The Common Cross- 09/8/08- Jill Carrattini

"The cross," someone said recently, "has become so ordinary that we hardly
see it anymore."  The words at once sent through me a rush of lament,
which then settled into a pool of reflection. How can this be true?
How can an image once shameful enough to bow the proudest heads become
ordinary?  Could the gallows ever be innocuous?  Would the death sentence
of someone near us ever fail to get our attention?

Theodore Prescott is a sculptor who has spent a great deal of time
thinking about the cross.  In the 1980's he began working on a series of
crosses using different materials, forms, and processes hoping to
reconstitute the cultural and scriptural imagery of the Roman cross.  In a
sense, Prescott attempts to portray the incongruous.  The Roman cross was a
loathsome manner of execution that inflicted an anguished death; the Cross
of Christ held a man who went willingly--and without guilt.  Though a
reflection of beauty and sacrifice, the cross is also an image of physical
torture, inseparable from flesh and blood.  Even so, its image also bears
the mystery of being scandalously vacant.  These contrasts alone are
replete with a peculiar depth.  Yet, our daily intake of the cross
"precludes contemplation," notes Prescott.  The cross has become so
ordinary that we hardly see it anymore.

Maybe he is right.  But if the Cross has become merely a symbol of
Christianity, an emblem of one religion in a sea of others, it is still a
symbol that stands apart.  Even as an image among many, it stands
conspicuously on its own.  The symbol of the cross is an instrument of
death.  Far from ordinary, it suggests, at the very least, a love quite
beyond us.  Perhaps it is we who have become ordinary, our senses
dulled to unconsciousness by the daily matters we give precedence.  The
apostle Paul lamented such a blurring of the cross, calling us to a
greater vision.  "[A]s I have often told you before and now say again even
with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their destiny is
destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their
shame.  Their mind is on earthly things.  But our citizenship is in
heaven" (Philippians 3:18-20).

For those who will not look carefully, the cross can be perceived as
foolish or not perceived at all.  It can be stripped of meaning or emptied
of beauty, hope, and depth.  But it cannot be emptied of Christ.  "If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it" (Mark 8:34-35).
The message of the Cross may be nothing to some, but to those who will
stand in its shame and offense, scandal and power, it is everything.

Moreover, where the cross is obscured, Christ is still near.  Ironically,
what started Theodore Prescott thinking about the absence of the cross's
meaning was a piece of his own art in which many people saw a cruciform
image, though this was not his intention.  For those who will see, the
Cross of Christ is expectantly present in every moment and every scene.
In its beauty, we are changed.  In the scandal of its emptiness, we are
left yearning for the face of the risen Christ:  "I want to know Christ
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death and so, somehow, to attain to
the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:10-11). 

The Gospel of John reports that Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened
to the beams of the common cross that bore the radical rabbi.  It read in
three languages: "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS."  There is
nothing ordinary about the manner in which he died, the cross on which he
hung, or the symbol of death on which he inscribed a hope that would be
carried throughout the nations.  There was a cross in history with his
name on it, and he went to it with nothing short of transforming the world
in mind.


Jill Carattini is senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias
International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.


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Christians(Apologist) First Question- 07/3/08-RZIM

I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of theGospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure onour part to live it out. I remember well in the early days of myChristian faith talking to a close Hindu friend. He was questioning theexperience of conversion as being supernatural. He absolutely insistedthat conversion was nothing more than a decision to lead a more ethicallife and that, in most cases, it was not any different from other ethicalreligions. I had heard his argument before. But then he said something I have never forgotten: “If this conversion istruly supernatural, why is it not more evident in the lives of so manyChristians I know?” His question is a troublesome one. In fact, it is sodeeply disturbing a question that I think of all the challenges to belief,this is the most difficult question of all. I have never struggled withmy own personal faith as far as intellectual challenges to the Gospel areconcerned. But I have often had struggles of the soul in trying to figureout why the Christian faith is not more visible. After lecturing at a major American university, I was driven to theairport by the organizer of the event. I was quite jolted by what he toldme. He said, “My wife brought our neighbor last night. She is a medicaldoctor and had not been to anything like this before. On their way home,my wife asked her what she thought of it all.” He paused and thencontinued, “Do you know what she said?” Rather reluctantly, I shook myhead. “She said, ‘That was a very powerful evening. The arguments werevery persuasive. I wonder what he is like in his private life.’” Because my Hindu friend had not witnessed spiritual transformation in thelife of Christians, whatever answers he received were nullified. In thedoctor’s case, the answers were intellectually and existentiallysatisfying, but she still needed to know, did they really make adifference in the life of the one proclaiming them? The Irish evangelistGypsy Smith once said, “There are five Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke,John, and the Christian, and some people will never read the first four.” In other words, the message is seen before it is heard. For both the Hinduquestioner and the American doctor, the answers to their questions were notenough; they depended upon the visible transformation of the one offeringthem. 1 Peter 3:15 gives us the gives us the defining statement: “But in yourhearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer(apologia) to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hopethat you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” Notice thatbefore the answer is given, the one giving the answer is called to acertain prerequisite. The lordship of Christ over the life of theapologist is foundational to all answers given. Peter, of all thedisciples, knew well how to ask questions and also how fickle the humanheart is. He knew the seductive power of the spectacular in momentaryenthrallment. He knew what it was to betray someone and to fail. He knewwhat it was to try to explain the Gospel--as he did at Pentecost. Peter’sstrong reminder of the heart of the apologist is the basis of allapologetic attempts. With character in mind, there follow two immediate imperatives: thequality of life lived and the clarity of answers given. The way theChristian’s life is lived will determine the impact upon believers andskeptics alike. This is a defining line because the claim by the believeris unique. The claim is that of a “new birth.” After all, no Buddhist orHindu or Muslim claims his or her life of devotion to be supernatural, yetthey often live a more consistent life. And how often does the so-calledChristian, even while teaching some of the loftiest truths one could everteach, live a life bereft of that beauty and character. In apologeticsthe question is often asked, “If there is only one way, how is it thatthere are few in all of creation who qualify?” That question is actuallymore potent than the questioner realizes. It should further be raised,“Out of the few who actually qualify, why are even fewer living it out?” The spiritual condition and character of the apologist are of immenseimportance. This call to a life reflecting the person of Christ is theultimate call of everyone who wishes to do apologetics. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well (John 4:1–26) she raised onequestion after another as if that were really her problem. It would havebeen very easy for the Lord to call her bluff with some castigating words. Instead, like a gentle and nimble-handed goldsmith he rubbed away themarkings of sin and pain in her life until she was amazed at how much truegold he brought out in her. He gave her hope, knowing all along who shewas on the inside. Likewise, we cannot simply vanquish the person in anattempt to rescue the message. The value of the person is an essentialpart of the message. This means the apologist’s task begins with a godly walk. One ought totake time to reflect seriously upon the question, Has God truly wrought amiracle in my life? Is my own heart proof of the supernaturalintervention of God? That is the apologist’s first question.


Excerpted from Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend (ThomasNelson, 2007), ed. by Ravi Zacharias. Ravi Zacharias is founder and president of Ravi Zacharias InternationalMinistries.