“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.” (Phil. 2:29-30, NIV)
There is a story of a popular monk in the Middle Ages announcing that in the cathedral that evening, he would preach a sermon on the love of God. The people gathered and stood in silence waiting for the service, sunlight streaming through the windows. When the last glint of color faded, the old monk took a candle from the altar. Walking to the life-size figure of Christ on the cross, he held the light beneath the wounds of Christ’s feet, then his hands, then his side. Still without a word, he let the light shine on the thorn-crowned brow. That was his sermon. The people stood in silence and wept. They knew they were at the center of mystery beyond their knowing, looking at the love of God, the image of the invisible God, giving himself for us – a love so deep, so inclusive, so expansive, so powerful that our minds cannot comprehend it, nor our words express it.
Even though we cannot adequately express the love of God, we are compelled to reflect on it and seek to live lives responsive to it. In his Epistle to the Philippians, Paul expresses the radical notion that believing and suffering go together. Many translations use the word “privilege” to capture Paul’s words: we’re given the privilege, not merely of believing in Christ but also of suffering for his cause.
Bonhoeffer asserted, “if our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplift which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity, as one of the trials and tribulations of life.”
The cross is at the center of the Christian life. Prior to Golgotha, Jesus suffered persecution, rejection, hostility, and misunderstanding. He promised his followers nothing less in their ministry in his name.
Bonhoeffer wrote eloquently and convincingly on this: “the cross means sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and the fullest. Only a man thus totally committed in discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross. The cross is there, right from the beginning, he has only got to pick it up; there is no need for him to go out and look for a cross for himself, no need for him deliberately to run after suffering.”
In Philippians, Paul testified to the cross at the center of his life. “For as I passionately hope, I shall have no cause to be ashamed, but shall speak so boldly that now as always the greatness of Christ will shine out clearly in my person, whether through life or through death.” (Phil. 1:20, New English Bible) The cross must be strong and recognizable in my person, Paul urged. Bonhoeffer concurred.
“To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from the mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. Jesus says every Christian has his own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while other he does not allow to be tempted above that they are able to bear. But it is the one and the same cross in every case.”
The cross is essential to our identity, the sign and fruit of our exclusive allegiance to Jesus. The Gospel is communicated through the person, and it will not shine to its most glorious brightness until the person bears the identity of the cross.
Moment of Reflection: Has there been a cross for you “right there from the beginning?”
Prayer: Loving God, I want to communicate the gospel in my very person. Strengthen me to bear any cross that comes my way. Amen.
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