Life is heIr for most of us at sometime or another, and sometimes

for prolonged periods that seemaeons. That's why Calvary's pain cannever be irrelevant. Recognizing thecross as in some sense a divine act, itmust therefore be highly sacramen-tal-an outward sign of somethingbeyond itself-a pattern of universalreality. And it is not hard to see whatis at least the one level of meaningthat the cross has for everybody.There is no dodging pain, limitation,evil, inadequacy, and loneliness. Ev-ery soul conceived must reckon with theexperience of crucifixion.

The very shape and out-line of the cross is suggestiveof anguish, for while it imi-tates the form of man, it con-tradicts his two strongest,na tural instincts, the desirefor action, and the yearningfor rest. There man stretchesout his arms up to meet nosoft embrace, no kind recip-rocating pressure; there hisfeet are made fast in thestocks; the iron enters into

his soul; yet there transfixed,he is there transfigured, andhe finds on Cal vary his trueTabor.1How often we use the term "ex-

cruciating" to describe what we orsomeone else feels. The term, ofcourse, means suffering like that in-volved in crucifixion. No one in thisworld, be he king, multimillionaire,genius, a physical Samson, or a MissAmerica, can avoid crosses in dailyliving. A world like ours, governedby inviolable law, inevitably gets inour way with considerable frequency.But far more often, people do. For likeporcupines, when human beingscome close to each other, there is riskinvolved. Each day, everyone mustchoose how to deal with the pinpricksor sword-thrusts which will inevita-bly come. As John Bright has re-minded us:

... the redemption of manentails a Cross ... to be surewe have no intention of aban-doning the Cross. We en-shrine it in the stained-glasswindow. We bow before it in

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prayer. But we want no partof it. We are possessed of thenotion that the Cross is forChrist, a once and for allthing of the past tense withlittle relation to the destiny ofthe militant and victoriousChurch; indeed we feel it tobe the business of church andreligion to keep crosses faraway, so our faith in the cru-cified Christ becomes to us asort of charm to protect usfrom life's adversity. Butthere is a sense in which notrue Christian can in any caseescape the Cross. It needs nogreat catastrophe. The path oflife is, however pleasant, dot-ted with crosses which menmust bear. The question isnot if we should bear themfor bear them we shall, bu tonly what sort of crosses theywill be to us; will they be theChristian cross or a thief's?Will we find in them dumbbrute agony, or the stuff ofredemption?2

The One on the cross is known as"the Son of Man." He represents usall. In one sense, all of life is a crossto which we are inescapably nailed-that is, inescapable till death. Life is acontinuous crucifixion because of thepain, frustration, limitations, inade-quacies, ridicule, darkness, mockery,bewilderment, shame, to which wemust all be exposed in a sinful worldand that continuously. There willnever come a time in this life whenshadows will not be cast upon ourpathway, and when that pathway hasno thorns.

But Life Is Not All Pain

Of course, it would be folly tomagnify our ills and to pretend thatlife for us is nothing but crosses. Jer-emy Taylor was right:

I sleep, I drink and eat, Iread and meditate, I walk inmy neighbor's pleasant fieldsand see all the varieties ofnatural beauty ... and he whohath so many forms of joymust needs be very much inlove with sorrows and pee-vishness, who loseth all thesepleasures and chooseth to situpon his little handful ofthorns.Some of our troubles are but the

other side of pluses in our world. G.K. Chesterton very wisely remarkedthat our real complaint is, not that theworld is not reasonable, but that it'snot entirely reasonable. Are we notinclined to take for granted the factthat our environment is a relativelystable affair? Suppose it were entirelychaotic, rendering us quite at a loss asto what might happen next. "If thespecific gravity of lead might at anytime become that of thistledown; ifpigs might fly" or the White Houseturn into green cheese, then lifewould be a nightmare indeed. How-ever bad things are for any of us, theycould be a lot worse.

Another thing that needs to besaid, is that the troubles which are asreal as the bread we eat and the airwe breathe, may also be just as neces-sary. The world is a "vale of soul-making." It is a school wherein wehave much to learn and also habitsand prejudices to unlearn. The leastcompanionable of persons is the onewho has the least acquaintance withpain. "There is no cross like ha vingno cross." As we build muscle by ef-fort frequently exercised, so it is withthe sinews of character and personal-ity. Kites rise against the wind and sodo all of us. Dead fish float down-stream. Only live ones can go againstthe current. To remain alive we mustfight under all circumstances continu-ally.

The Truth About Death

The cross is also the truth aboutdeath. One of the words our Lorduses from the cross is the word "to-day," and another is "paradise." Lifemay terminate today and paradise ismuch closer than we think, for no oneis conscious of the passage of time indeath. What is certain is, that asChrist's cross was succeeded by theresurrection, so it shall be for all ofus. To see Calvary without the emptytomb is like considering our days tobe all darkness. The morning cometh,however dark the night. Winter isfollowed by spring, otherwise all oflife is nonsense. As Emil Brunner as-sures us:

If death means that all isover; if there is nothingmore, then every column in

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this life adds up to the sameresult-zero ... if there wereno eternal life, this life of timewould be without meaning,goal, or purpose, without sig-nificance, without serious-ness, and without joy. Itwould be nothing, for whatends in nothing is itself noth-ing. But our life does not endin nothing, but that eternallife awaits us is the glad mes-sage of Jesus Christ.3Unless we are first clear as to the

meaning of life, why we are here andwhere we are going, for life's sorrowsthere is nei ther sense nor meaning.How you and I think of death makesall the difference to how we live.Only in Christ does human life findmeaning. He did not idly say, "I am... the life," and "I am ... the tru th."He is the truth about all things, in-cluding life and death. If we are to beraised from the dead as he was, wemust live in the spirit that he lived.We were born that we might becomelike him.

But more than that. All the giftsof this life are the result of Christ'scross. It was his volunteering in Edento take man's place and his guilt andpunishment, that saved the race fromextinction there and then. Thus, ev-erything we know that is good-lifeitself, food, drink, the air we breathe,the clothes we wear, our loved onesand friends-all are stamped with thecross of Calvary which bought them.Therefore, we own nothing. We arebut stewards of the gifts of his grace,and all should be used to his glory.To live as though we were our own isto live as atheists and to die as fools.Only the right sort of life prepares forthe right sort of death.

What Christ's Cross Teaches UsAbout How to Live

Christ on the cross spoke of Para-dise, as if to say that life finds itsmeaning in its ultimate objective.Everything must be viewed in thelight of its final condition. And if eter-nallife is the prize, every moment ofthis life has solemnity, and no choiceI make in thought, word, or deed, isinsignificant. A pebble can influencethe change of course of a river, and

one careless choice can turn us awayfrom Paradise. Bousset warns us:

There is nothing in life tobe regarded with indiffer-ence; our destiny, our condi-tion, or our vocation, has nomediocrity. Everything tendsto serve or to ruin usinfallibly.4This reminder, that

each moment and eachchoice has eternal conse-quences for God and forourselves, glorifies thewhole of life. Everythingnow has meaning andvalue. The most humbleactivities have a glory tothem. As Herbert says,"Who sweeps a room asfor thy laws, makes thatand the action fine." Thethought energizes one toever do one's best, know-ing it is never in vain so todo.

Seeing life as a briefprobationary period toprepare for the hereafterplaces all things in rightproportion. The eternaldestiny of myself and all Ican influence should inter-est me more than all thetemporary tinsel of human experi-ence. Christ has suffered that wemight have eternal happiness. Shallwe be so demented as to neglectsomething so valuable?

Such reflections cherished enableus to turn the kaleidoscope ofthought aright. Against the backdropof Calvary and eternity, everything inthis life assumes a new shape. Whenthe cross is engraved in our hearts,beneath its shadow, the pride, thevanity, and folly of many of life'spursuits and values becomes appar-ent. Sensing that flout of the heart arethe issues of life" and rememberinghis crown of thorns, our very imagi-nations will be dedicated to God. Tocrucify vain thoughts of pride, impu-rity, selfish ambition, irritability, andcomplaint becomes a prior concern.In thinking uselessly and aimlesslytime is lost, no less than in speakingthat way. The account we shall ren-der for each shall not be very differ-ent. Furthermore, it is certain that in

choosing my thoughts, I choose myhabits and my destiny. Paul spoke ofthe cross as crucifying him to theworld and the world to him (Gal6:14). In another place he tells us thatonce we understand the meaning ofthe cross we will recognize that be-

cause Christ died as our representa-tive, legally we also died with him,and that therefore our sinful passionshave no right to lord it over us anylonger. The Living Bible translates asection of Romans 6 in the followingmanner:

Should we keep on sin-ning when we don't have to?For sin's power over us wasbroken when we becameChristians and were baptizedto become a part of JesusChrist; Through his death,the power of your old sinfulnature was shattered. Yourold sin-loving nature was bur-ied with him by baptismwhen he died and when Godthe Father with gloriouspower brought him back tolife again, you were given hiswonderful new life to enjoy.

For you have become apart of him, so you died withhim, so to speak, when he

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died; and now you share hisnew life, and shall rise as hedid. Your old evil desireswere nailed to the cross withhim; that part of you thatloves to sin was crushed andfatally wounded so that your

sin-loving body is nolonger under sin'scontrol, no longerneeds to be a slave tosin ... so look uponyour old sin nature asdead and unrespon-sive to sin, and insteadbe alive to God .... 5

According to Scrip-ture, there are three daysbetween me and myoIdlife, between the one res-urrected from spiritualdeath and the one con-trolled by passion andpride. A grave separatesthe Christian from hispast. He is now free toglorify God by loving andchoosing whatever Christloved and chose, disdain-ing and avoiding what-ever Christ rejected. Likehim, we'll be content withlittle and expect to suffermuch. We must seek the

equanimity he showed amidst thepersecutions and mockery of men.Patience, that step-sister among thevirtues, must be seen in her true light,for us to bear calmly the inconsisten-cies of men. As love was the movingprinciple of Christ's actions, all ourworks are to be vivified by love, for itis the life of the heart as surely astruth is the light of the mind.

The PhIlosophy of Trial

First of all, we should see Cal-vary as the climax but not the conclu-sion, in order to know that none ofour troubles are an end in themselvesand nei ther shall they last forever.Our Lord enjoyed fellowship andfeasting on Thursday night. Part ofthat occasion was joyous singing.Then came Gethsemane, the Trials,and Calvary. But Calvary was notthe end. Easter Sunday follows BlackFriday. The glorified body replaces

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(Continued from page 5)the wounded corpse. The mountainof ascension succeeds the valley ofsuffering, a crown of glory replacesthe crown of thorns.

The old platitude "This too shallpass" is ever relevant. An old un-schooled saint at a testimony meetingsaid his favorite verse was, "And itcame to pass." When questioned asto why he esteemed this passage sohighly, he replied, "When troublescome, I say, praise the Lord. Disthing ain't come to stay, but to pass."It is true, troubles are not eternal-they only seem so. As in certain in-clement climates, the natives say: "Ifyou don't like the weather, wait fiveminutes," even so, in climates inclem-ent to the soul. Thomas a Kempis de-clared, "My son, regard not thy feel-ings. For whatsoever they be now,they will shortly be changed into an-other thing." All this was true evenfor Christ.

Christ's sufferings on the crosslasted six hours, then came sleep, fol-lowed by a glorious awakening. We,too, must see the resurrection as asacrament as real as Calvary, testify-ing to sorrow's ultimate fruitfulness.

Second, Christ's cross was bear-able to him because he lived in twoworlds, not just one. Heaven andGod were never absent from theSavior's heart. In his first and lastsaying on the cross, he uses the word,"Father." He knows who he is, heknows his real family, he knows he isnot alone Therefore, he ever inter-preted the present in terms of theknown past and the sure future. Heknew that God attended the funeralof every sparrow and counted thehairs of every man's head. He knewGod had delivered him from Herod'ssoldiers, from Satan in the wildernessof temptation, from that fox, Antipas,from all who sought to take him be-fore his time had corne. In calmnessof soul, as though walking inNazareth's fields on a sunny day, hecould promise Paradise to the peni-tent thief, and make provision for hismother and beloved disciples. Christknew that however unbearable hispain might seem, God would not per-mit him to be tested above that whichhe was able-the One who loved himcontrolled the heat of the furnace and

would ultimately bring him forth asgold.

Third, Christ endured becausehis mind was filled with Scripture.Twice he quoted from Psalms, lead-ing many commentators to think thatin his mind he traced from Psalm 22:1to 31:5. Our Lord's preoccupation,therefore, was not with pain nor fear,but with divine truth which broughttrust, patience, and hope. In har-mony with a spirit that results in faithin the word of God, we find thatChrist had no antagonism towardshis crucifiers. He labored for themeven while on the cross, as he didalso for his mother and John. Becauseof his conscious innocence, even theweight of imputed guilt did not di-vorce him from his Father, to whomhe clung even when exposed to allthe assaults of hell.

In the light of the cross, our trialsand difficulties, our pain and humili-ation should be viewed as so manysteps drawing us closer to heaven.Poverty and humility were Christ'sinseparable companions in life anddeath. Should we seek otherwise?

If life is a school to prepare us forthe company of God, the angels, andthe righteous ones of all ages, shouldwe not see in all events, his servantsministering to our good? To recog-nize in life's crosses (whether they bethe whims, pride, hatred, and folly ofothers, or our own failures), grist forGod's mill and agents for the accom-plishment of his eternal designs oflove, ameliorates the very worst suf-ferings. A cross loved is only half across, because love sweetens and ren-ders alI things easy. A cross em-braced becomes as wings to a birdand sails to a ship.

How different this philosophyfrom the one with which we wereborn! For some reason or other (nodoubt it is our natural selfishness)from the first days of our lives we feelthat the whole universe exists for ourgratification, and that we are the le-gitimate center of alI things. Wemeasure men and things by the ex-tent to which they minister to us orthreaten us. Rarely does anyone stopto question this erroneous approachto living. Instead, it molds us and allour actions and reactions. Calvary,with its pain and shame, is God's

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protest against such folly. What acontrast is the cross to the pomp, os-tentation, splendor, and magnifica-tion of trivia we see in the world!

If the cross is God's hallmark onlife, why are we so slow to read thesignals of our daily experience? Evenwith advancing years we are foolsstill. Impaired health, diminishedstrength, dimming sight, failing hear-ing-aIl frequently fail to tell the pos-sessor that the rapids of death arenearing, and that preparation is im-perative. We forget that we live infrail tents, and that soon our tent willbe taken down, and we will after atime in the grave become that thingwhich has no name in any language.Only the Christian philosophy whichrejoices in the believer's present pos-session of eternal life and heavenlycitizenship can enable any to contendarigh t wi th life's overwhelmingforces of deception, pride, passion,and pain.

In the light of the love displayedon Golgotha, need any believer fearseverity from a hand that has beenpierced for him? Was not Christ tornwith the briars and brambles of ourthorny life in order to make the pathmore smooth for us? Is not the pathbefore us traced wi th his blood andhas not every thorn been moistenedthereby? Will the chalice of sufferingbe so bitter if we remember that be-fore he presented it to us he firstdrank it to the dregs?

For the person whose heart hasbeen touched by the Christ of Calvarythere can only be one attitude to-wards the crosses of life:

Lord, I hate pain, but I trust you.Wound me, if you must, in order to cureme; punish me, if need be, provided thatyou save me at last; but this I especiallyplead, permit me not to crucify theeafresh by neglecting or transgressing thycommandments, nor allow me to strayfrom absolute dependence on thy meritsalone. Help me to know always that thouart love, whatever the "seemings."

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1. Dora Greenwell, Colloquia Crucis(London, 1899),pp. 147-48.

2. The Kingdom of God, p. 279.3. Our Faith, pp. 115,121.4. From a seventeenth-century ser-

mon.