THE PARADOX OF THE CROSS
Easter is one of my favourite holidays of the year, if not my absolute favourite. Unlike Christmas, which my family celebrates enthusiastically, easter gives us a proper four-day weekend, and Jesus is the reason. How cool is that! We’re assured that easter will always fall on a weekend, so I never have to wonder whether I’ll get those four days off the following year. Easter also provides the world with a much-needed opportunity to pause, rest, reset, and restrategize before continuing with the rest of the year. It’s a highly anticipated break for learners and workers alike, quite different from Christmas, which feels more like a nationwide leave period.
For the purpose of this article, I shall refer to easter as the holy week, as we all should. Why that is the case is a conversation for another article. Posters on the paradox of the cross have been circulating across ABC and LBC social media platforms all week, and mine is simply to share a fragment of my personal reflection. Disclaimer though, I am not a theologian or Bible scholar, so everything I say is purely my thoughts, but more importantly, what I believe God has enabled me to share.
A paradox is a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true. One of the many marvels of God is that He is mysterious, we could never fully wrap our heads around Him, even if we tried. The Bible in Isaiah 40:28 says God’s wisdom is unsearchable, meaning, it is beyond our ability to comprehend. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God, stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). It does not fit logic. It does not follow reason. What looked like crushing defeat was actually the most glorious victory the world has ever known. What appeared to be the end of all hope became the beginning of eternal life for everyone who believes. God was doing what human wisdom never could, defeating sin and death!
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
The coronation of the King of kings looked nothing like anyone expected. Instead of a throne of gold, He received a wooden cross. Instead of a crown of jewels, He wore a crown of thorns. His royal robe was His own blood. In the strangest and most beautiful reversal, the King of kings reigned not by dominating His enemies, but by dying for them. The innocent one was condemned so the guilty could go free. The righteous one was declared unrighteous and the murderer walked away while the Son of God took his place on a tree!
You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary (Jonathan Edwards)
For me, the deepest mystery of all is this. On the cross, God the Father poured out the full weight of His holy wrath against sin upon His own beloved Son, who cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. The Blessed, now the Cursed (Galatians 3:13) because He became sin for you and I (2 Corinthians 5:21), that He might bring us to God. And now, it is finished! What looked like total abandonment became the doorway to the greatest reunion and celebration the universe has ever known, a Good Friday, indeed! The same Jesus who cried out in forsakenness burst forth from the grave in triumphant victory, just as He had promised.
Beloved children of God, the darkness is overcome (John 1:5). The stone that the builders rejected is now the cornerstone (Psalm 118:22). Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)!
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suff’ring and shame;
And I love that old cross where the Dearest and Best For a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain:
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.
Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above To bear it to dark Calvary.
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, To pardon and sanctify me.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me someday to my home far away, Where His glory forever I’ll share.
# Armour