Contractions at the Cross: Lenten Mysteries

     Jesus lived every fiber of the human experience by entering, engaging, and challenging death. He was fully human - he took no short cuts and pulled no heavenly strings in order to escape death. He bore estrangement from God which the cross inflicted.

      He shared humanity with his mother - he too had contractions. For surely, the contractions of Jesus of Nazareth upon the cross, made it possible for the womb of a hillside rock to split open and give birth to the Rock. 

      The Rock, who split rocks, enables me to enter the inner sanctuary, but he also bids me enter his crucifixion cave. I too, will one day face death and be wrapped for burial. Yet now a disciple, I must pick up my cross and walk with him to death's hill. I must experience death to self, death to dreams, death to pride, death to agendas, death to expectations, and death to reputation. I detest the last one. Am I willing? Will I walk with Christ to Golgotha this Lenten season?

     Simon of Cyrene carried his cross. Was he selected, or did he step forward? We don't know, but I venture this: Christ chose Simon before Simon chose Christ. The cross of Christ, will always choose us before we choose him. Through his gift, given first and given fully, I am enabled to choose Christ. 

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace... (Galatians 1:5 ESV)

      But to choose Jesus, is to choose the weight of the cross. I believe Simon felt the weight of the cross forever thereafter upon his heart. And we too, must intimately know its weight if we wish for his presence. Choosing Christ, choosing the cross, means experiencing death to the world and its' desires, norms, and rules. 

     Like Christ, my flesh must be crucified. Am I willing to be laid down and cast aside? The path of the cross is painful, but it leads to rest in the Rock. He who splits rocks open, overcomes. I find rest in the One who rolls away the stone.