At seventy-eight years of age, a well
known woman goes on one of the greatest journeys of all time. Her destination? The Holy Land. Her mission?
To find the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified.
After many setbacks and disappointments
along the way, she at last arrives at a spot where as legend has it, she
discovers three crosses upon which two thieves and Jesus himself were believed
to have been crucified approximately three hundred years earlier. She is aided in her search by pagan shrines
which had been erected on top of Christian holy sites back in the 2nd
century.
As the story goes, she was able to figure out
which of those three crosses was Jesus’ cross in a most interesting and unusual
way. She had all three crosses placed on
a girl who had recently died and was on her way to be buried. Once the cross of the Lord touched her, she
was raised from the dead. This woman who
had journeyed a great distance, had discovered the cross on which Jesus was
crucified.
On September 14, the year 326, the church
of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, built where Jesus had been crucified and
where what was believed to be the true cross of Jesus was discovered, was
officially dedicated thanks to this woman’s brave pilgrimage. To this day, on the Christian calendar,
September 14 is known as Holy Cross Day.
Unlike Good Friday which is a day to
reflect on Jesus’ suffering and death on that horrible instrument of execution,
Holy Cross Day on September 14 is a day for Christians to see the cross as a
symbol of triumph, as a sign of Christ’s victory over sin and death, and a
reminder of his promise, “And when I am
lifted up, I will draw all people unto me.”
That seventy-eight year old
woman who made the long and dangerous pilgrimage to find Jesus’ cross was
Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine who was the first Roman Emperor to
confess the Christian faith.
During these next several weeks leading up
to Easter Sunday, like Helena back in the 4th century, we too are
invited to take a long journey during this Season of Lent to explore the
meaning and symbolism of the cross of Jesus Christ.
And to do that, I have put together a sermon
series that focuses on six different looking crosses of Jesus which have been
widely used over the course of Christian history. My goal in this sermon series is deepen our
understanding of what Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and then rose
again.
This morning, I’m wearing what is probably
the most common looking cross of Jesus – the Latin cross.
Next Sunday, we’ll focus on the Jerusalem
Cross. And for the remaining four Sundays
in the Season of Lent, we’ll turn our attention to the Tau Cross, the Celtic Cross, St. Andrew’s Cross, and on Palm/Passion Sunday, the Sunday before
Easter, we’ll conclude our series by reflecting on the meaning of the Crucifix.
So let’s get started by thinking about the
cross I’m wearing today – the Latin cross. I have a hunch that many of us own a Latin
cross and some of you are wearing one of these crosses even as we worship this
morning. This is probably the most common of all the crosses we will be
focusing on during these six weeks.
It’s known as the Latin cross but it’s
also referred to as the Roman cross. And
it’s very appropriate that this is the most popular cross today since it was
also the most popular shape of cross during the first three centuries of
Christianity. We know this because this
particular type of cross has been found on ancient coins, medals, and ornaments
and there are descriptions of this type of cross in Christian writings dating all
the way back to the 2nd century.
If you look closely at this cross, there
are a couple of other things that probably stand out. We notice that the two side arms are of equal
length while the lower arm is twice as long as the other three.
Most scholars believe that it was on a
cross that looked just like this Latin cross as far as it’s proportional
dimensions go, that helps us to get a mental picture in our minds of the cross
upon which Jesus was crucified.
The Romans would force their prisoners who
were to be executed to carry the cross beam part of the cross to the place of
their crucifixion, while the vertical pole would be ahead of them waiting for
the prisoner to arrive after that long and difficult walk.
And it was on a cross like this that Jesus
was crucified on the day that we now call Good Friday.
The Romans used this cruel crucifixion
method of having a criminal die a slow death on a cross as a way of deterring
people from upsetting the status-quo of the Roman Empire. It was savage. It was brutal. And it was long and painful. As we picture the shape of this Latin cross
which we believe to be the shape of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified,
it might also be helpful for us to picture a sign that was put on the cross
above Jesus’ head by the Romans.
And the whole point of that sign was to
state the reason for the crucifixion. In
Jesus’ case, the sign that was placed above him read, “Jesus, the Nazarene, King
of the Jews.” This inscription was
written in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
If we fast forward about a thousand years
after Jesus’ crucifixion, we find that the primary language of the church was
Latin, and because people were very familiar with the Latin part of the phrase,
“Jesus, the Nazarene, King of the Jews” it became customary for artists to
abbreviate that rather lengthy Latin phrase to simply include the letters,
INRI. So when you see those letters on
the cross, that’s the shortened version of “Jesus, the Nazarene, King of the
Jews.”
Because the Latin cross is the most
proportional shape of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, there are many
churches which have sanctuaries built in the shape of the Latin cross.
I remember officiating at a wedding in a
church located in Indiana which was built in the shape of the Latin cross. And it was very moving for me to think of how
that congregation is shaped by Jesus’ cross every time they gather for worship.
As we continue to think about the powerful
symbolism of the Latin cross and how the shape of it is the closest resemblance
of the actual cross of Jesus, I want to say a brief word about the meaning
behind why many Christians find it helpful to make the sign of the cross.
It’s been my experience that a lot of
Protestant churches, including our own United Methodist denomination, have kind
of distanced themselves from this ancient and very meaningful practice which is
very common among Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, as
well as other Christian faith traditions.
But even if we might not use this practice
on a regular basis or even at all, the symbolism behind it is very
meaningful. If you might not be
accustomed to this practice, I invite you to try it with me right there in your
seat. Open your right hand, and with your
right hand open, have your thumb, and your next two fingers touch together at
their tips.
And after you have those three finger tips
come together, simply have your last two fingers, fold down onto your palm.
The three fingers that come together at
their finger tips remind us of the doctrine of the trinity, God the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the last two
fingers that get folder down onto your palm represent the two natures of Christ
– his divine nature and his human nature because we believe Jesus was both fully
divine and fully human.
And to make the sign of the cross, you put
your right hand in that position which I just mentioned. First three fingers together at their finger
tips and the last two fingers folded down on your palm. And from there, you simply take your right
hand and touch your forehead and you think to yourself, “in the name of the
Father,” and then you touch your sternum in the middle of your chest, and you
think to yourself, “in the name of the Son.”
And then you touch your left shoulder and say, “in the name of the Holy
Spirit.” And then you touch your right
shoulder and say, “Amen.”
So you get something like
this…(DEMONSTRATE)
Now, you might have learned how to sign
the cross a little differently and that’s OK since there’s variations to this,
but it basically has the same meaning.
You’re making the sign of the cross and it can help you remember that
Jesus died on the cross for you.
Now if you’re a little uncomfortable with
making the sign of the cross because it wasn’t how you were raised or whatever,
it might be helpful to remember that we use the sign of the cross more often than
we might think.
For example, at our Ash Wednesday services
which we held this past week, when people come forward to receive the
imposition of ashes on their foreheads, the person with the bowl of ashes makes
the sign of the cross on people’s foreheads as a reminder of our mortality but
also as a reminder that through the cross of Jesus Christ and what Jesus has
done for us, God offers us forgiveness of our sins and eternal life.
Another time that we might receive the sign of
the cross on our foreheads is when we have a renewal of our baptismal
vows. In our theology of baptism which
we share with several denominations of the Christian faith, we believe that
baptism is primarily about God’s faithfulness toward us. And since God never breaks his promise of
being faithful, we believe that it’s not necessary to be rebaptized.
Instead, we offer opportunities to renew
our baptismal vows. And sometimes,
pastors will invite people in a worship service to come forward to a bowl of
water and the sign of the cross is marked on our foreheads and we hear the
words, “Remember your baptism and be
thankful.”
The anointing of oil for those who are ill
will also often include the sign of the cross on the person’s skin, helping us
to remember that the healing presence of Jesus Christ is with us during our
times of need.
So, that’s some information about the
first two meanings of the Latin cross – that is, it’s the most popular shape of
all the crosses and it’s the closest resemblance to the cross on which Jesus
died.
But I just want to point out that this
Latin cross, as you notice, is empty.
Jesus isn’t on the cross. If we know
the ending of the Gospels, we know that Jesus died on the cross, but that
wasn’t the end of the story. We believe
that after he died, he was placed in a tomb and on the third day, he was
resurrected, and was given a new body that would never experience death again.
The Latin cross reminds us that we worship
a risen Lord, but it also reminds us that it came with a price – the price was
Jesus’ own death to take away our sins so that we might receive God’s salvation
and be made whole.
If Jesus would have stayed in the tomb and
there wouldn’t have been a resurrection, the cross would have little to no
meaning for us. Jesus was able to do for
us what we weren’t able to do for ourselves.
Jesus took upon himself, the sins, the pain, the brokenness, and the
shame of all humanity in that single moment as he hung on two large wooden crossbeams
just outside of the city of Jerusalem.
Historically speaking, during the time of
Jesus there were also several “would be Messiahs” who died like Jesus at the
hands of the Romans on a cross, but they didn’t rise again like Jesus did. And it’s interesting to point out that none
of the followers of these other self-proclaimed Messiahs who had died on a
cross, ever continued to believe that the person they thought was the Messiah
was still the Messiah following his death.
To die a cruel death at the hands of the
Romans, only proved that the person you were following was really not the
Messiah. Often, after the death of the
person who was claiming to be the Messiah, the followers would select the
closest relative of the person who had been crucified to take on the new role
as the Messiah-like leader.
But this wasn’t the case with Jesus’
disciples. The death of Jesus was unique,
because not only did the disciples not name a successor to Jesus after he had
died on the cross, they also began proclaiming that because he had risen from
the dead, he continued to be the true Messiah and the victorious King over all
creation. Thanks to the empty cross, we
are always reminded of Jesus’ resurrection and the empty tomb.
In I Corinthians chapter 1, the Apostle
Paul writes, “For the message of the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved,
it is the power of God.” And the
reason that the cross can make a difference in our lives is because Jesus was
raised three days later on that first Easter Sunday.
Several years ago, a man is getting ready
to head off for work. He is anxious
about many things and on top of that, he’s late for work. And as he stands in front of the mirror in
his bedroom and puts on his necktie, he can’t help but notice, as he looks over
at his closet, that his little three year old daughter has taken the
shoestrings out from several of his shoes.
All he can think about is how this will
make him even more late for work. As he
continues to put on his tie, he feels a tug on his pant leg. Annoyed and still in a hurry, he says, “Sweetie, daddy doesn’t have time for
this. We’re going to be late getting you
to day-care.”
She tugs again at his pant leg and again
he says, “Please, not now, honey.” She taps him on the leg yet again, and
this time, she points toward the middle of the bedroom floor and with her eyes
beaming, she says, “Daddy, look! I made Jesus’ cross!”
And sure enough, there in the middle of
the floor were two of the shoestrings she had taken out of a pair of his
shoes. She had one over top of the
other, forming the shape of Jesus’ cross.
Thanks to a little girl who reminded her
daddy of the importance of Jesus’ cross, somehow, all of those many
distractions and worries didn’t seem as important anymore. In that unexpected holy moment, that shoestring
cross reminded him that Jesus Christ was his Lord and Savior.
And you know what? That day ended up being one of the best days
of my life.
Crosses of Jesus: The Latin Cross
Small Group Questions
I Corinthians 1:18-25 & Matthew 4:1-11
March 5, 2017
During the season of Lent, we are focusing on six different crosses of Jesus. These include the Latin Cross, the Jerusalem Cross, the Tau Cross, the Celtic Cross, the St. Andrew's Cross, and the Crucifix.
Do you own a cross necklace or keep a cross symbol with you? Why do you think people like having a cross with them?
Pastor Robert shared three important aspects of the Latin cross. 1) It is the most popular cross shape. 2) It is probably the shape of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. 3) It is empty.
Which of these three meanings of the Latin cross is most important to you? Why?
The phrase, "King of the Jews" was placed over the cross when Jesus was crucified.
What does it mean for Jesus to be "king?" What impact can this have in the way we live our lives? What impact can this have for the church?
Pastor Robert closed his sermon with a personal story of how his daughter formed the Latin cross with two shoestrings. That was a "thin place moment" for him as he was reminded that Jesus was present with him during the beginning of a stressful day.
Share a "thin place" moment where God was made present to you in a real way. How did it help you feel closer to God?
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