The Cross – a Symbol of Hope

The cross is the badge of the Christian. Yet it was the cruellest form of execution known in the ancient world until it was eventually banned in the 5th century AD. Paradoxically as a horrifying instrument of torture and death, it is also a symbol of love, peace and hope.
The cross is...
a picture of violence, yet the key to peace;
a picture of suffering, yet the key to healing;
a picture of death, yet the key to life;
a picture of utter weakness, yet the key to power;
a picture of capital punishment, yet the key to mercy and forgiveness;
a picture of vicious hatred, yet the key to love;
a picture of supreme shame, yet the Christian’s supreme boast.

The cross really is the key to everything!
Like a cut diamond the cross has many facets. On the cross the powers of death and evil were defeated; Jesus identified with our sufferings and set us an example of self-sacrificial love. However, above all Jesus died to deal with the problem of our sin.
Saint Peter described how this terrible death brings us hope, ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his wounds you have been healed … Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God’ (1Peter 2:24, 3:18).
What was the purpose of the cross? Peter answers this question in five short words: ‘to bring us to God’. Jesus is like the bridge that provides access between us and God, reaching across the barriers we put up around ourselves, and draw us closer to our Father in reconciliation.
When Jesus died, really died, his body was laid in the tomb. But early on Sunday morning, on the third day, God raised his Son from the grave.
We celebrate a living saviour, not a dead hero, Jesus is alive and is risen. He had a real body, but a resurrection body, like the one we will have some day.
It’s the dramatic conclusion of heaven’s greatest story. It’s the very foundation of our faith. It’s the most decisive event in human history. It’s also a key ‘high point’ on our Hope08 journey. Easter is upon us.