We need Jesus on the cross
Do you know Protestants don’t tend to use a crucifix — the cross with the body of Jesus still on it? They look to the resurrection, since that act showed clearly Jesus’ ability to conquer the world, as He assured us he had done in John 16:33. It’s the Catholics and the Anglicans who insist on the crucifix, and, oh, I resonate with that. Why? Because we need both images — Jesus on the cross as well as Jesus coming out of that tomb..
When I am triggered, when a flashback shoves me back into the basement of a house I lived in when I was ten years old, when the panic of that moment constricts my airways and leaves me feeling suffocated and terrified, I don’t find comfort in the Jesus outside the tomb. What I took comfort in, what staid me in that moment then and continues to strengthen me when I am steeped in trauma’s consequences now, is Jesus on that cross. There’s an exchange that occurs, one that dumbfounds me, because you’d think I’d want to imagine Him nowhere near that cross and myself out of that proverbial basement. But there’s the point, see? I didn’t get to come out of that basement, not for another nine years. It was Jesus, and Him crucified, that did the sustaining. For sure, I knew His resurrection was coming, but He was willing to remain on the cross as long as I had to remain on mine. What love is this?
Protestant and Catholic theologians have argued for centuries about the sacrifice of Jesus. Catholics say the sacrifice is re-presented in every celebration of the Mass. Protestants say the sacrifice of Jesus is one and done; after all, how could the sacrifice of the Son of God not be “enough” to have taken care of all sin, all suffering, then and forever? I see their point, but I side with the Catholics. It isn’t about efficacy; it’s about love. It is the love of Jesus Christ that sustains that sacrifice, over and over to the present, not because it wasn’t enough then, but because we need it — and we can use it — to empower us now.
There is a coupling that occurs when we suffer. Jesus Christ offers himself, through time. He invites us to join our suffering with His. If we accept this invitation, the results are transformative. We are enabled to take Him back there with us in the moments of our traumas. And, in doing this, the trauma loosens its hold.
Reflection
How does knowing that Jesus Christ couples your suffering with His own speak to you?
Prayer
Dear Jesus Christ, I, too, am dumbfounded by the idea that You invite me to join my suffering with yours on the cross. What does this bring about, Lord? Let me sit here under the Juniper and ponder this. The cross is ours to share, just as the resurrection is ours to share…
