Crucifixes make us uncomfortable. We squirm before them, and no, it has nothing to do with any anti-Catholic bias. Nor does “well, he’s not on the cross anymore” cut it. I mean, come on. He’s not in the manger anymore either, and yet you have no problem with seeing the Baby Jesus placed there. No. It is the crucifix that is the issue. It is simply painful to look upon your Lord suffering like that, and to know the reason. But we need to look, to look long and hard. “I was determined” St. Paul once told the congregation at Corinth “to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” And in Galatians: “Before your eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed (pictured!) as crucified.”
Yes, the image of the Crucified One: We do well to tremble before it. We sing:
“Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.”
In the darkness of that Good Friday the totality of human sin – from the first sin of our first parents to the last sin of the last human being alive – all of it was gathered up, pressed together, and then off-loaded onto this Man. He bore the whole weight of it and owned it His own, and with that He also bore its penalty – both temporal and eternal death, all sickness, all suffering.
So gaze steadfastly upon His cross, people loved by God. See His wounds, the nails fixing his hands and feet. Observe the blood running down his face from the thorns. Ponder the quivering mass of his mutilated back as he is forced to rub it against the tree, pushing up from the nails, just to catch one more breath. Look, stare, realize: this Wounded Man, dying in agony, is not suffering for a single wrong that He has done. His whole life was only love, the only human being who completely loved the Father with His all and His neighbor as Himself. And yet it is because He is love that He nailed to the Tree. Love will not leave the sinner in his sin. Love takes that sin upon Himself. Love is wounded to grant you and me healing. He is offering atonement for all the wrongs that WE have done.
Yes, it’s hard to look a crucifix in the face, for it’s hard to accept the truth we sing:
“Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
Tis I deserve Thy place.”
Yet it is salutary to look. Salutary to drop to our knees before His bleeding image and to ponder it. To even beg Him to imprint that image on our hearts so that we can carry it with us wherever we go, and so that it can be before our eyes above all in the moment of death. You see, when death is near the devil shows up. He will seek right then to snatch you away from God forever; it’s his last chance, and he has a powerful weapon to use on you. The cunning serpent has a DVD player and make you watch. He will plop in the DVD of your life, and he will make you see the things you’ve done that you’re ashamed of, and even the many things you’ve all but forgotten all about. He will trot them all out and taunt you with them. Tell you that you are no Christian. He will declare you unfit for the kingdom of God. He will tell you are his and that you willed to be his with every sin, spurning God and His will. And all those sins will be playing all the while in vivid detail and color before your eyes as you are struggling in death. You will see your life as a whole.
But that is why it is vital NOW to train yourself in life to look from your sins to the Crucifix, to behold your Savior’s wounds, and to hold them tight in your heart, and count them your dearest treasure. In the hour of your death, they are the only weapon that can conquer despair.
Having gazed upon the Crucifix, you will be able to face down the truth of that DVD and you will be able to acknowledge its hideousness and its testimony to your countless rebellions. Yet you will not despair. You will set against it the other image: the image David set forth in Psalm 22 “they have pierced my hands and feet; I can count all my bones.” The image that John held forth for you in the tonight’s Passion. “There, they crucified Him.” And so we sing, we pray earnestly:
Remind me of Thy passion
When my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee
Upon Thy face shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfold Thee,
Who dieth thus, dies well.
The image you want before your eyes as they are closing in death is the image of the Son of God in His last agonies, fully owning and answering for your every sin, and in love pouring out His blood to blot out every accusations the Evil One hurls your way. Awful as are your sins and mine, they have every one been accounted for, covered over with innocent blood, swallowed up by the blood of your Lamb. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
And here’s that testimony. In that hour, you will say with boldness: “You, my Lord Jesus, are my Righteousness; I am Your sin. You have taken from me what is mine and have given me what is Yours. You become what You were not and made me to be what I was not.” (Luther)
That’s how you prepare for death with the image of the Crucified before your eyes and in your heart. His unfailing love, your righteousness. His death, your forgiveness. His wounds, your healing. His sufferings, your crown and glory. The sign of divine love.
“It is finished” He cried. Atonement made. So don’t be afraid to look at that Atonement. Look intently upon the Crucifix; look boldly at it today. Do it tomorrow too. And every day thereafter. Learn to look and see God’s love for you. Learn to look and realize: “It is finished.” Really and truly. Forever.
We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You for by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.
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