"And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed."
1 Peter 2:24
The news broadcast concluded one evening with an interview with a prostitute. She wore heavy make-up and a short skirt. She was smug and coy as she brushed off the questions of the TV reporter. When the reporter noticed a gold cross on a chain around her neck, the questions took a turn she hadn't thought about.
"I see you have a cross on your necklace," he began. "Are you a religious person?" The second TV camera quickly zoomed in on the little gold cross.
"Oh, no! I'm not religious at all!"
"Well, why do you wear the cross?" There was silence as her eyes looked toward the ground. She spoke softly. "I used to be religious when I was a kid, but I got away from all that."
Does a person ever escape the shadow of the cross? Whether professional, executive, laborer, or a street person, can we really escape the shadow that fell from a Roman cross as Jesus Christ was lifted between heaven and earth.
George MacLeod of Scotland wrote: "I simply argue that the cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church.... Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town's garbage heap; at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek... where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble.... That is where He died. And that is what He died for.... That is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about."
Jesus took your place and mine at Calvary; He died on our behalf so that we could be adopted into the family of God. Our heavenly Father accepted His sacrifice for us.
"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed" (Isa. 53:5).
This, friend, is the very heart of the Gospel.
Source: Today can be Different by Dr. Harold J. Sala
