By Robert Michaels
What is the cross? Was it a medieval tool to ward off vampires? Is it a fashion statement warn by rockers, rappers, and reggae crowds? Is it a bumper sticker on the back of a mini-van or on a chain dangling from a rear view mirror? Or is it a symbol by which many religious people bow? What is the cross?
Simply stated, it was a tool of execution. The Roman Empire invented and used crucifixion as their primary and practical means of carrying out the death penalty. It was primary because it was horrific. It was practical because it sent a terrifying message; the Empire was not to be taken lightly.
Crucifixion was both physical torture while psychologically degrading. It was not meant to break the criminal in order to get him to recant. It was the final death blow, to the body and the spirit. While the physical-medical-scientific aspects of crucifixion can be found in encyclopedias, one thing is for sure, it was a bloody spectacle. Some criminals, if not most, were introduced to the cross after having been flogged. The back, already bloodied and torn by a crude whip, was then placed on a splintered beam, and the wrists and feet were than nailed to the death tree. Nailed!
Death came slowly by way of the cross. With hours of bodily suffering and emotional anguish, the pain and humiliation was too much for any human to bear. Historically we know that many a criminal was crucified during Rome's reign. It was a common form of capital punishment, just as the electric chair has been in our country. So I have to ask, when have you ever seen someone sporting a miniature electric chair, hangman's noose, gas chamber, or a syringe from someone's neck? The cross is not fashionable. It is death.
The difference is not the means of execution, but the man that hung on the cross two thousand years ago. It was not that Jesus was crucified that made the cross a monument throughout history. Many were executed in the same manner. It would be more appropriate to ask, who is this Jesus that died on the rugged cross? And what was His crime?
Skeptics mock Him, while others worship Him. But what did Jesus say of Himself? If you dare, you can take up the Bible for yourself and read the accounts of His life, death, and yes, His resurrection. Jesus makes astounding claims in the Bible. One of the boldest declarations He made was when He told His disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but by me" (John 14:6). Christ's statement here is one reason why many find Jesus so unattractive. He was very matter-of-fact. Did He say "I am a way, or one of many ways?" Or, "I am a truth, or one of many truths?" Notice His emphatic use of the word "the." The wording here means that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the life. And what does that imply? Quite simply, all other ways to God and to heaven are false, fabrications, and farces. And all other deities are phonies. Now before you pick up stones, remember that these words came out of the mouth of Christ Himself.
Furthermore, if you investigate the Gospel of John you will discover the same Jesus claimed to be the expected Messiah (John 4), said He came from above (John 3), stated that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18), and declared that He and the Father are one (John 10). The same Gospel proclaims that this Jesus created the world and then came in the flesh among His creation (John 1). Jesus is God incarnate. And that is who hung on the cross. That is what makes the cross eminent.
What was Christ's crime? Other than declaring that He was God and the only way of salvation, He also forgave sins and dined with sinners. For these He was ushered to the cross. But was this not the reason He came into the world, to save sinners? Jesus said of Himself, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
So the next time you pick up the Bible and read the Gospels, ask yourself if what I wrote here is true? And whenever you see a cross on a church building, around someone's neck, or tattooed someone's limb, remember who it was that hung on that cross and that His crucifixion was for our redemption.
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