Posted on 04/03/2015 4:48:06 AM PDT by NYer
Q: I had a friend ask me why Catholics have crucifixes in our churches — don’t we believe Jesus has risen? Why do we keep Him on the cross?
A: First of all, you would want to check out 1st Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 23. Paul says, “…but we preach Christ crucified…” Why does Paul preach Christ crucified? Doesn’t he know Jesus has been raised from the dead? Of course he does! But, he knows that it is through the power of the crucified Christ on the cross that the bonds of sin and death are broken. As he says in verse 24, Christ crucified is the “power of God.”
1 Cor 2:2, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Again, didn’t Paul know that Jesus had risen from the dead? Of course he did.
Paul preaches Christ crucified because an empty cross has no power. The cross that bears the beaten, battered, and bloodied body of Jesus Christ, however, that cross is the “power of God”. So, we “keep Jesus on the cross” because we too preach Christ crucified. And the crucifix reminds us of not only of God’s power, but also His love for us – giving His only begotten Son up for suffering and death.
Also, here in this life we do not share so much in the glory of the Resurrection, as we do in the suffering of Jesus on the cross; after all, we must take up our cross daily if we are to follow Jesus, as it says in Lk 9:23.
And, we must die with Christ in order to live with Him as Romans 6:8 tells us. Where did Christ die? On the cross. The crucifix serves to remind us of these things.
One other passage to keep in mind is Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Did you catch that? Jesus was publicly portrayed, before their “eyes”, as being crucified. Sounds kind of like they may have been looking at a crucifix, doesn’t it?
Good Friday, ping!
The nails didn’t keep Jesus on the cross, His love for us kept him up there.
I have a story about Christ on the crucifix. It is timely for today.
I was raised as a devout Catholic. My mother was an uber-Catholic until the day she died. She didn’t know any theology - she just did whatever the priest said to do. Her only conviction was tradition and her works.
When I was 25 years old, my eyes were opened to the truth of God’s Grace, a personal relationship with Christ, and the power of His Word. It was then that I received Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.
I raised a family in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
We were at my mom’s home when my older son was five years old. He already understood the importance of the resurrection and he was pretty precocious.
“Grandma - why is YOUR Jesus still on the cross?!”
She had no clue.
It was a funny - but not so much.
I have to disagree here.
An empty cross represents the ultimate in power. After all, there where thousands of people crucified, but only One who beat it, who overcame it.
It’s a good thing Catholics don’t baptise by immersion.
The HUGE works of Christ -
Becoming one of us, though sinless.
Defeating sin on the cross.
Defeating death (the final enemy) by rising again.
Christ on the cross is but one of His works for us.
The crucifix captures forever Christ’s last moment of humanity among us, and his ultimate sacrifice. I find it beautiful (not a Catholic here)
Crucifix or empty cross, either way is an enduring symbol but only a symbol, and a common one at that
A cross that has never held Christ has no power. A cross that holds Christ has the power to save us through his vicarious atonement. A cross that has held Christ, but holds him no longer, is a statement of the power of His resurrection, that as He is risen, we too shall be raised. Since both messages are necessary--that Christ died according to the Scriptures, and that He was raised according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3-8)--a crucifix is just as meaningful as an empty cross, and vice versa.
Agreed.
Jesus showed us His love for all of us and His endurance.
I hope that we can show our endurance and love back to Him as we do God’s will.
Thank you.
I did a quick word study, comparing “crucified” to “raised” (using NIV).
Interesting results from the N.T. only:
“Crucified” - 37 occurrences, 21 in the Gospels - all of them are historical narrative.
“Raised” - 41 occurrences (I only counted those that refer to Christ’s resurrection) - and the use was ALL ABOUT God’s power - both to raise Christ AND to give victory to the believer.
I invite anyone to read I Cor 15 especially.
To a believer, the power of the cross is the propitiation. Christ paid what I could not. It is a debt that I can never repay. The power of the resurrection is victory over spiritual death! For that, I will be eternally thankful!
I love the cross - but my Savior is not on it anymore!
38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40 For he that is not against us is on our part.
41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
I may rattle a few feathers here, but that is not my intention. First, I do not need to convince anyone else of the validity of my opinion, I only offer my thoughts.
Secondly, I always reserve the right to be wrong. The need for a person to hold onto dogma and not be open minded creates the same attachment as the worship of icons and legalism that Jesus encountered when confronted by the Pharisees. This is not about “legalism,” it’s about “fundamentalism,” and the greatest of all the fundamentals is “LOVE.” Always hold onto “LOVE” and do not sacrifice it for the comfort of “legalism” as to do so creates judgement, which becomes an obstacle to LOVE existing within our souls. For those who find my words creating anger, I ask not that you attack me, but PRAY for me to find the greatest truths in our Savior, Jesus Christ. I offer this same prayer for everyone, no matter if the truths agree with my opinion or not.
Jesus’ great sacrifice was not dying on the cross, but lowering Himself to our level to teach and help us to grow spiritually. Even in His parable of the tares in the wheat in Matthew 13, He speaks of us as the “good seeds” but then goes on to explain that the weeds were planted while we were “asleep.” Jesus came here to awaken us. His great sacrifice was not leaving here to be with His Father at all times, it was disconnecting from His awareness with His Father to come here. You are still connected to Father when you are born in the flesh, but your awareness of that connection is gone. That is why Jesus said, “My Father and I are One” when He went through His dark-night-of-the-soul experience, awakened and reconnected to that realization.
Over twenty five years ago I died of meningitis, experienced Heaven, and returned here against my will. No one would ever chose to be here and feel disconnected from God after experiencing the fullness of being “One” with Him. Prior to that I was an agnostic/borderline atheist and worshiped myself. When I returned here, it was as though my lifetime lover was ripped from me and I felt abandoned. Thus began my journey to find God again while still here in the flesh. My experience validated the truth in the Bible and thus it became my map on my journey.
One very unusual gift of the Spirit that was given by Grace and not desired nor earned by me was the ability to perceive other people’s souls as physical objects, just as most perceive the physical bodies of others. I could read their thoughts and stored memories of their life since conception. This was as much a curse as a blessing as it meant I could feel their joys and sorrows, both physical and emotional. We truly are all “One” through Christ.
I found that saying prayers for people could remove the dark obstacles to LOVE that were in their souls, just like a laser beam exploding an object. Instantly, healing would often happen and people’s personalities would often change. They would feel lighter and more relaxed. But most importantly, they often would remove the defense mechanisms they had created to block receiving or giving LOVE to other people and God.
Now my reason for posting on this thread. I was attending a conference in New Hampshire (I think it was in 1993) when I was asked to use my ability to work on a Jewish man who was suffering severe anxiety and panic attacks. I never touch an individual when I work on them. Often I am fifteen feet or more from an individual as the Helper working through me guides the process. While I grew up Lutheran, and realized that the services were very similar to Mass when I attended a few in college, I was never religiously trained nor educated.
While working on this Jewish man I found myself making the sign of the cross repeatedly. But this was not as a religious sign, it was what was necessary in order to move the obstacles to LOVE that were in his soul and compressing it, thus causing his anxiety and panic attacks. The process raised his soul up by stretching it vertically upward and more importantly it diminished the horizontal energy that was blocking the vertical flow of consciousness. I had done the cross sign movement a few times before I even realized that I was making the sign of the cross, exactly as I had seen the pastors and priests do in the services. It was during this process while working on this Jewish man that I realized this correlation between what was happening through me and the religious practice. I also realized that the energy flowing on the horizontal axis in his soul that was diminishing was the man’s ego which was creating physical symptoms as it was fighting the process of being diminished to allow God into his life. It is the process Paul spoke of as “dying daily.”
I have observed this same process many times over the past twenty five years. It has given me new meaning to the cross, even more important than the old one.
The Crucifixion: the moment of our redemption.
I’m not sure why anyone who calls themselves Christian would be offended by that.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.—1 Peter 2:10
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself ONE NEW MAN IN PLACE OF THE TWO, so making peace, and might RECONCILE US BOTH TO GOD in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God bye the Spirit.—Ephesians 2:11-22
1st Century Jews rejected rejected their Messiah because they were looking towards worldly answers and worldly leaders. Freeing the Jewish people from the tyanny of Ceasar, rather than a spiritual personage, with True Salvation. They were looking for a monarch-savior versus the true Savior, that had a kingdom, not of this world.
Jesus, struck fear into the hearts of the Sadducees and Pharisees of the day, as he strikes fear into the heart of present day Jews. They would have accepted Him had he been a warrior on a horse, but he was a King of Peace, instead.
The Jewish leaders of the day were unworthy and in the abyss of spiritual darkness. Otherwise the life and miracles of Jesus would have convinced them that their Messiah had arrived. Eventually, the remnant of Israel will turn from their Sadducees and their hearts will cry, “Hossana to the son of David”...for the King of Kings came from the Jews.
This prayer should have never been removed from the Catholic Church's Good Friday prayers.
What about the commandment about graven images? And how do you know what He looked like? It’s not like there were pictures back then.
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