Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

And, it is said by most Protestants and may Lutherans, it is Catholics who have such things as crucifixes, and we are not Catholics. Sometimes we are told: look, we present an empty cross of Christ, because Jesus has already died and left the cross. He is not on the cross any more - he has risen and ascended and is now with the Father in glory. I have never been impressed with this argument. I have always thought it to be a bit of lame excuse. Which of us has seen a manger scene of the nativity with an empty manger without the baby Jesus - only to be told that Jesus is no longer there - he grew up, died, rose and ascended to the father in glory. Who has depicted an image of the baptism of Jesus with only John the Baptist and the water of the Jordan river but no Jesus with the same rationale. No, the point simply is: the presentation of the crucified Christ makes us feel uncomfortable. Many Church leaders also believe that to rub people’s eyes, ears, and nose in the cross of Christ would be foolish if we are serious about doing great things to advance of Christian ideals and fill the pews on Sunday mornings.

These sentiments are not new. Such views were alive and well in Paul’s day. The church at Corinth was in turmoil about how it ought focus its mission and ministry. Many thought that it was the characteristics and abilities of its spiritual leader that would be pivotal for the health and expansion of Corinthian ministries that all of Corinth might be won for Christ - but they were divided and argued with one another about which leader and what attributes were critically important for successful results. They divided into factions where each championed their own spiritual leader...some Paul, some Peter, some Apollos and some thought none of these: We’re going with just Jesus! This latter group thought that earthly leaders were a detriment to success. This group would simply follow Jesus and live according to what Jesus would do. Forget the apostles and their teaching and advice - this group would simply be guided by what Jesus would do.

To all of this, Paul in our text sets forth the theme of his entire first letter to them. Indeed he sets forth the theme for his whole ministry and mission among them. He begins in vs. 17 of Chapter 1 indicating that he was expressly given the ministry of the Church from Christ, himself, that in the preaching of the Gospel, the cross of Christ should not be made void. Later on he indicates the singular, repetitive character of his ministry: I am determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. For Paul, Christ crucified is not simply to be a part of the message - it is to be the whole message and the only message for the Church of Christ. Is Paul deluded here? Is he showing his naivete? Doesn’t he realize that this is going to turn off a lot of spiritual seekers who might otherwise be willing to give the Corinthian church a try? Yes, he understands what it means to make the crucified Christ the focus of the Church’s mission and ministry. He understands completely the reaction of the world’s spiritual seekers to the cross of Christ the crucified. He calls the cross foolishness to those who are perishing. Later on he indicates that it is a stumbling block to the Jew and just plain all-around foolishness to the average gentile.

Perhaps we can appreciate that there are two distasteful elements to making Christ the crucified the sum and substance of the Church’s proclamation and life. The first is obvious. Crucifixion was an ugly and repulsive form of execution that the Romans reserved for criminals which they desired to make an example. We don’t like thinking of our spiritual center as dwelling on the fact that Jesus received just such a shameful, grizly treatment. We should not like to see ourselves as receiving the same kind of treatment. Ironically, it is just that . . . receiving the same, that God requires in order for us to live with Him. The crucified death of Jesus must be considered how we Christians must see the necessary terms for our own life with God. Yes, Jesus did move on from the cross, but we have not . . . at least, not yet. We must think of our life with God as remaining stuck on nothing but the provided bleeding charity of God - a bleeding charity that God provides nowhere else that in the cross of Christ. While some would rather die than have a spiritual life so centered . . . it is God who demands just that - your death - in order that your spiritual life may be rightly centered. Your death is demanded by the very same cross that crucified your Lord. You must die with Christ, in order to live with Him. Your baptism has not only brought you an image of Christ the crucified, it has nailed you to His holy cross. What he got, you get! He got it for a few hours, you get it for life. Your old sinful self is being continually crucified in the cross of Christ. And as He was raised from the dead, so continually you are raised up unto a new life with God - again and again, in the cross of Christ the crucified - again and again.

Here is the heart of the foolishness. It gets down to this. Crosses are for one thing...to bring about a death. Yes! But in the Cross of Christ crucified, two die - Christ and you. And by that death...there is life. Two live...Christ and you. Its ugly to see and to experience, and its absolutely nuts to think about. Any ounce of reason tells you . . . in death you get death. But the message of the Holy Cross of Christ is that in this death, you get life - indeed, life eternal. And for the Church at Corinth and all the churches then and now in your town, Paul says that this is not simply to be a part of the message to the world; it is to be the whole message and the only message. The cross of Christ is not finished slaying sinners that they might live. For you, for now - you are still on the Holy Cross and in the tomb of Christ. The Christian life of faith for now is Holy Cross life. Here is where you find everything you need for your life with God. Here is your forgiveness. Here is your reconciliation and life with the Father. Here is your continually needed death to sin and drowning of the old Adam. Here is your assurance of future glory. Here is the Gospel ministry for the Church in a world of sinners, dead in their trespasses. Here is the divine foolishness. Here is Jesus Christ and him crucified - here is the bloody cross that alone saves sinners. Be there, stay there - His death and your death to sin. It is a double-cross. Satan loses, and you win.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A-men.