The Way of the Cross —
The Cross and It’s Refined Image
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
St. John, Galveston 2/18/26
915, 615, 550, 610, 613, 433
+ In Nomine Jesu +
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Let us pray…
“No bread of earth alone
Can fill our hung’ring hearts.
Lord, help us seek Your living Word,
The food Your grace imparts.”
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
All Christian understanding and teaching falls beneath the umbrella of the cross of Jesus. Whether one believes it to be true or not, Jesus' crucifixion is that singular event in world history that changed the course of humanity, having reconciled the world to God. For centuries Christians have been marked in their baptisms with the sign of the cross, confessing that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the only hope of mankind for salvation from sin and death. Some have even died horrid deaths confessing their faith in Christ and in His atoning death on the cross. They are the martyrs of the Church of whom “the world is not worthy.” The cross and the blessings won for us on the cross are the foundation on which the Church stands, or falls. And so, God’s servant, St. Paul, wrote, "I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (I Cor. 2:2).
All Christian understanding and teaching falls beneath the umbrella of the cross of Jesus Christ. And yet, the cross, that emblem of Jesus’ torture and shame, which saves us from the unending torment of hell, can so easily be left behind for something that appears better, perhaps for something that appears more fitting of God’s majesty and glory. There is a temptation, even among Christians, to consider the cross simply an historic event, instead of an event that is descriptive, even prescriptive of the way in which God deals with and relates to His fallen creation.
Within Christendom there is school of thought, even a theology, that is the opposite of the Way of the Cross. Dr. Steven Hein, an LCMS pastor, once said there is a “Continental Divide” in Christian thought such that God is perceived in different ways, even by Christians who live their lives beneath Jesus’ blood bought gift of forgiveness. The opposite of the Way of the Cross is the crosses refined image. It’s a refined image because it’s been buffed up and polished in order to remove any vestige of suffering and shame. It too is firmly believed upon by many who bear the name Christian. The refined image is a way of glory. For sure, it confesses that Jesus Christ saved the world from sin by His death on the cross, but it is inclined to the leave the suffering and shame of the cross in the past, so that we Christian’s might move on to bigger and better things, things that are more glorious, more fitting of the majesty and glory of God.
A strong desire to witness the glory of God engulfs much of American Christianity today. It does so because it presents an appealing message, one that is deemed acceptable to our cultural sensibilities. As it turns out, you and I, as fallen sinners, always want to see the bright side, if you will, of God's dealing with humanity. We want to see God work in miraculous and wondrous ways. In short, we want God to be who we want Him to be and we want Him to act in the way we want Him to act. As such, we want to be able to identify and measure His presence and His activity in the world in which we live.
The Way of the Cross stands in stark contrast to the “show me” mentality that is such a prominent feature of our culture. Christ redeemed the world in suffering and shame, and even though He is Risen from the dead and is victorious over death and grave, He none the less calls us to “take up our cross and follow Him.” He says, “tomorrow is going to bring plenty of trouble, but, take heart, I have overcome the world.”
A pastor accepted a call to serve at a university chapel. Since congregations supported the chapel program with their offerings, he was asked to address a gathering of other pastors at a district function. His words came from a heart molded by the spirituality of the cross. He said…
“I refuse to tell you gentlemen how great my current ministry is. It’s bad. All the numerical indicators are down. I am losing members. I am losing leaders. Confusion reigns among those who are staying. They are sad. I don’t know what will happen next week much less next year. I have no five-year plan. I just barely have a five-day plan. Yet, gentlemen, despite this terrible news I still think that God is doing just fine in my church, and I think I am too. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me.”
It is the spirituality of the cross. God is at work redeeming, renewing, providing, even when all the measurable signs seem to suggest otherwise. God can’t be required to perform to our standards. In fact, the spirituality of the cross shows us that it is precisely when we think that God is absent, when we think that the day has been lost and there is no hope, that He is does His greatest work. For St. Paul, he found strength in his suffering even though he prayed fervently that God might remove the thorn from his flesh.
In a similar fashion, the cry of a man who despised and rejected of men rose up from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me.” In that which appeared feeble, even pitiful to men, God was working His greatest work, the reconciliation of the whole world to Himself.
It is, my friends, the spirituality of the cross. It is your story and my story.
“Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
+ Soli Deo Gloria +