We live in a generation of Christians obsessed with the cross and forgetful of the resurrection. A big claim, I know, but hang with me for a minute. What I’m talking about here is how many times have you heard someone thank Jesus for the cross versus how many times you have heard someone thank Jesus for his resurrection? In my experience, I hear a lot about the cross, I hear that Jesus died to pay the price for my sins, I hear about sacrifice and I hear about grace, but I don’t hear much about how three days later He was gloriously raised, at least not in my day to day conversations....
In thinking about this, I recall something that scholar Scot McKnight has said, that “the cross means nothing without the resurrection, and the resurrection nothing without the cross”. They are fulfillments of one another, they are each one half of the salvation puzzle.
So does our generation despise the resurrection? I don’t think so. I don’t even think we own a lack of reverence for it, I think we have simply forgotten. And I think our forgetfulness says something deep about our faith.
In order for the cross to happen there needed to be a death. The cross requires death, the death of Jesus, and the only think it requires from us is a death, a death to ourselves. The cross requires nothing on our part, just to die. The resurrection, however, in order for it to have happened, requires new life, Jesus rising from the grave. Therefore, the resurrection also calls us into life.
With resurrection comes responsibility.
A responsibility to live as a new creation, in the light of God’s glorious victory over death. The resurrection requires from us that we live a life that is shaped by God’s precepts and commands, that we “go and make disciples of all nations”. Without the resurrection, our relationship with God just becomes a confession booth that we visit in order to throw off the burden of our brokenness. Without the resurrection, we are living a broken Friday faith. The resurrection leads us into the new life that is lived on Sunday.
The cross is where we lay our burden down, and the resurrection is where God turns that burden into beauty. Please do not think I am at all discrediting or tearing down the cross. They are both necessary, and neither of them should be forgotten or neglected. But, we cannot live the cross, Jesus lived that for us.
Don’t live a broken Friday faith.
We are called to remember the cross
And live the resurrection.
-jon
So does our generation despise the resurrection? I don’t think so. I don’t even think we own a lack of reverence for it, I think we have simply forgotten. And I think our forgetfulness says something deep about our faith.
In order for the cross to happen there needed to be a death. The cross requires death, the death of Jesus, and the only think it requires from us is a death, a death to ourselves. The cross requires nothing on our part, just to die. The resurrection, however, in order for it to have happened, requires new life, Jesus rising from the grave. Therefore, the resurrection also calls us into life.
With resurrection comes responsibility.
A responsibility to live as a new creation, in the light of God’s glorious victory over death. The resurrection requires from us that we live a life that is shaped by God’s precepts and commands, that we “go and make disciples of all nations”. Without the resurrection, our relationship with God just becomes a confession booth that we visit in order to throw off the burden of our brokenness. Without the resurrection, we are living a broken Friday faith. The resurrection leads us into the new life that is lived on Sunday.
The cross is where we lay our burden down, and the resurrection is where God turns that burden into beauty. Please do not think I am at all discrediting or tearing down the cross. They are both necessary, and neither of them should be forgotten or neglected. But, we cannot live the cross, Jesus lived that for us.
Don’t live a broken Friday faith.
We are called to remember the cross
And live the resurrection.
-jon
