Following Jesus: Jesus' Death - The Strange Message of the Cross

“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.”
1 Corinthians 1:18

If people were going to create a religion out of thin air, they’d never dream up Christianity. No one would come up with these ideas: Let’s have a God who enters the world as a human baby. He’ll wait till he’s thirty to reveal himself, and then he’ll show compassion to the irreligious and wrangle with the religious elite for three years. Though he has power to crush his enemies, he will let them kill him! As he dies shamefully, he’ll triumphantly yell, “Mission accomplished!”

Christianity seems foolish to most people. And yet that’s the paradoxical gospel of Jesus: God came to us in order to bring us to himself. Love—not hate—nailed Jesus to the cross. Jesus was cursed so we might find blessing. The battered man being mocked by a raucous crowd was a victor, not a victim. Because of Jesus’ gruesome death we can experience glorious, new, never-ending life through faith in him.

The truth really is stranger than fiction.

Reflection Question
What thoughts and feelings do you have when you contemplate Jesus’ sacrifice of himself on the cross?

Prayer
Jesus, give me eyes to see the wonder of your work at the cross. Amen.

This blog post has been adapted from my new book Following Jesus. You can learn more about it here.