Many may have wondered why is it we Christians have the cross as our symbol. Many historians and theologians will tell you The Early Church used animal symbols like the Ichthus (fish), Lamb, and Lion. They will say it was Emperor Constantine who made the cross the dominate symbol of the Church with his vision or dream of the cross in the sky and hearing God say “In Hoc Signo Vinces: in this sign you shall conquer.” Constantine certainly made strides to making the cross legal to display, making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. However, crosses can be found in catacombs and other hiding places of early Christians dating to. The apostle Paul dis not shy from the cross, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14). But it is our Lord and God Jesus Christ who made the cross famous by His sacrifice on it (John 19, whole chapter), a sacrifice for all sin for all time (Hebrews 9:20-30) and thus turned a Roman tool of execution into the Mercy Seat for all mankind.
In the Roman era the cross was a evil thing. Famous philosophers “”such as Cicero urged that the cross and crucifixion never be on the lips of a Roman, how strange would he have found it that people would be preaching, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified..” (1 Corinthians 2:2), and “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18). In fact this is why the apostle Paul said its a stumbling block to the Jews and Gentiles, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 12:23-24). Crucifixion was a sign of Roman oppression. You’d go to market and see your friends, whither Jew or Greek, nailed to crosses as punishment for their crimes [sometimes the Romans would pick people at random from a crowd and crucify them as a warning to Zealots and other dissenters that if you resist with force, innocent friends and family will die]. It would be like going to your department store and all along the check out registers were electric chairs and people being zapped slowly to death with volts. So how strange was it that disciples began preaching the cross, that God had been crucified. It must have seemed very odd, and brings to mind the words, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong,” (1 Corinthians 1:27), and “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
Our Lord Jesus not only died on the cross for our sins, He also commanded us to pick up crosses, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple,” (Luke 14:27) and “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). Contrary to modern Church culture, the cross had centrality, our Lord hung on one and we are called tp follow his example, “So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured,” (Hebrews 13:12-13), and “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21). The cross was not to be something we brough up on Good Friday, it was to be the central theme of being a Christian, we worship The Crucified Lord, and we carry our own crosses and are willing to be crucified for Him. In some countries, Christians are still crucified as a form of execution. For those brothers and sisters in Christ, it takes on a even more literal meaning to “pick up your cross.” (Luke 9:23)
The Cross is not meant to be hidden, but s focal point. It defines our faith, that Jesus was crucified on a cross for the sins of the world and He rose from the dead. Why isn’t The Tomb the symbol? Because the Good News is you are washed by the blood of Jesus, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7), and He poured out that blood on the cross, “And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:20). The Tomb is important, a twin pillar of importance to the cross because it proves Jesus’ power over death and His Godhood, that He reigns even over the shadow of death. But it is the cross that remains a major focal point, that The Lamb of God was slain in it for the wickedness of mankind “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin,” (Romans 6:6), that while we were enemies He did this, “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10).
The Cross is meant to be part of our identity. That we carry our own crosses (Luke 14:27), not to achieve heaven or do penance, but as imitators of our Lord. Heaven is open wide to us, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus,” (Hebrews 10:19) and Jesus has paid our whole debt of sin, “in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:7). We carry crosses because we are Crucinatia, signed with the cross of Jesus, His finished work cleansing us forever. We carry this gospel with us, that God lowered himself to save us, even to the point of hanging on instrument of torture and death. Ot is a sign of love, God offering His Son as a sacrifice to reconcile is to The Holy Trinity.
The reason we have crosses on steeples, on altars, slung around our necks, imprinted on Bibles and adorned everywhere is that is the message, The Son of God was crucified for our sins, paying pir way into heaven with his precious blood, nailing our every evil act to the wood, and reconciling us to God. The cross is our symbol, because we are signed by it in blood, the precious Blood of Christ. Without the cross we are hopeless, doomed to play at being good and never measuring up, bit thanks be to God our Savior that He went to the cross, and ended all requirements of the Law, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” (Romans 10:4), “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant,” (Hebrews 9:15). We need no longer struggle, Jesus has saved us! And He did it on a cross. Amen.
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