Cross Centred Christianity

1 Corinthians 11:8-2:5

‘…..we preach Christ crucified….’ 1:23

Rembrandt painted The Three Crosses where he gave focus to the Cross of Christ.

Around the cross you can see the faces of those involved in the terrible crime of crucifying Jesus the Son of God.   At the edge of the picture in the dark shadows Rembrandt it has been thought by some art critics to have painted his own face.  The reason for this is that he sensed that it was a result of his own sins, as well as others, that Jesus was nailed to that cross.

In a very real way Rembrandt was saying that Jesus wasn’t just dying for the world, but had died on that cross for him … it was personal!

Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘The cross is the telescope through which we look into the long vista of eternity and see the love of God breaking into the world.’

For me it’s at the cross that we see not only the sin of man at its worst, but we see the love of God at its greatest!

It’s only when we stand there with Rembrandt in the shadows and hear those words of forgiveness echoing through the corridors of time, ‘father forgive them’ and respond to them, can we experience that amazing grace and great salvation.  The question we need to ask ourselves is, ‘Is the cross personal, am l just one of the crowd that says, that was a wonderful and heroic thing that Jesus did, or have l received his love and forgiveness, is it personal to me?’

Have a great week.