THE WONDROUS CROSS
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Who was he - or IS he? A person? A thing? Nothing? His heavy load was the cross. A symbol of what? Is it a symbol of mourning, of fear, of revenge? Or is it a synonym of love, peace and hope? Where do we find crosses? Look straight ahead and you will see! No, no, no, not the ones in the classrooms or in the churches. I imagine the ones in our life. The cross-points where WE are expected to act! Do you never have the feeling of insecurity? Of not knowing what to do? Yes? So that is one of our cross-points. It’s in a way a challenge for us - an inner turmoil. Now - WE are the ones to show self-responsibility! WE are invited to find our way! No, not always the easy way. Sometimes we have some possibilities of choice. So - which is the right way? Which way should we go? Multiple - choice! Only one way is the right one, but how to find out? And now we see. It was he, yes it was he who showed us. What did he show, you mean? Well, he demonstrated how to find a way - THE way! Nobody understood - and who can understand nowadays? - why he did the way he did. Why didn’t he flee from his tormentors? Exactly - it was HIS way. And now what does it mean for our lives to get crucified? To die the death of a martyr? No, that can’t be the message behind. Maybe it’s a request to live your life the way you feel it’s right and not the way the others expect. Aren’t there many people today who say that they don’t believe in religion - don’t believe in the church and in the cross? And then - they want to remove the crosses in public buildings. But why? They say that they don’t believe in them but on the other hand they feel disturbed. Disturbed because of the suffering body? Then they didn’t understand. They are afraid of it, they feel ashamed. And why? Isn’t this the way THE church prepares us? They talk about the God of revenge and suddenly he turns into a God of love and exactly this one allowed to kill his son? We - can I really exclude myself? - we, the narrow-minded creatures we are, can’t really - or won’t? - face reality. We are what society makes us. We believe in what we can see and what we can touch. Our love to be confronted with a fait accompli. And that’s what we see - a given fact - a result. Jesus is dead and it’s God’s fault - isn’t it? So it’s unpleasant - awkward to believe? Of course it is! When you regard the cross only as a symbol of murder then of course, then you fear it, then you are afraid of it and then you feel disturbed. The cross - a simplified reduction of a maze - of a cobweb? Maybe! It’s often difficult to choose between two things - two ways but it would be impossible for us to have the alternative of five, ten, hundred ways. Why is the cross formed that way? Not bent! But geometric! Straight! Are we not able to take bent, crooked ways? We are prepared, we are coached to look and to go straight ahead. We don’t see the beauty of the secret paths beside us. We see and live in lines. Two crossed lines turn into a problem - a labyrinth of lines becomes an impossibility ... |