The Paradox of the Cross

 

Today is Holy Cross Day on the Lutheran liturgical calendar.  

The cross is a complicated symbol.  I grew up with an idea of the cross as a triumphant symbol.  In fact, the Roman Catholic calendar calls this day "The Triumph of the Cross."  The theology in many Christian traditions emphasizes triumph.   There is great danger in this, especially from the perspective of Jewish and Muslim people who view the cross as a symbol of oppression, because of how the cross was carried ahead of "Christian" armies during the Crusades against Muslims, and ahead of vigilante groups of "Christians" during pogroms.  Even today, many American "Christians" consider the Jews to be Christ killers, and acts of antisemitism have been on the rise during the years of Donald Trump's cultivation of such "Christians."  

Here is another dangerous way that the Biblical witness has been dismissed.  The cross has been appropriated as a symbol of military triumph, ever since the Emperor Constantine promoted this in the 4th century.  Constantine saw a vision of a heavenly cross, which he interpreted to mean that, as he killed his enemies, God was on his side.  As a result, Constantine legalized the Church, which became a strong, triumphant institution in many national cultures.  Even today, many American "Christians" see the role of the church to be supporting our nation's policies.  "God bless America," right?  Of course, this has been true countless times since the time of Constantine: that nations have celebrated military triumphs as God's doing.  

Certainly, there is triumph in what theologians call "the cross event."  The writer of the gospel of John emphasizes this, especially.  Jesus was taken from the cross and placed into a grave -- from which he rose!  The annual Easter festival is the celebration of this victory and, in Lutheran liturgical theology, every Sunday is a celebration of resurrection, of Easter.  But, Lutheran theology is full of paradoxes, and a fundamental paradox is in Luther's "theology of the cross": that God chose the path of humiliation and pain, suffering and death, as the way to life and salvation.

The humiliation, pain and suffering is often forgotten when many think of the cross.Usually, the cross is presented as something beautiful.  

For instance, here is the worship space in which I grew up (and where I preached and presided for 10 years of my ordained ministry):

What a beautiful, triumphant cross at the head of that long center aisle!

Perhaps most often we see the cross in the form of a beautiful piece of jewelry worn by a woman around her neck.

Is the cross to be thought of as something beautiful, or as a sign of triumph?  I have often thought of a piercing insight that I heard Dick Gregory speak, nearly 50 years ago.  He said that Christians have lost sight of the meaning of the cross; that, to be accurate, they should wear electric chairs around their necks!  (These days, I guess, Christians should wear syringes.)  Dick Gregory made the point in a startling way: that the cross was the instrument of torture by which the Roman Empire carried out capital punishment.  In the case of Jesus, the Roman executioners were extremely sophisticated in addressing their audience of the Jews they were oppressing in Jerusalem.  According to the Romans, Jesus was a Jewish insurrectionist, and they knew that, by this mode of execution, they were communicating that Jesus had been cursed by God, according to Jewish law (Deuteronomy 21:23).

The cross is a complicated symbol. 

On this Holy Cross Day, I return to Luther's "theology of the cross": that God chose the path of humiliation and pain, suffering and death, as the way to life and salvation.  I think of the fact that, in the Bible, God always, without exception, takes the side of those who are suffering, oppressed, impoverished.  And as I read the Biblical witness, where we see Jesus today is in the faces of those who are oppressed and impoverished, excluded and on the margins.  Very few of them are wearing beautiful crosses around their necks!

Andy Ballentine