THE CROSS MEANS SUCCESS ACTS 2:22-26

What does this mean? Most people like to understand the meaning of things. They want to know why something works the way it does. For example there are always those children who will tear their toys apart in order to find out what makes that baby doll talk or cry or what makes that car go. As you look around today at the decorations that have been placed by the Decorating Committee for the Lenten season, do you understand what they mean? Look at the window shelves. On each one of them is a large silver cup, a silver tray, some grapes and a flat cracker. Why are they there? What do they mean? What do they represent. For those of us who have Christian training and background, we know that the silver tray and cracker remind us of the unleavened bread that Jesus used the night of the Passover when he instituted the Lord's Supper. He took that bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, "Take and eat this is my body which is given for you." The silver cup and the grapes remind us of the wine that Jesus used that same night. He took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples and said, "Take and drink, this is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me." So throughout this Lenten season as we look at those items on the window shelves we are reminded of the Lord's great love for us as he gives us his body and blood in the blessed sacrament of holy communion for our forgiveness and to strengthen us in our life as Christians. The paraments, the purple cloths on those shelves with the stenciled lamb, cross and blood pouring out from the lamb also are depicted on the banner here in the front of the church. What does that mean? It reminds us of the blood of the Passover Lamb which spared the children of Israel from death when the angel of death passed over the land of Egypt and killed all the first born males of man and animal in those houses where there was no blood on the door frames. The words on the banner remind us of the words of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus, pointed to him and said to his followers, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Here in the front of the church you notice that the white paraments, the cloths on the altar, pulpit and lectern have been removed and we now have purple or violet. Why that color? Because violet is a symbol for sorrow. We are sorry that it was our sins that caused Jesus to come to this earth and to die for us. And right up here in front we have a large cross made from a Christmas tree that once stood in this church at Christmas time. That Christmas tree was once beautifully decorated with lights and ornaments. Now it is a dead tree made into a cross. What's a cross? An instrument such as this was used by the Roman government two thousand years ago to execute murderers, thieves and criminals. Just as some states in our country use electric chairs, lethal injections by needles, a rope to hang a person or a firing squad to execute a convicted criminal, so in Palestine at the beginning of the first millennium, the cross, was the tool that was used by the Romans to carry out capital punishment.

For those of us who have been Christians most of our lives we understand the meaning of the cross. But what would you think of someone who went around wearing a small electric chair around their neck as a piece of jewelry? You would think that person strange wouldn't you. Then why do we who call Jesus of Nazareth, our Savior and God, wear the instrument that was used to execute him around our necks? Why do we put this tool of torture as an ornament on our walls. Why do we place it in our churches? During the next six weeks of the Lenten season as we recall the last events of Jesus' life and death, we want to focus our attention and thoughts on the meaning of the cross in our lives. Why is this agent of execution and torture play such and important part in our lives as Christians? Why do we make the sign of the cross? Why when we baptize a child do we make the sign of the cross over that child? Why when we leave every service of worship and praise does the pastor make the sign of the cross? What is the meaning of the cross of Christ? This evening as we begin our study of the meaning of the cross on the basis of events taken from the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we focus on this truth - THE CROSS MEANS SUCCESS! As we examine a portion of the Apostle Peter's sermon which he delivered on Pentecost, which we just heard and saw, we are reminded that I) The Cross Appeared To Sound Jesus' Defeat. However, everything is not always as it appears. Peter announces that II) The Cross Means Victory For Us.

THE CROSS APPEARED TO SOUND JESUS' DEFEAT

Have you ever been on an athletic team that had a winning streak and then at the end of the season, when everything was at stake to enter the state tournament, you went down to defeat? How did you feel? Or perhaps you were running for a governmental office or you were on the campaign committee of someone running for office. If your candidate won in the primary, you were thrilled, but if he or she lost in the final election, there was no victory party. There was a feeling of defeat and failure.

We saw that happen here in Wisconsin several weeks ago. For the past two years the month of January was really exciting. Even though we were in the doldrums of winter, there was a lot of excitement, celebrating and partying. The Green Bay Packers were going to the Super Bowl. The news casts almost every night at little else to report than what was happening to the Packers. The newspapers had article after article about the team and the game. But what about this year. You hardly knew there was a Super Bowl. All the media hype and attention now was focused in Denver and Atlanta. How quickly a loss can bring a team down from its pinnacle of success and praise. You see it in our own community's high school basketball program. For several years we had teams that went consistently to the State Tournament. This year we have a team that is in the basement of its conference. There's not much talk, not much print about that team, even though they have a very talented player.

Now think about what happened to Jesus Christ. He appeared to be riding the pinnacle of success too. Crowds were attracted to him. He was healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, making the paralyzed walk. Just a few days before he was welcomed into Jerusalem as a conquering king, he had raised a man who had been dead for four days back to life. His preaching drew great crowds. His popularity was soaring. The people were behind him. But not the religious leaders of Israel. They hated him. They felt threatened by him. They devised a plan to get rid of him. And that's exactly what they did. They got the people to turn against Jesus. they pressured the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to sign Jesus' death warrant. From a conquering hero to a hated prophet who was finally put to death like a common criminal

Think how Jesus' disciples must have felt. They thought Jesus was going to deliver the people of Israel. Now he's dead. Just think of what the natural death of a loved one does to us. Then think of what the unexpected and terrible death of Jesus did to his followers. They thought that Jesus' mission had been a failure. All their hopes and dreams had been crushed by that terrible cross. For them the cross was a symbol of defeat and failure. The cross meant to them that the enemies of Jesus and the devil had won. Their Lord and master had gone down to defeat just at a time when it appeared that all was going for him.

THE CROSS MEANS VICTORY

But everything is not always as it appears. That's the message that Peter delivered on Pentecost and its the message he brings to us on this Ash Wednesday 1999. Peter reminds us that Jesus' death on the cross was all part of God's plan to rescue the human race. Peter said, "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." (Acts 2:23) This is what God had wanted down. It was God's plan and will that Jesus, his only Son, should be executed on a cross. The cross was the instrument that God had planned to be used as the tool to execute the Savior. It was while Jesus was on that Roman instrument of torture that God forsook his only Son and allowed him to experience the torture and pains of hell, the punishment that we all deserve for our own sins. Jesus' death on the cross was not the end. It was the beginning of a great victory over the devil and sin.

Peter goes on to remind us that Jesus was not defeated by that cross. Thousands of people before Jesus had been executed in a similar manner on crosses. They died and they were gone and forgotten forever. But not Jesus of Nazareth. He was different. Listen to Peter's words, "But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him." (Acts 2:24) Jesus was placed in a grave shortly after his death that Friday afternoon. But the grave could not hold him in. God raised him back to life. Jesus came out alive. God was saying by Jesus' resurrection that his justice and anger had been satisfied. Just as when a prisoner is released from prison after serving his time, he is free and his debt to society has been paid, so Jesus' resurrection to life assures us that our debt to God has been paid in full. That which had separated us from our heavenly Father had been taken care of. The road to paradise has been rebuilt and resurfaced and opened wide for all of us to travel on our way to heaven. That empty cross standing before us reminds us of success. Jesus was successful in defeating sin, death and the devil.

Jesus' victory means success for us. As Peter says quoting the words of King David, ""I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, " (Acts 2:25-26)

The Lord is at our right hand. As David once wrote, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4) The living Lord Jesus is always there for us. He walks by our side everyday of our life. We are never alone. Not only does he stay with us, he also washes our sins away. Day after day we sin over and over again. We fail to do the good God commands us to do. We continue to do the evil the Lord commands us not to do. We all have a basically self-centered nature which is evil and corrupt. And yet our living Savior says, "Cheer up! Your sins are forgiven." (Matthew 9:2) The empty cross, that cross of supposed defeat but really of triumph and victory, along with the empty grave assures us of pardon and peace with God.

Peter concludes by saying that our body also lives in hope. As we get older the bodies that we have begin to wear out. They become crippled with arthritis. They don't have the stamina that we had in our youth. Our eye sight begins to fail, our hearing fades, our joints ache. Yet we still live in hope. Now this hope is not some pie in the sky dream that may or may not come true. This hope is a certainty. Our bodies will rise from our graves just as Jesus did. And we will be freed from sin and its corrupting influences which cause us to decay and fall apart. We will be holy and perfect. We will rise from the dead.

The cross. What does it mean? The cross was a Roman instrument for torture and execution. But for us, the followers of Jesus Christ, the cross means success. It means that our sins have been paid for. We will not be punished eternally for our sinfulness and our wrongs. The cross means that death and hell have been defeated and we now live with the certainty of eternal life and the resurrection of our own bodies at the end of time.

Amen