THE CROSS: SOURCE OF SALVATION IN A CHANGING WORLD
Dr. Davis George
Many years ago some divers
discovered a sunken ship. One of the treasures they found on it was a man’s
wedding ring. Etched on the wide gold band of the ring was a hand holding a
heart. Under it was this moving inscription: “I have nothing more to give you.” This inscription could have been placed on
Jesus’ cross. For by his death, Jesus gave us everything he had: his body, his
blood, his love, his life. He had nothing more to give us. Someone asked Jesus how much do you love me?
He stretched out his hands on the cross and said “this much” and died. “God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to
condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” ( Jn
3:16-17) Amazing and unconditional love
God has for every human being on earth. He wants human kind to experience
forgiveness and peace; strength and consolation in times of struggle and failure.
“When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (Jn
12:31-32). Christ the crucified is the power and wisdom of God. ''A man who was
completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others,
including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act,
“said Mahatma Gandhi
The death that changed the world continues to change our lives. There is unbelievable saving power in the death of Jesus because he died for others as a sacrificial offering. “While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardy die for a righteous man- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”(Rom 5:6-8) As St. Peter says we have been redeemed not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with precious blood of Christ. (1Pt1:18) He was born to die that we all may live. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith in his blood.”(Rom 3:23).
The death that changed the world continues to change our lives. There is unbelievable saving power in the death of Jesus because he died for others as a sacrificial offering. “While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardy die for a righteous man- though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”(Rom 5:6-8) As St. Peter says we have been redeemed not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with precious blood of Christ. (1Pt1:18) He was born to die that we all may live. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith in his blood.”(Rom 3:23).
The point of
Christ’s Passion, however, is not an analysis of society. “Christ did not come to explain things, but
to change human beings. The cross, then, does not ‘stand’ against the world but
for the world: to give meaning to all the suffering that has been, that is, and
that will be in human history,” Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., said. Through
his death he gave us new hope, new life and another chance to live again, freed
from the slavery to sin.
Today, we are
constantly hearing about death and violence, hatred and revenge. “Why then are
we here to recall the death of a man who lived 2,000 years ago? The reason is
that Jesus death on the cross has changed forever the very face of death and
given it a new meaning. The cross is the living proclamation that the final
victory does not belong to the one who triumphs over others but to the one who
triumphs over self; not to the one who causes suffering but to the one who is
suffering. The Carthusian monks have adopted a coat of arms that hangs at the
entrance to their monastery. It has a globe of the earth with a cross above it,
and written across it: “Stat crux dum volvitur orbis,” (The cross
stands firm as the world turns.) On Good
Friday let us repeat every year with the words of the poet Venanzio Fortunato:
‘O crux, ave spes unica,’ (Hail, O Cross, our only hope.) We have the opportunity
to make, on this day, the most important decision of our lives, one that opens
wide before us the doors of eternity: to believe! To believe that “Jesus died
for our sins and rose again for our justification.” (Rom 4:25) What is required
is only that we do not hide from the presence of God, as Adam and Eve did after
their sin, that we recognize our need to be redeemed; that we cannot do it ourselves.
As we gaze upon the cross, let us say from the bottom of our hearts, like the
tax collector in the temple, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ and then we
too, like he did, will return home ‘justified,’
that is, made right before him, forgiven, made a new creature. Jesus
died for you and for me that we may have life eternal.
Director,
St.
Aloysius Institute of Technology,
Jabalpur. (dgeorge55@gmail.com)
