The Cross.
Wooden, hard, cruel, lonely, excruciating, hopeless, hurtful, dangerous, feared, humiliating, death. Mourning.

When I think about how thousands of years ago criminals were put to death in this torturous way these are the words that come to my mind. The cross was not a place for celebration. The cross was death. Naked, ashamed, alone and in horrendous pain criminals died on this wooden object, most by suffocation. Horrible.

Yet, we as Christians sing songs titled the Wondrous Cross, wear crosses around our necks as a symbol, and say phrases such as "take up your cross and follow Jesus."
 
WHY?
 
JESUS.
 
Jesus brings hope, peace, joy, love, grace, comfort, excitement. LIFE
 
Jesus is the difference. Without the entire truth of the cross, the cross we mourn and celebrate, then it is all in vain. God demanded a blood sacrifice for our sins. Nothing up until Jesus' death was enough. Nothing. Then Jesus comes to earth. Yes, born of a virgin. In a lowly stable. The king wanted him dead from the beginning, shepherds worshipped Him, His family did not believe in Him, His disciples were a ragtag bunch of men that denied Him and ultimately gave their lives for Him, the religious leaders hated Him, wise men sought Him, crowds followed Him, crowds turned on Him, miracles were seen, accusations were made: life was different.
 
Once Jesus came to earth nothing was the same. We can deny Him, we can accept Him, we can ignore Him, we can worship Him, we can love Him, or we can hate Him. The choice is ours but eternity is at stake. The difference is the blood.The difference is sinlessness. The difference is forgiveness. The difference is His willing sacrifice. The difference is My Savior.
 
Without the Cross there would be no payment, no redemption, no life. But, without the Resurrection there is no hope. Our pastor said this morning that we must believe that Jesus was really, truly dead. That His heart stopped beating and His brain stopped working, He wasn't just hanging out in the tomb waiting. He was dead. I've believed that. I truly have, but it hit me hard this morning. Can you imagine as his mother, his followers, the ones who had given up their livelihood to follow Him to see Jesus dead?

If we believe in the death but not the Resurrection then we have no hope. We are stuck in our sins always waiting for "Sunday morning." waiting for the hope and  living in the dark. But it is not hopeless. Jesus arose from the grave, not as a spirit but as a person. He ate, He drank, He loved his disciples. He was still fully God and fully man.
 
SO, my question from before was why? why do we sing about this wonderful cross that killed our beautiful Jesus? Because that was suppose to be my cross, because that was suppose to be my death, and because the cross was not the end. Oh no sweet friends it looked like the end, but it was the beginning.
 
So come, come to the cross, come to my Savior. Find redemption, because it wasn't just my cross, it was yours too. And it's not just my hope, it can be yours too.