THREE CROSSES
November 12, 2010
But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. – John 12:32
When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. – Dietrich Bonhoefffer
Recently, as I was driving around the city, I noticed a lot of the churches had symbolisms or representations of the three crosses involved in Christ’s crucifixion. It occurred to me that those three crosses, by themselves, symbolized Christianity for the world. As I mulled that over, I began to see that three crosses on a hill should represent our Christian life to the world, as well. Let me explain.
Christ was crucified, as well as the two thieves, on a hill outside of Jerusalem, called Golgotha, the “Place of the Skull”. It was a public place, an exposed hill, readily seen by all. Our Christianity is not to be a hidden thing, done in secret. We are, indeed, a “city set on a hill that cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14).” We trudge up that hill every day of our lives, as Christ’s followers, ready to live, and die, as he did.
It is to a crucifixion that we are called. Jesus said, in Luke 14:27, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Indeed, “If anyone would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Every day we pick up the cross of death to our very self and trudge up the hill of our lives, plant that cross in the ground, once, twice or more, and die to ourselves in service to others and to our Master. The hill upon which we live out our lives has one cross, the cross upon which we daily die in servanthood, serving Christ and man. It is the cross of our surrender.
Christ’s hill of death had two other crosses, the crosses of the thieves. One of the thieves became a believer and, thus, was saved. The other thief died in his sins (Luke 23). The hill of our Christian life should, likewise, contain the cross of those who became disciples of Jesus because of our witness and testimony. And, in the believing criminal’s cross, we see the essence of evangelism. Evangelism is not clever slogans, pious pitches or contemporary posturing. It is living death – the death of self in service. Christ said that such is attractive. We can say a lot about Christianity but until we readily die to self our witness is weak, unreal, not Christlike. The other cross is there because discipling is making copies of the original and the original died upon a cross. Christ died to self in a sacrifice. We, his disciples, must, likewise, die. And, those we bring into the kingdom must also be his disciples and die to self, as well. The second cross is the cross of our servanthood. Two crosses for the hill of our life as disciples of Christ.
The third cross? The cross that brought about our salvation, Christ’s cross. It should be evident to those who observe our life that we “cling to the old, wooden cross” the cross where Christ died on our behalf. We have no other plea, no other right to salvation, save that brought about by Jesus’ crucifixion. There, we find the blood that “washes away our sins.” And, there, as we hang on our cross, we hear the Savior say, “This day, you will be with me in paradise.” It is the cross of our salvation.
The hill of our lives. Three crosses. One, the cross of our salvation. The second, the cross of our surrender. Third, the cross of our servanthood. Are all three visible upon the hill of your life?
OMG, today I pray for crosses. Help me to cling to the cross of your son, the cross of my salvation. Help me to die to myself upon the cross of my surrender. Keep me alert to those who I can show the way of the cross of their lives through the cross resultant of my servanthood. Dying takes courage. Fill me with it, Lord. Amen.
