The cross is a strange symbol for a religion. It’s the symbol of death. It is the means of the most horrific executions in the ancient world. It was designed to humiliate, prolong death, and maximize pain. Our word excruciating comes from the Latin and means “out of the cross”. Why then is it the symbol of our faith? How does a symbol of humiliating defeat become a unifying symbol of hope and faith?
Many were crucified and yet we remember one. Many would-be Messiahs were crucified and most are lost to history. Yet, there is one that has redefined history and whose death would ultimately transform this symbol of death and defeat into a symbol of hope and faith. We remember this week all that happened that Passover week in Jerusalem some 2000 years ago.