The Cross of Calvary – the symbol of God’s love expressed in the most horrific event in history is what we commemorate this month.
All around us are reminders of the atrocious ordeal of the Lord Jesus Christ more than 2000 years ago. And in a powerfully mysterious way, that same event still creates waves of impact on the life of the entire humanity. In the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, it was made possible for mankind to see the Creator in flesh and bones. And on one gloomy afternoon in Calvary, we gaze at Him crucified, covered with His own blood and with our sins.
On an earthly perspective, the cross may convey a message of defeat and death – a picture of a failed mission. Yet, in the eyes of faith, we see a different story. The Cross of Calvary is the manifestation of God’s awesome power to save us from despair and destruction. The agony of the Suffering Servant brought back life into the history of mankind.
The Apostle Paul aptly puts it in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “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.” We, whose spiritual eyes have been opened by the grace of God, can always claim the power of God at work at the cross of Calvary.
His power is what lifted us out of our desperate condition and brought us back into His loving embrace. And with that power, we have been given total redemption in all aspects of our life: spiritually reconciled with God, physically healed from our diseases, emotionally regenerated and materially blessed.
All of these through the supreme sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary.
Amidst all these blessings lavished upon us, we are also called to see the real power that made all things possible: the suffering love of the One Who left heaven to reach out to the heathen. Our Creator Himself became willing to suffer and die that we might live to the full.
This suffering love is so powerful that it revolutionizes our hearts and minds with its message: You are never alone. I, the Living God, am with you always and forever. And this same love is so strong that it binds us to our fellow human being. The God of all creation was made flesh and gave His life for us, would we not give our lives to our brother and sister?
Hence, as we find ourselves at the foot of the cross once again, let us all respond to the suffering love of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the power of God, and we are called to live it out now.