The Scandal of the Cross

I was having a conversation recently about the scandal of the cross.  I have always taken this phrase to mean that the reality of forgiveness for sinners based solely on the merit of another (namely, Jesus) is a scandal.  That the only person in existence who had no reason to be put to death was tortured and killed.  Worse yet, it was done precisely for those who held the whip, hammer, and nails (namely, me).

Part of our conversation concerned the genocide in Rwanda, now 15 years past.  For the first time, I did not focus on the victims who were butchered with machetes (many within the walls of the churches they sought out for comfort and protection), but on those holding the weapons of death and destruction.

A comment was made that some of the killers said they were Christians.  Whenever I hear the phrase, "said they were Christians," it catches my attention because it usually means that we don't believe someone is really a Christian.  That we hear the words, but their actions are un-Christian and so we don't really believe them. I do not intend to be overly critical, this is a very popular way of thinking.  Unfortunately, it is not Christian thinking because none of our actions are "Christian."  We are unsuccessful at loving loving truly and unconditionally and therefore we are unsuccessful at living as Christians should.  That is why Jesus is so important. 

With that perspective I can almost guarantee that there were in fact Christians on both sides of the Rwandan genocide (and almost any other genocide for that matter).  Being a Christian does not always prevent us from acting in anger and fear as opposed to God's love. Christians commit horrible acts everyday, even cold-blooded murder, and they are forgiven by God every time. 

That is the scandal of the cross for me.  The scandal is not that God forgives the things we don't think are a big deal, the scandal lies in the fact that God forgives the sin in us that we find unforgivable and unimagineable.  All sin is horrific if we consider it carefully and any of us is capable of terrible things if put under the right (or I should say "wrong") pressures and circumstances.  

Christ died on the cross for us and that means the worst of us and the worst in us.  The blood of Jesus is enough for all. It is enough for those poor souls who turned to violence and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda. It is enough for the worst of the worst like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Idi Amin...it has to be, or it is not enough for me.  And I need it to be enough for me.

Thank you Timothy for helping to remind me of the power of the cross.