In his book Following Jesus, N.T. Wright offers these thoughts about the cross:
The
cross is the decisive royal act; Jesus on the cross is Jesus the son of
David, the King of the Jews.
The
cross is the decisive saving act; this is how he is saving his people
from sin. The cross is the moment when the monsters finally close in on
the Son of Man; the forces of evil vent their wrath on him, pour it all out
until there is none left.
The
cross is the defeat of evil. But the cross is also the work of
Emmanuel, God-with-us; and it is therefore also the victory, the victory in
which the Son of Man bears the saving purposes of the Father through his
atoning death and out into the new day of the resurrection.
The
cross is the great divine act. The cross and the resurrection thus
establish the kingdom of the Son of Man. The powers, the great monsters,
seemed to be winning the victory; but the cross and the resurrection show that
all authority has now been committed to Jesus. There is no corner of the
created universe over which Jesus does not claim right of sovereignty. [And] we are to be his agents, his ambassadors, in bringing the word of
his kingdom to his subjects.
In
the Kingdom of the Son of Man, the power that counts is the power of
love.
I hope that you
will join us tonight at 7:00 for a Good Friday Communion Service as we
celebrate the love that gave and gives life.
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