The crucifixion of another criminal. It was the kind of thing that Rome did best. This was the kind of action that kept people in their place. It was cruel. It was efficient. It was effective.
When Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, it was just another day of justice in Jerusalem. The next day in Palestine was like any other. Tax collectors knocked on doors, Roman soldiers patrolled the streets, sacrifices continued in the temple, and people went to work. It appeared nothing had changed.
Except in this case, everything had changed. N.T. Wright in his masterful work of the same name as this blog, writes,
“As Jesus’s followers looked back on that day in the light of what happened soon afterward, they came up with the shocking, scandalous, nonsensical claim that his death had launched a revolution. That something had happened that afternoon that had changed the world.”[1]
Nonsensical or not, they were proven right. Everything had changed. A revolution had begun. Within three days they had seen with their own eyes Jesus alive again. The Resurrection was the first visible sign that a new revolution on earth had commenced.
The death of Christ would become the theme of the early Christian writers. Stunning expressions of delight, joy, and hope were soon associated with that day. Paul wrote, “He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), “The Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the Bible” (1 Corinthians 15:3). John wrote, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16).
The Most Revolutionary Symbol in the World
Jesus was executed 2,000 years ago by the Romans. But Christians don’t believe He stayed dead—rather, Jesus defeated death by rising from death to life again. That makes the Cross not a sign of death but a sign of life.
That’s why I wear a cross. That’s why millions of people wear crosses. All over the world, most churches display crosses in their sanctuaries. The Cross means life, love, hope, and purpose.
The cross is the most revolutionary symbol in the world. Rock stars wear crosses at their concerts. Soldiers wear crosses when they go into battle. Athletes wear the cross while they compete. The other day, I was watching a prison inmate talk about his life and he had this massive cross tattooed across his forearm.
Why does the Cross of Palestine still mean so much?
For J.S. Bach, who wrote St. Matthew Passion, it was a prayer to the God he loved. It was Bach’s musical portrayal of the story of Jesus’s death. For John Bunyan, in his famous work Pilgrim’s Progress, the hero Christian is trudging along, weighed down by many burdens until “there stood a cross [and] a sepulchre…his burden loosed from his shoulders…He hath given me rest by his sorrow, and life by his death…It was very surprising to him that the sight of the cross should thus ease him of his burden.”[2]
The crucifixion of Christ carries a power with it. A power beyond rationalization. You don’t even have to understand why it has such an effect. Think about it for a moment. You don’t have to know music theory to understand why you’re moved by an acoustic guitar solo. You don’t have to have a definition of love to experience it. So, it is with the Cross of Christ. People the world over don’t know why but they are deeply impacted by the Cross.
The story of the Crucifixion of Jesus still grips us. It moves our heart and soul. Jesus dying on an old rugged Roman cross changed the world. It was the day the revolution began. May this Good Friday and Easter have such an impact on your life this year.
Pastor Steve
[1] N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began, (Harper One, 2011) page 3.
[2] John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, ed. J.M. Dent (London, 1998) page 38.
