The Crucified God: When God Joins Suffering Humanity

The Cross – The Centre

For all three major branches of Christianity—Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant (with its myriad denominations and movements)—the crucified Jesus is the absolute center of the faith.

We will never comprehend the Apostle Paul until we grasp why he says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” It was for his preaching of the cross that Paul gladly accepted persecution (Galatians 6:12, 14).

Engaging the worldly-wisdom intoxicated Corinthians, their founding pastor cried out, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified”. This fervently reminded them that the crux of his message was always “Christ crucified”, the irreplaceable foundation of the church (1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2; 3:11).

Fleming Rutledge, in her magnum opus “The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus” (2015), declares, “Without the cross at the center of the Christian proclamation, the Jesus story can be treated as just another story about a charismatic spiritual figure. It is the crucifixion that marks out Christianity as something definitively different in the history of religion. It is in the crucifixion that the nature of God is truly revealed” (page 44, author’s italics).

Embracing the Power and Purpose of the Cross

Major religious systems mostly center on the life and teachings of their founders and leaders. However, the Christian faith surprisingly centers on the dreadful death and subsequent resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Hence, the church has devotedly proclaimed the cross of Jesus, in all its horror and grandeur, through word and diverse art forms, serving as the basis of its call to live the cruciform lifestyle.

Christian disciples soon realize their dire need to comprehend and be seized by a deeper understanding of the cross. The blood-stained cross of Jesus then becomes the impetus for numberless acts of loving and sacrificial devotion that plant God’s kingdom flags all over the globe. Down through the centuries, even to our day, a worldwide army of Jesus’s servants marches to a different drumbeat as they follow the slain Lamb wherever he leads them.

Like the multifaceted brilliance of a well-cut diamond, our understanding of the cross need not be limited to one favorite theme or one privileged “theory of atonement.”

Entering into the Depths

What does the cross signify? Why did the Messiah Jesus have to endure torture and death? Perhaps a believer in the pew would state, and rightly so, “Jesus died for my sins.” That would align with Paul’s confession of being “crucified with Christ . . . the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). However, there is infinitely more to the meaning of the cross than that simple affirmation.

Believers seek to grasp the central significance of the cross, though its mystery remains vast. Preachers, theologians (like Apostle Paul and Fleming Rutledge), and creatives (such as Charles Wesley and R. R. Tolkien) tirelessly work to reveal the depth of our faith in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.

Within the biblical narratives, culminating in the death and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus, we can discern multiple themes that clarify the divine purpose of the crucifixion. These multidimensional perspectives reveal how God fulfills His merciful purposes in the humiliating death of the Son of God. Like the multifaceted brilliance of a well-cut diamond, our understanding of the cross need not be limited to one favorite theme or one privileged “theory of atonement.”

We must not make the mistake of hurrying to embrace the glory of the resurrection before we have squarely faced the horror of the cross, the only way God could deal with the gravity of sin, death, and evil. God rectifies His creation, marred by the evil powers of the world, through the cross and resurrection, and by ushering in the new creation in the Spirit.

The Crucified Savior: Redemption and Victory on the Cross

The cross of Jesus ultimately fulfills the Israelite Passover and the Exodus, now made available to all people (Luke 9:31; 1 Corinthians 5:7). On that bloodied Roman cross, the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36). He dies on behalf of ungodly sinners, reconciling God with his enemies (Romans 5:6, 8, 10). Jesus emerges victorious (the Christus Victor theme) by overthrowing the enemy powers of sin, death, and Satan. The cross of Christ reveals the righteousness of God—His rectifying power.

On the cross, God reconciled the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19). The writer to the Hebrews says that Christ offered himself to God through the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). There is some marvelous and mysterious way that is too deep for me to adequately articulate. On the cross, God actively redeemed and drew His beloved creation into an everlasting fellowship with the triune God.

ürgen Moltmann, in his book, The Crucified God, portrays the cross of Jesus as the sure foundation of Christian hope. God enters into and participates in the suffering of his creatures, ultimately redeeming them. The tormented world cries out, “Where are you, God?” God answers: “Behold the cross!”

Jesus, the Immanuel in solidarity with the world in its unbearable miseries, climactically reveals God to us (John 1:18). “He was despised and rejected by humanity, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3).

The Suffering of the Disciples

Believers urge to carry their own cross and follow Jesus, echoing a call throughout the New Testament. They actively share in Christ’s sufferings, as Paul fervently sought, with his ministry marked by manifold tribulations. Despite challenges, Paul rejoices in suffering for Christ and the church.

This desire to embrace the cross inspires millions of disciples to bear it for suffering multitudes. Toyohiko Kagawa advocated for labourers and women, residing in a Kobe slum. Graham and Gladys Staines served lepers and poor tribal communities in Odisha, ultimately sacrificing their lives—burnt by a mob. And countless others follow suit.

Christians grasp the cross as God’s victory over evil, understanding their role in His redemption of the world. They willingly enter into the sufferings of the powerless and exploited, following the slain Lamb of God. They sacrificially pour out their lives for others, participating in Christ’s solidarity with the needy, dispossessed, and desolate.

May God, by His Spirit, enable us to follow the Lamb of God!

City Harvest AG Church

The Crucified God: When God Joins Suffering Humanity