Eastertide #23:

Fixing our eyes on Jesus…

who suffered death on the cross.

(Hebrews 12:2)

Let’s see if we can continue our Eastertide focus on Jesus and the events of Good Friday and Easter Morning. “We preach Christ crucified,” insist the Apostle, ending with a period. Shouldn’t he add something about the resurrection? Can we speak of Christ crucified with a period?

Easter does not erase the cross; but rather, vindicates the Cross. Because of Easter “the word of the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1Cor 1:18,23-24). But it still remains “the word of the cross.” It is the Crucified who has risen. And, it is our crucified savior on whom we are to “fix our eyes.”

“Let us linger at the Cross,” my parents would say when folks found themselves at the end of their rope. It was the cure for troubled souls. When there was too much hurt to sort out. When things got really bad—like a pandemic; we were to linger at the Cross. I haven’t heard such talk since my parents died. I suppose we have replaced it with our own illusions of competence. Do we imagine our own expertise will get us through?

Lingering at the Cross forces us to surrender our claims to competency (2Cor 3:5). After some lingering there, God has His way of granting us our own little resurrection (1Cor 6:14).