Running on Empty
“For Christ did not send me [Paul] to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 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.”
My wife and I are pretty conservative. However, on several occasions while crossing Nebraska, we’ve found ourselves nervously biting our fingernails after the Low Gas warning light comes on and the few remaining status bars begin to disappear. Will we reach the next exit before the fumes are gone? Why didn’t we pull off 10 miles ago at that exit? We also play an unspoken game with the toothpaste: “Who will be the first person to admit they cannot squeeze any more out so they need to start a new tube?” Yes, we are odd but I don’t think we are alone!
In general, emptiness is not a desirable condition. Whether it is gasoline or toothpaste or a cookie jar or the last gallon of milk, running out can be a problem. We even use words like lonely, sad, drained, or forgotten to describe a feeling of emptiness. So why do we speak of joy in an empty cross?
To be fair, some churches utilize a Crucifix (Christ on the Cross) but even then the cross is pretty much empty. While the mortal body of Christ may be portrayed, there is no life there, only death. Perhaps, like Moses’ snake on a pole for the Israelites in the wilderness, the body reminds us of our mortality and sin. Perhaps it helps clarify that this isn’t just any old cross but, instead, the only one through which death was defeated and our sins forgiven. I’m sure this has been a lively debate for theologians over the centuries.
For us, even though the empty cross is placed front and center in our worship space, the wooden structure cannot save us. Yet it is more than a symbol. The cross acts as a portal through which we eventually pass on our journey from life to death and on to eternal life with God. And as we emerge on the other side and glimpse back one last time, we’ll see that the cross is not empty at all. Rather, it is heavily laden with all of our sins and the sins of those who passed through before us.
“When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…nailing [them] to the cross.”
Lift high the cross; the love of Christ proclaimed!
David Krueger