In Holy Week I am addressing the significance of the Cross in three talks, this morning, Wednesday morning and Good Friday afternoon.
Why did God allow his Son to suffer so for us?
This is a mystery over which words crack but one we need to enter again and again as we do at this eucharist.
It is a mystery of love beyond words.
There is one thing stronger than death and it is the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God made us for friendship.
Our self interest, we call sin, is a barrier to that friendship.
God sent his Son to die so as to lift that barrier restoring us to his friendship.
We see that lifting and that friendship as we open our lives to Jesus Christ who is invisibly alongside every woman and man on the earth awaiting their response so he can bless them with his immortal life.
Dying Christ destroyed the power of sin, fear, death and the devil over humankind and we lay hold of that victory as we trust in Jesus
Rising Jesus demonstrated that for believers ‘life is changed and not ended and when the body of this earthly dwelling lies in dust an everlasting dwelling place is made ready in heaven’.
Christianity is about life. No way is it death dealing. If life in Christ has boundaries these boundaries serve the freedom of the Spirit for without order in your life there can’t be freedom.
Christianity is life over death. To build your life on material things, solid as they are, is to miss out on life to the full. To build your life on the risen Christ is to find an order in life that brings joy and security.
Through prayer and sacrament the triumph of the Cross brings cleansing and renewal into lives and communities. Jesus is seen again and again acting against evil, rescuing people from its destructive power when they seek him at the Cross.
The spread of evils such as social inequality, unjust trade, wars and so on are linked to the misuse of free will. A loving God, despite his holiness, is bound to allow evil so as to respect this freedom.
Christians misuse free will just like non-Christians. They get sick and die like anyone else.
They also experience a lifting of destructive powers such as sin, sickness and death when they seek their Lord.
The death and resurrection of Christ are found to counter the powers of evil when the risen Lord is given freedom to do so in lives opened up to him.
In Holy Week we open our lives afresh to the Saviour who died for us praying that he will show us the sins that bind us, lead us afresh to repentance and with that a fresh anointing in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus died in our place to lift our sins from us through forgiveness.
Jesus would live in our place by his Holy Spirit.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
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