How come this man, wearing a crown made of thorns, scorned by the ones he loved, mocked by the ones in power, killed among the scum of the earth, abandoned by the ones closest to him, punished for a life of love, beaten for loving his enemies, butchered to usher-in hope, would accept his fate, and not open his mouth?

By a great perversion of justice his life was snuffed out. Yet in that act of hanging from the Cross, for love of his enemies, the hope of the world was achieving a decisive victory against evil, pain and suffering.

The moment of His greatest weakness and apparent defeat - Is the moment that victory has been secured. 

I love Easter!

The cross is the surest, truest and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God; the more we learn about the cross, in all its historical and theological dimensions, the more we discover about the one in whose image we are made, and hence about our own vocation to be the cross-bearing people, the people in whose lives and service the living God is made known. When therefore we speak... of shaping our world, we do not - we dare not - simply treat the cross as the thing which saves us 'personally', but which can be left behind when we get on with the job. The task of shaping our world is best understood as the redemptive task of bringing the achievement of the cross to bear on the world; and in that task the methods, as well as the message, must be cross-shaped through and through.

photo credit: Lukasz Dunikowski

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. - John 5:1-3

We seek ways of standardizing the Gospel, of making it mainstream and accessible to all. In typical marketing fashion we concentrate our best efforts in reaching our biggest target group in the most efficient manner. We also invest our greatest efforts in doing this and hope to maximize our returns in doing so. This thought gripped me: Whereas we take the Gospel mainstream, Jesus invested a great deal of His time, efforts and strengths on the margins. Whereas we would have been seeking out the milieu at the religious feast, Jesus as at the pool where the marginalized were. Maybe, in our efforts to maximize our results, we have overlooked the fact that there is a definite call to the margins in our preaching the Kingdom of God..... and that there is a special dispensation of grace way out there at the edge. Friend, where are you focusing your energies? Are you living on the edge?

"Ten steps to a new you!" "Be transformed by the power of positive thinking!" "You can if you think you can!" Heard this all before somewhere? The self-help industry is a multi-billionaire one. I know, I contributed a fair amount of greenbacks to help make it so, purchasing the latest self-help books, manuals and programs. This industry plays on an inner sense that everyone has that they were born to be great, and that there must be more to life than this. To a certain degree the core message "you can be great" is healthy because I believe that you were born to be glorious. The method espoused is what I take issue with. Lately I am being possessed by a thought. What if the answer does not lie within me? What if everything that I need, and everything that I desire for my life is wrapped-up in an event that happened two thousand years ago when a young man was butchered, crushed, and left to die, nailed onto a piece of wood? This may sound extreme to some, foolish to others, but I am getting to realise that far from being extreme, my comment above actually risks falling far short of what was accomplished on that remarkable day. With the passage of time, we often lose perspective, and with a loss of perspective we often lose meaning. The Cross of Calvary was the place where salvation was purchased - sins were atoned for, and a way back to the Father was forged - and thankfully so. It was also the place where much more than this was achieved.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. -Hebrews 7:25

Salvation here is the Greek word "Sozo" and it means much more than just the salvation of your soul, in the technical biblical sense.

Sozo: 1. to save a suffering one (from perishing); 2. to make well, 3. heal, restore to health; 4. to make whole; 5. to deliver.

Salvation was bought at the Cross, and this salvation includes the technical biblical sense, as well as also including saving from suffering, total healing and restoration, and making complete and delivering from all evil. In short, Sozo means salvation, healing and deliverance. Not only can Jesus "sozo" (save, heal and deliver and restore) you, He does it "to the uttermost", completely, perfectly, utterly. Are you seeing your healing being purchased at that Cross? Are you seeing your wholeness being purchased at that Cross? - physical wholeness, emotional wholeness, and spiritual wholeness? I'm done with the self-help deal. I think I'm gonna go for the Sozo-help deal. Last time I checked I didn't see me capable of helping me because if me had been able to help me, then me would never have been in a mess to start off with. I looked at an event that happened two-thousand years ago however, and I saw a man who took a Cross that I might take a Crown, he took a beating that I might take health, He bore ridicule that I might hear a "well done", he was crushed and bruised that I might be rescued and recovered, and I saw that the punishment of my peace was upon Him. Truly, there is only one step to a new you - look upon Jesus today, and on that Cross you will find a utter transformation deeper and more complete than any self-help could ever get you.