The Theology of the Cross

This is what it means for Jesus to be the Christ.  This is the vocation to which His God and Father has called Him.  This is what His Baptism in the waters of the Jordan signifies and indicates: That He must suffer and die, and that His Father will raise Him up on the Third Day.

As surely as He went into the waters of His Baptism, so surely must He be crucified, put to death, and buried in the dust of the earth.  And just as surely as He came up out of those waters of the Jordan to an open heaven and the blessing of His Father, so surely shall He rise from the dead.

He proceeds from the waters of His Baptism to His sacrificial death upon the Cross in faith toward His God and Father and in fervent love for God and man.  And that is precisely what divine Life and the Glory of God look like in the Flesh — within this fallen and perishing world.  If you would know what God is like, then look to Christ the Crucified, to His innocent suffering and death.

The Lord is neither sadistic nor masochistic, but He demonstrates His divine strength and almighty power — in mercy and love — by His voluntary weakness, by His humble obedience, and by His willing Self-sacrifice for the salvation of sinners.  For the life of the whole world.

His Crucifixion is your Redemption.  For His Body and Life are the price God pays to buy back His own Creation.  And His Resurrection is your Righteousness and your Reconciliation with God.  For the very One who was crucified for your transgressions has been raised for your justification.

It is in this way that Christ Jesus, the Son of Man, comes into His Kingdom in the Glory of His God and Father — from His Baptism to His Cross and Passion, through death and the grave, into the Resurrection and the Life Everlasting.  His own Body of flesh and blood, crucified and risen from the dead, is the First Fruits of the New Creation.  Hence, He is the Firstborn from the dead; and by way of His Baptism, Cross, and Resurrection, He becomes the Firstborn of many brethren.

So, then, do not despair in the face of sin and death (not even your own), but rejoice that you are called to be His disciple — to follow after Him and learn from Him — to bear His Cross and share His death — and so also to share His Resurrection, His Life, and His Salvation in His Kingdom.

This is what it means for you to be a Christian, for you to be anointed by the Spirit of Christ Jesus.  And this is your first and foremost vocation — to which your God and Father in Christ Jesus has called you by His Word and Holy Spirit and by your Holy Baptism in His Name — to be and to live as His beloved and well-pleasing child and heir, a member of the Bride of Christ, His Church.  To be conformed to the Image and Likeness of the incarnate Son of God by the bearing of His Cross and rising with Him to newness of life, as your Baptism signifies and indicates.  None of which is abstract or generic, but practical, tangible, and specific throughout your days and weeks.

Within your own particular place in this life on earth, in keeping with the Ten Commandments, you are called to bear the Cross of Christ in faith and love, to suffer and die with Him in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection.  Day by day you are called to examine yourself, to repent of your sins, to die to your sins, and to rise up again in the righteousness of Christ by faith in His Gospel.  But so are you also called to bear the Cross in love for your neighbor — by faithfully doing the work that God has given you to do; by graciously serving your neighbor and bearing his burdens; by patiently suffering his insults, covering his weaknesses, and forgiving his sins against you.

That is what your Christian faith and life look like.  That is the cruciform shape and the pattern of your Christian faith and life on earth — in all the many particularities of your own specific place — in the way that you relate to and interact with those whom God has placed alongside of you.

If you are a husband and father, for example, you are called to live toward your wife and children in such a way that your wife and children see in you the mercies of our God and Father in heaven, His long-suffering patience, kindness, tender forgiveness, loving care, and providence in Christ.

But so it is for each and all of you as Christians, who are named by God, His own dear children, anointed by His Spirit, and united with Christ Jesus as fellow members of His Body and Bride, the Church.  So are you called to bear the Cross of Christ in love for one another.  You are not to hold grudges, harbor bitterness, or seek revenge against those who sin against you, but to forgive them.

You are to forgive those who trespass against you, as the Lord has taught you.  And what does that mean?  That as your neighbor goes about sinning against you, day after day, and time and again, you persist in loving your neighbor anyway.  You do for him or her as Christ Jesus does for you.

In this way, also, the Lord your God lays the Cross upon you, along with His Spirit and His Name, in order to glorify you with His own Glory, with the righteousness of faith and love in Christ.

Do not despise or flee from His Cross, but receive it in faith and bear it patiently in love.

And as the Cross is laid upon you — even as it disciplines your flesh and calls you to repentance, as it exposes your sins and nails them to the wood, and as it calls upon you to love those who are seemingly unlovable — do not suppose for this reason that God is angry with you or hostile toward you, because He is not.  God the Lord is reconciled to you in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son.

Do not suppose that your Father in heaven hates you or despises you.  Let such deceptive thoughts be far from you!  For the Lord your God loves you with an everlasting Love that proceeds from His own Being.  He cannot deny Himself, and He will not deny you whom He has called His own.

He does not punish you (as you deserve), as though to extract some pound of flesh for your sins — but He disciplines you in love (to live as a disciple).  He does not “take it out of your hide,” but with the gentleness of a loving father He trains and teaches you to live a life that is shaped by love.

The Lord does not delight in your hurts, nor is He apathetic to your suffering and pain.  Has He not borne your griefs and carried all your sorrows in His own Body on the Cross?  He has indeed.  And now He lays that Cross upon you, not for your destruction, but for your rescue and salvation from sin, death, and hell, unto the Resurrection of your body to the Life everlasting of your body and soul.  By His Cross the Lord brings you through suffering and death into Life with Himself.

By His Cross He puts sin to death in you.  And make no mistake, that is difficult, and it is painful.  As your old Adam is crucified, as your flesh is crucified to sin and to the world, it is the case that God is taking away from you everything you love, everything you trust, and all that you live for.  For none of those false gods that you love and trust and live for in your native sinfulness — none of those idols that you worship with your body, time, and energy in the pursuit of your passions — none of those things give you real life, but they destroy faith and love and bring you to death.

Accordingly, the Lord lays His Cross upon you — and He puts sin to death in you — not to hurt or harm you, nor to deprive you of any good thing, but that you might have true divine Life and Peace with God, and that you might live and abide with Him in His Kingdom as a beloved child.

None of this is obvious or sensible to your fallen flesh and blood.  It is by the revelation of God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, and by the ways and means of His own Cross in the Ministry of the Gospel, that you are taught and learn to know and understand the grace and glory of God in the crucified and risen Body of Christ Jesus.  The preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name, the significance of His Baptism, and His Body and Blood in the Holy Communion, all bestow upon you the fruits and benefits of His Cross, that you might have life in and with Him.

As in the case of St. Peter, you still have much to learn.  But see how your dear Lord faithfully continues to teach you, to catechize you by His Word of the Cross.  He leads the way, and He calls you to follow after Him.  Not only does He open up the Way before you, but He is the Way.

His Cross and Resurrection are your repentance, your dying to sin and your rising to new life in body and soul.  His Cross and Resurrection are your redemption from sin and your resurrection from the dead, your reconciliation with God, and your righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, by which you now stand before your Father in heaven, not in terror, but in faith and confidence.

As often as you falter, fail, and fall down, He raises you back up again — in and with Himself.  Take comfort in that promise, and be encouraged by the example of His dealings with St. Peter.

It’s easy to look at Simon Peter and shake your head, although many of us see ourselves in him and his foibles.  In this case at hand, having just confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and having just received the blessing of God and the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, Simon Peter here becomes a stumbling block, an agent of Satan, who has to be told to get back in line.

It’s not the first or last time that Peter messes up and misses the mark badly.  Yet, the Lord in His mercy calls him to be the prince of the Apostles, and by his preaching brings many to faith and life.

So it goes, because the Lord is faithful in all His dealings.  And He is so faithful to you, as well.

As often as you open up your mouth when you should not — or, as often as you fail to speak when you should — the Lord firmly but gently corrects you in love, and He restores you to discipleship, which is to say, to follow after Him.  By His good and gracious Word to you, He opens up your mouth to confess what is right and what is true, and He opens up your lips to show forth His praise.

He strengthens you and keeps you in all of your callings and stations in life.  And this He does out of love for both you and your neighbors.  When you are on the verge of despair, because you know your faults and failings, and you do not think that you can do what God has given you to do — because it seems too hard, and you seem too weak, and you know your sins, and it feels impossible that you will ever do any better — take heart that God loves you, that He has stationed you in the office to which He has called you, and that He is with you in that place, whether you are a father or mother, a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a husband or wife, or simply a neighbor nearby.

The Lord your God loves you.  He has not called you in ignorance or foolishness, but in mercy.  And not only does He love you, but He also loves the neighbors whom He has given you to serve.  So it is that He strengthens and sustains you in all that He has given you to do by His grace.

And what is more, He daily and richly forgive you all your sins and failings.  He does not count them against you.  He does not count them at all.  They have already been drowned and buried with Christ Jesus in the waters of Holy Baptism, and removed from you by His death upon the Cross.  He does not hold your sins against you, nor does He punish you for your sins as you deserve.  But instead, He persists in loving you, caring for you, and providing for you in both body and soul.  He opens His hand to feed you, to clothe you, to shelter and protect you.  And above and beyond all of these good gifts, He continues and He persists in granting you His Spirit and His Life, His gracious Word of Peace, which does and gives what He says, and the Body and Blood of Christ.

As often as the Cross crucifies your old Adam and puts you to death, the more often does the Resurrection of Christ Jesus raise you up from sin and death to newness of life in Him.  As surely as you have gone into the waters of your Baptism, so surely must you die every day.  But just as surely as you emerged from those waters to the Voice of the Father who loves you and is pleased with you — and to an open heaven in Christ Jesus — so surely do you rise with Him each day.  And all your sins are washed away.  For your Lord Jesus — the Son of Mary, Yahweh in the Flesh — He has borne your sins and suffered your death upon the Cross.  So it is that, by His rising on the Third Day in accordance with the Scriptures, His God and Father raises you up in Peace, as well, and He sets His Seal upon your body and soul, from your Baptism to the Life everlasting.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.