THE CENTRALITY OF THE CROSS (1 OF 19)
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:14-25
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The Centrality of the Cross (1 of 19)
Series: Cross Examination
Wyman Richardson
1 Corinthians 1:14-25
Read 1 Corinthians 1:14-25
On August 25, 2003, The New York Times ran a story by Andrea Elliott entitled, ''Thieves Take Figure of Jesus, but Not the Cross.''
Who made off with Jesus?
The question hung in the air of the Church of the Holy Cross in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday after caretakers noticed that a 200-pound plaster rendering of Christ had been removed from a wooden cross near the church's entrance.
Three weeks after a metal money box disappeared from a votive candle rack at the church, the fact that a statue was stolen was less surprising than how it was stolen.
''They just decided, 'We're going to leave the cross and take Jesus,' '' said David St. James, 49, a caretaker who helps maintain the sacristy of the church, on 42nd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. ''We don't know why they took just him. We figure if you want the whole crucifix, you take the whole crucifix.''
I recall reading that headline when it first appeared and be struck by the eerie similarity between that crime and what happens in many churches today...between that crime and what I often see in my own life.
I have been guilty of taking Jesus but leaving the cross. Perhaps we all have been at times.
I will offer an explanation for that confession in the form of a thesis. My thesis is this: most Christians want the cross for the benefits we receive through it but do not want the cross as a lifestyle of sacrifice to God and death to self. Put another way, we like the cross when Jesus is carrying it, we just do not want to carry it ourselves.
In this way, the cross morphs into a kind of ATM machine. We go to it to withdraw salvation but we do not go to it to learn how to live. But Jesus said, ''If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'' (Matthew 16:24). American Christianity bears all the marks of not havi ...
Series: Cross Examination
Wyman Richardson
1 Corinthians 1:14-25
Read 1 Corinthians 1:14-25
On August 25, 2003, The New York Times ran a story by Andrea Elliott entitled, ''Thieves Take Figure of Jesus, but Not the Cross.''
Who made off with Jesus?
The question hung in the air of the Church of the Holy Cross in Midtown Manhattan on Sunday after caretakers noticed that a 200-pound plaster rendering of Christ had been removed from a wooden cross near the church's entrance.
Three weeks after a metal money box disappeared from a votive candle rack at the church, the fact that a statue was stolen was less surprising than how it was stolen.
''They just decided, 'We're going to leave the cross and take Jesus,' '' said David St. James, 49, a caretaker who helps maintain the sacristy of the church, on 42nd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. ''We don't know why they took just him. We figure if you want the whole crucifix, you take the whole crucifix.''
I recall reading that headline when it first appeared and be struck by the eerie similarity between that crime and what happens in many churches today...between that crime and what I often see in my own life.
I have been guilty of taking Jesus but leaving the cross. Perhaps we all have been at times.
I will offer an explanation for that confession in the form of a thesis. My thesis is this: most Christians want the cross for the benefits we receive through it but do not want the cross as a lifestyle of sacrifice to God and death to self. Put another way, we like the cross when Jesus is carrying it, we just do not want to carry it ourselves.
In this way, the cross morphs into a kind of ATM machine. We go to it to withdraw salvation but we do not go to it to learn how to live. But Jesus said, ''If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me'' (Matthew 16:24). American Christianity bears all the marks of not havi ...
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