The Cross; a worldwide symbol of the Christian faith and an
icon to the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ for all humanity, but what does it
mean in the post-modern world? It has become something of a fashion icon for
the secular world, or possibly as a new way of expressing one’s faith in Christ
for the fashion conscious believer, but is this ever appropriate?
The first question that we must ask is what does the cross
mean? The cross is Christ becoming part of man’s history, when Jesus dies on
the cross he is the Word of God becoming a reality. Furthermore it is the point
at which God himself dies, as Bonhoeffer would put it: Jesus experiences total
humiliation and faces rejection by God. “Death on the
cross means to suffer and to die as one rejected and cast out.” (Cost of
Discipleship) Bonhoeffer would agree that every disciple of Christ has their
own cross to bear “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and
take up their cross and follow me.” – Matthew (16:24) so what is the cross, is
it suffering, rejection and death? Or is it hope, power and Christ’s victory
embedded in history? It is all these things and more.
If the Cross is such a powerful symbol then it seems little
short of heresy and blaspheming to wear it in such a casual manner, unless one
is particularly committed to its symbolism as God’s victory, but in this way
one’s actions must reflect their statement. There are of course those who
understand that by wearing the cross they are making themselves a part of the
visible community of the Church and of Jesus Christ, but these people are aware
that their only judge is Christ. The more likely reason is that the
post-Enlightened peoples are rebelling against religion’s established order;
they wear it as an ironic statement so that when questioned “Are you a
Christian?” They may proudly announce “No, I am not!” In defiance of God
himself.
To rebel against religion is nothing new, so their
insubordination is not quite as powerful as they may think. Some part of me
says this is a good thing, we are fulfilling Nietzsche’s prophesy of new value
in a secular world and rising up above mere
religion, but I don’t feel humans are quite there yet, by even acknowledging the
icon of the Cross we are admitting something about Christianity so we have not truly
transcended it. Some might say that in the spirit of post-modernism they simply
do-away with the symbolism of the Cross and have it instead as a shape, but I
reject this notion, no-one walks around with SS earrings or a jumper anointed
with swastikas so there must be some part that considers the symbol before they
wear it. These people are quick to forget that the Crusaders marched under the
same banner.
In conclusion society as a whole no longer needs God, this
is obvious, but to rid ourselves of Christ in such a lethargic manner as to
cause us to forget any notion of its true meaning, this is the worst form of
cheap grace, it would be better for us to have bibles destroyed and Churches
burned down rather than to face the slow decent into memory by a world that
doesn't care, in this way, Christ has died a second time.
“The Cross is not random suffering, but necessary suffering.
The Cross is not suffering that stems from natural existence; it is the
suffering that comes from being Christian.” – Bonhoeffer (Cost of Discipleship)
