Don't Cross Me
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Don't Cross Me
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Riverside Church Bulletin - 01-20-08DON'T CROSS ME...
When someone says, "Don't cross me," what meaning
does that convey to you? To most people, we'd be saying, "Don't be
disloyal to me or don't sell me out." Don't be guilty of duplicity
(being two-faced). When a person with a Catholic religious persuasion
"crosses himself," he usually mimes the shape of a cross in front of his
chest. If a boy scout were trying to persuade an old lady to cross a
street against her will, she might declare, "Don't cross me, sonny!"
When someone is dubious about attending a party or participating in some
event, he might retort, "Don't cross me...off... just yet!"
Have you noticed that even when Jesus was facing
crucifixion, he never once said, "Don't cross me!" He knew the cross was
an integral part in his plan for the redemption of man, Matthew 16:21.
He knew that even His most intimate, inner sanctum of adherents would
not only "double-cross" him, Matthew 16:23, but would deliver him
to the mafia of his day so they could effectively "cross him." Remember
how the mob shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Matthew 27:22-23.
USA TODAY (January 16, 2008) reveals that the ancient
Romans dealt with a parent-killer by placing the offender in a sack with
a dog, a rooster, an ape and a viper, and then cast the sack into
the water. Can you imagine the fight for survival in that sack? In
Colonial days in early America, executions were performed by hanging,
beheading, drowning, firing squad, burning at the stake and even being
"broken" on the wheel. Often the capital punishment was for relatively
tame offenses that would not even rate a fine today. Such offenses were
like trading with Red Indians, killing chickens or rebellion against the
British.
Today with man's inclination to profane the sacred,
the cross is seldom seen as a symbol of horrific, human
execution accompanied by the most excruciating pain. In many places, a
cross is used to adorn an edifice and identify it as a church house.
Though I personally have no objection to it, the cross is also
sometimes reduced to nothing more than an innocuous bit of
jewelry adorning a neck chain. Some argue that the horror of the cross
is thus diminished, desecrated and denied. It does make one think,
doesn't it? Could you imagine a lady wearing a neck chain with a replica
of the lethal injection needle used in contemporary American executions
in many states? You would think "Oh, horror of horrors." Or
perhaps you'd see a tiny, golden electric chair or a platinum gibbet
with a hangman's noose on a girl's bracelet. How about a bronze
guillotine or a medieval executioner's axe? The cross was an exhibit of
the death penalty--of capital punishment in Jesus' Day. That's what it
really means--so never allow a pretty piece of carefully-crafted jewelry
to blind you to the significance of the cross. It was an object of
death not an object of adornment. The wages of sin has always been death
(Romans 6:23) and they have never been reduced.
Some people use crosses in their homes, offices or
cars to identify themselves as "Christians." These same people might
deprecate the church--"It is Christ who saves you and not the church!"
(Oh, yeah!--such a view is making a fatal mistake). They might
seldom or never attend the church assemblies--"Where does it say you
have to go to church?" (Ever read Hebrews 10:25?). They might
display piety on Sunday morning but act like heathen on Sunday night and
during the week, but that cross on their wall they feel will somehow
miraculously sanctify them. (Oh, no, it won't). The Pharisees
loved to display outward piety but their hearts were far from God,
Matthew 15:1-9; 23. They believed that an appearance of godliness
delivered them from the necessity of obedience. (Sorry, but it won't
work).
You need to "cross yourself." I need to "cross
myself." How do you do that? By denying yourself, taking up your cross
and following after Him (with your lips and with your life), Matthew
16:24. A physical cross may send a message to the world, but a cross in
the heart with you and me on it, sends a message to heaven that we are
His without reservation. Such persons never seek for a loophole to avoid
doing God's will. He never keeps a catalog of excuses on hand to satisfy
the inquirer. He merely and humbly submits until his Christianity
becomes a way or life. It should never be merely an outward display.
"The way of the Cross leads home!"
Love you all,
Al--"the Horne of Africa."
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