Keep me near the cross

Jesus, keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain~
Free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain.*

Good Day . . .
The Cross – it has stumbled some, repulsed others, and caused them to say, ‘no way’. Have you ever stood at the foot of the cross, and looked up? What did you see there? Did you see a man who gave up his royal robes for you, and took your place? It is ironic that so many of the Jews rejected him because they were most equipped to understand the requirement of a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. They had been doing it for two thousand years.

Paul, a righteous Jew, fully understood the significance of the cross, after the One who had died on the cross confronted him.

1 Corinthians 2.1-5 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Paul kept the message of the cross always before him. The cross ought to be central to our faith, the impetus for living and the focus of our daily-ness. It should be both clarifier and unifier among those who claim the name of Jesus. Allow me to illustrate how it is both for a man I respect so very much; I’ve mentioned him before—his name is ‘Fred’. Fred was called to the pulpit in the inner city of Long Beach about 40 years ago by a well-known denomination. But a strange thing happened to him in the course of things; he really came to love the street people, and began embracing them. You see, the scales fell from his eyes and he really saw their plight—the pain of being homeless, disenfranchised, and seemingly without hope—most importantly, those without the hope of Heaven.

Fred told them about Jesus, he hold them about the cross, and the One who loved them. He told them “the man” wasn’t going to save them—“the man” in Washington talked a good game, but there was only One who had sacrificed for them, only One they could really trust. Then came the race riots . . . the denomination didn’t want much to do with Fred who was embracing the non-white races, and dotting their local church with unsavory-looking (and smelling) folk. They decided that Fred wasn’t the man for them after all; but Fred’s heart never got that memo. He had grown to love and understand these people, and for 40 years he has done what it takes to continue to bring the message of Jesus, and the redeeming work of the cross, to the down-and-outers in Long Beach, California. “Jesus loves you, Folk.” One month shy of 75 years old, Fred keeps the message of the cross always before him. The love of the Man who went to the cross motivates Fred to endure threats of violence by street gangs, to ‘go to bat’ for a 12-year-old girl in the school system, because her mother lives at the riverbed, and just can’t navigate the system, and so on. Between 200 and 250 pack the basement room a couple days a week to get nourishment---for their bodies and their souls. Fred’s motivation is the cross; his message is the same—the cross of Jesus Christ.

Oh, so many of our churches are preaching messages that tickle the ears and appeal to what folks ‘need’ to hear—how to fix their marriages, communicate better, etc., but the gruesome story of the cross is just not as popular. Paul kept this unpopular thing that Jesus did front and center.

But God did not leave the simple message of the cross as Paul’s only platform. The Holy Spirit showed up in a mighty way, touching lives, changing people, and filling the hearts of those who bowed their wills to this One from the cross. So while Paul did not use lofty words or fanciful PowerPoint presentations, the power of the Holy Spirit rested on him, and moved among the people. Isn‘t that just like God? ‘You, Child, be faithful, and leave the rest to Me. Watch what I will do.’ And then he comes and does what only he can do.

Similarly, Jesus did what only he could do. The sinless One came and took upon himself the shame of our sin, and stood silent while he was mocked, spat upon, accused, convicted and crucified. Why? So he could ransom us from the debt of sin we owe(d), and so we could be with him forever. That is good news.

“Jesus, keep me near the cross,” that is my plea.
Yours too?

Christine

* Near the Cross, song by Fanny J. Crosby, 1820-1915