FALL 2015 OC CHRISTIAN MAGAZINE Fall 2015 OC Christian Free magazine | Page 8

Family
Living

PRAYERS

The Scandal
of
the

Cross

There is a striking verse
in the New Testament, in
which the apostle Paul refers
to the cross of Jesus Christ
as foolishness to the Greek
and a stumbling block to
the Jew. One can readily
understand why he would
say that. After all, to the
Greek mind, sophistication,
philosophy, and learning
were exalted pursuits. How
could one crucified possibly
spell knowledge?

T

o the Jewish mind, on the
other hand, there was a cry
and a longing to be free. In
their history, they had been
attacked by numerous powers and
often humiliated by occupying forces.
Whether it was the Assyrians or the
Babylonians or the Romans, Jerusalem
had been repeatedly plundered and
its people left homeless. What would
the Hebrew have wanted more than
someone who could take up their cause
and altogether repel the enemy? How
could a Messiah who was crucified
possibly be of any help?

8

To the Greek, the cross was foolishness.
To the Jew, it was a stumbling block.
What is it about the cross of Christ that
so roundly defies everything that power
relishes? Crucifixion was humiliating. It
was so humiliating that the Romans who
specialized in the art of torture assured
their own citizenry that a Roman could
never be crucified. But not only was it
humiliating, it was excruciating. In fact,
the very word “excruciating” comes
from two Latin words: ex cruciatus, or
out of the cross. Crucifixion was the
defining word for pain.

ago, Jesus took the ultimate indignity
and the ultimate pain to bring us back
to the dignity of a relationship with God
and the healing of our souls. Will you
remember that this was done for you
and receive his gift?

Does that not give us pause in this
season now before us? Think of it:
humiliation and agony. This was the
path Jesus chose with which to reach
out for you and for me. You see, this
thing we call sin, but which we so
tragically minimize, breaks the grandeur
for which we were created. It brings
indignity to our essence and pain to our
existence. It separates us from God. On
the way to the cross two thousand years

This is the very reason the apostle Paul
went on to say that he preached Jesus
Christ as one crucified, which was both
the power of God and the wisdom of
God. Come to the cross in these days
given for our contemplation and find out
his power and his wisdom.

OCChristianMag.com

You will then discover that it is sin that
is foolishness. Our greatest weakness
is not an enemy from without but one
from within. It is our own weak wills
that cause us to stumble. But Jesus
Christ frees us from the foolishness of
sin and the weakness of our selves.

Used by permission by rzim
Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the
board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

#occhristianfall