In all these years it’s just not happening. I’m still a pretty quiet homebody kind of person. God doesn’t seem to care that I’m not the life of the party.
But there are other things that God does care about changing in me, things that I may be less excited about changing.  For example I have a tendency to judge people-- rather harshly at times—jumping to conclusions about people. Not any of you, of course! It’s sort of a secret sin because I usually keep my thoughts to myself, but sometimes I’ll blurt out what I’m thinking in front of John who’s shocked! In the Myers-Briggs personality types I’m an INFJ, the j standing for Judging. John is convinced that the J in my INFJ stands for “judgmental.” God is working on me. He reminds me in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged.” God, and God through John, have helped me become aware of this tendency, and now that I am aware I must address it as the sin it is, asking for forgiveness when I slip into it. I pray for God to help me see others as he sees them, so that I see others through God’s eyes. When I see others through God’s eyes, I love them instead of judging them. This is one of my crosses of transformation. God is doing the work, I am cooperating, and it involves letting go.  Letting go of my own judgments, my pride and my wanting to be right, and giving up almost a kind of pleasure in labeling and pigeonholing others.
         Where are the crosses of transformation in your life? Where is God at work in you? How well are you cooperating in taking up your cross and following Jesus? The season of Lent is a great opportunity to reflect with God about this. Ask God to show you one cross of transformation. Just one is enough. Then pay attention to how the Holy Spirit is working to transform you, and discover how you can cooperate with God’s work in you.  The other side of the cross is freedom, healing and resurrection. As you move through your cross of transformation, remember to look ahead with joy and anticipation for the coming day of resurrection.