The Message of the Cross

Tommy Dillon

I have a wall in my office that is filled with crosses. Each day as I come into my office I see it, and it floods my memory. One of the things I like best about my cross wall is that I haven't purchased a single cross on it. They have all been gifts to me from important people in my life. They speak of so many of the chapters in my life. Interestingly, the first cross that I received for this wall was from a girl I dated in high school. Another cross is from my parents. A different cross is from the staff of the church I served in Baton Rouge. One of the crosses was given to me at my ordination by close family friends. They all remind me of people and places that mean so much to me and have made me who I am. Ironically, the crosses also provide memories of the times that I let some of those people down.

But even in the diversity of these crosses, they all hold the same image during this season of Lent and especially during Holy Week. They remind me of the death that Jesus and many others have experienced at the hands of governments. I am also reminded that Jesus said that to be a disciple we must follow Jesus into the places we don't often want to go.

But the Easter message that we discover three days after the cross is that even when we do not live up to whom Jesus has called us to be, even when we hurt those we love, we are reminded of the power of the cross. The power of the cross is that good overcomes evil, light overcomes darkness, resurrection overcomes death.

You see, taking up the cross of Christ doesn't simply mean that we share in death; it also means that we share in resurrection! What could be more powerful and humbling than that?