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4E. The Cross of Jesus is a Curse and a Kiss 
Finding the personal Body of Christ is like searching for a valuable treasure marked on an old weather-beaten map. Owning it becomes an obsession. Hidden treasure awaits those who search at the cross! Jesus told a story of a merchant who spotted a beautiful and perfect pearl, much finer than any he had laid his eyes upon before. Hurrying out quickly, he sells his prized collection to possess this one treasure of singular value. The discovery by accident or by design of the Body of Christ is mind-boggling, it is so wonderful!
Choice to be Made
The cross symbolizes a choice in life. It marks a place of decision, one of life's special turnings which shape our future destiny. Not to decide for Jesus is to vote against him! When I elect someone, I pick one of several names by marking my cross beside it. Selecting all the candidates, or leaving them all blank, wastes my paper. Joshua placed the same decision before Israel in his own time saying, "choose for yourself this day whom you will serve"(21).
Faith in the Cross
Every such choice demands faith in the unknowable. A rock climber, while traversing a cliff face, slipped and fell over the edge. As he plummeted, he managed to grasp hold of a stunted bush growing from the rock. Dangling precariously high above a rocky valley floor, he began to shout desperately, "Is there anybody there? Help! Can anybody hear me?" Suddenly a booming voice replied from heaven, "Let go! I will catch you... if you really believe in me!" The climber thought for a moment, then cried out, "Is there anyone else out there?" Choosing Christ requires a step of faith.
Curse of God
The cross is a symbol of the curse of God. The Old Testament asserts, "anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse."(22). The sacrificial lamb attracted God's anger upon the altar but Jesus sidetracks wrath away from his loved ones. The curse falls not on the people but on Jesus himself who becomes the target of God's judgment. Our sins are laid on him and with the words, "It is finished"(23) not just his own life but more supremely his work as sin bearer is completed.
Cross's Call to a New Life
This death moment marks both the Christian's entry into the personal Body of Christ but also the call to a new life. Paul described it, "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."(24). The Roman authorities in Jesus' day punished a murderer by making him carry around the decomposing corpse of his victim strapped to his back. The curse of my sin is submerged in the all-cleansing ocean of God's love. Jesus' cross is the mark of the creator's, "Big C" love for his "little c" creation.
God's Kiss Across the Ages
The cross is primarily a place of God's love. There, God's first love for all people shines forth. Jesus beckons men and women, boys and girls to the transforming and regenerating love of the Body of Christ. A cross at the end of a letter marks the sender's love. On my Valentine cards as a teenager I marked little encoded messages like S. W. A. L. K. meaning "Sealed With A Loving Kiss" and H. O. L. L. A. N. D., "Hope Our Love Lasts And Never Dies"! In the same way the cross of Jesus is a cryptogram of God's love, a kiss blown across the ages. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son"(25).
Becoming His Children
By returning God's love and opening our arms wide to him we become his children. He promises, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God"(26). Christianity is based on this kind of life-changing encounter with Jesus. It finds its perfection in the group of Christians who united by Christ become the household Body of Christ. When he touches our lives others will say, "you have kept this good wine till now!"
Questions for Discussion
1. Is the Body of Christ a sacrament? Discuss this question.
2. Are you one of his children?
Notes
(21) (22) (23) (24) (25) John 3.16 (26)
"We are living members of his mystical body"
