The Old Rugged Cross

Have you heard the story of the Hill of Crosses? There's a small hill in Lithuania where crosses were placed in the 1800s symbolizing people's faith and hope in God. During the first half of the Soviet occupation (1940-1990) most of the people from that area were deported to Siberia and died. In 1956 some survivors returned. They erected new crosses, dedicated to those who perished in the camps or who had fought for their Homeland. In the spring of 1961, the Soviets demolished and burned all of their crosses, and guards were posted so nobody could erect another one. Nevertheless, risking their lives, people erected new crosses.

The Soviets bulldozed the hill, multiple times, and attempted to flood the area to make the hill inaccessible. For many years, all of the roads were guarded, all license plates coming in or out were registered. Even still, people defied their occupiers and placed crosses. In 1990, Lithuania was re-established; people added more crosses with inscriptions of personal gratitude to God and prayers, lots of prayers.

The number of crosses placed on that hill, they say, is now impossible to count, over 200,000. My friend went to Lithuania and brought home a photo book for me. As I look at the pictures of thousands upon thousands of crosses placed on that hill, I wonder, Why does the Cross, the crucifixion of Jesus, speaks so deeply to all of us? Brian Zahnd answers well:

The crucifixion means everything. Everything that can be known about God is in some way present at the cross.

It’s the pinnacle of divine self-disclosure, the eternal moment of forgiveness, divine solidarity with human suffering, the enduring model of discipleship, the supreme demonstration of divine love, the beauty that saves the world, the re-founding of the world around an axis of love, the overthrow of the satan, the shaming of the principalities and powers, the unmasking of mob violence, the condemnation of state violence, the exposé of political power, the abolition of war, the sacrifice to end sacrificing, the great divide of humankind, the healing center of the cosmos, the death by which death is conquered, the Lamb upon the throne, the tree of life recovered and revealed. And with this brief list of interpretations, I’ve come nowhere near exhausting the meaning of the cross, for indeed the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is an inexhaustible revelation of who God is (The Wood Between the World, pg 8-9).

Christ's crucifixion is at the heart of our faith. When Paul proclaimed the gospel to the people of Corinth, he resolved to know nothing "except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 1:18-2:5). There was a day, a Friday, when Jesus Christ hung on a Roman cross, beaten and mocked, for me, for us, for all of us. In the weeks leading up to Easter, we are invited to contemplate the wonder and mystery of the cross, foolishness to some but the power of God for us who believe.