Jesus is not a fashion accessory!

When it was released in 2004 Mel Gibson’s movie; “The Passion Of The Christ” courted a lot of  controversy. Right around the world, following its release, critics of the film were very quick to point out supposed inaccuracies and unwarranted brutality, some even called it pornographic. Religious leaders of all persuasions decried the “violence” and “fundamentalism”. I heard one church leader say on TV that Jesus was all about “love” not this senseless and messy sacrifice!   

Those who supported this film have been variously decried as misguided fools, Jew hating bigots, or even intolerant neo-Nazis, the Christian equivalent of the Taliban who blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in 2001. This film divided opinion like no other, and the resultant publicity helped set box office records. It will be very interesting to see the reaction to Mel Gibson's planned sequel to his earlier movie, apparently it's called ‘The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection…" 

We have become used to seeing Jesus as a sanitized porcelain figurine hanging on a cross, or a tacky painting on a “collector’s plate” from some money hungry purveyor of dubious religious icons. Various “pop” and movie “stars” insist on wearing the cross as some sort of visual statement of just how “spiritual” they are. We recently received  a “junk mail” catalogue from a nationwide jewellery chain. There was a whole page dedicated to sterling silver and gold crosses… one cross even had an angel on it!  

We all know that Jesus died a messy and pain-filled death…but that was (is) not the sole focus of His ministry. He died to bring liberty to the captives…

 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me; because of this He has anointed Me to proclaim the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and new sight to the blind, to set at liberty those having been crushed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Luke 4:18

That the cross of Christ, (perhaps better referred to as the sinner's cross) is central to the Christian Gospel is axiomatic, without the cross, Christianity is like a Big Mac burger without the "secret sauce", like Pepsi that's lost its bubble. It's interesting to note that as the teaching of the cross has all but disappeared from the pulpit, (it's all about love man!) the world has adopted this sacred symbol as a statement (of sorts).   

There’s a striking phrase in the old Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians: “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:14). NIV When we come across that sort of statement it can be helpful to ask, “Why did Paul write like that?” To ask ourselves, “Why the Cross?”

There’s a story told of an old country church that had an ivy plant growing up by the porch doorway. Over the doorway was a text carved into the stone archway, "We preach Christ crucified". Over the years the plant grew steadily and a branch gradually spread over the doorway. The first word of the text covered by the leaves of the plant was "crucified" which reduced the text to "We preach Christ". As time went on the branch spread further and covered over the word "Christ". No-one seemed to notice, and the message of the church to the world outside was reduced to "We preach" - it had no message; the church was merely a talking shop. 

To most people today, consumed with living a busy life, the Cross is more or less meaningless. At best, it's seen as no more than a noble act of martyrdom, or a fine example of devotion to duty. At worst, it was a bad mistake, a terrible miscarriage of justice. In any case, it’s something which should not have  happened, like all the great tragedies of history. What are we to say to this? Has the Cross no particular meaning for us today? Is it only a splendid pattern of self-sacrifice which we must try to copy? The apostle Paul would say "no!".

The death of Jesus upon a common Roman means of execution was not an accident, nor was it the greatest tragedy of all time, neither was it something that we have to copy or "pass", like a final exam, before we enter into Christ's eternal embrace. The cross (or rather the sacrifice it entailed) is the means of humanity's salvation... that's it. Nothing more, nothing less... "The Son of Man came ... to give his life a ransom for many" Matthew 20:28 NIV  

Has there been more "modern" methods of execution available to the Romans, quite probably they would have used them, but I doubt that many people would wear a model electric chair around their necks, or as a lapel badge. 

Until such time as the cross icon so favoured by "personalities", media influencers and other celebs, moves from around their necks and into their heart, it's meaningless, and their future is the same as all other non-believes, a Christless eternity.