Today’s reading comes from Fleming Rutledge. Rutledge draws an interesting correlation between one’s view of the cross and of their own sin. She supposes two characters, one of whom is greatly disturbed by the image of Christ on the cross and the other who wants to dismiss the ghastly idea of Christ crucified altogether. Rutledge never makes a distinction between a feeling of embarrassment at the cross and the reality of being deeply moved by the cross and the difficulty with accepting it. She, instead focuses exclusively on the first part in order to bring home the point that to be embarrassed by the cross is to ignore the real need for Christ’s death.
It is really the heart of the issue. Do we avoid Christ on the cross because we do not want to deal with depth of our sin? We will readily admit, for the most part, that we are imperfect. But as Rutledge points out, we are not always ready to admit the depth of our sin. One aspect of this that I see is that sometimes there is a tendency to wallow in our sin. What the cross calls us to is to recognize our sin and leave it.
The following passage gets to the heart of Rutledge’s point and the depth of the cross and our sin.
How do we measure the size of a fire? By the number of firefighters and fire engines sent to fight against it. How do we measure the seriousness of a medical condition? But the amount of risk the doctors take in prescribing dangerous antibiotics or surgical procedures. How do we measure the gravity of sin and the incomparable vastness of God’s love for us? By looking at the magnitude of what God has done for us in Jesus, who became like a common criminal for our sake and in our place.