The Cross No One Wants To See
Robert C. Morgan in his book Lift High The Cross, tells about an unusual cross that stood one Lenten season in Dallas on the lawn of a local church. The cross, which was more than ten feet high, stirred a great deal of controversy within the congregation as well as throughout the city. Pictures of it were carried by newspapers across the country and by many television stations.
This ugly cross was made of weapons of crime and violence, most of which has been confiscated by Dallas police. There were guns and pistols and knives and bayonets and bullets and bombs and broken bottles. The cross rose out of the remains of an automobile that had been smashed almost flat in a traffic accident. The base of the cross was surrounded by barbed-wire entanglements like those surrounding a prison. It was not easy to look upon this cross of violence, and many people hated the sight of it.
There were several petitions to have it removed. There were cries that the ugly cross was a sacrilege and a desecration. One pastor commented, “The reaction was understandable, for we do not like to see and be reminded of the suffering of God for our sin.” The cross no one wanted to see! What cross are people seeing in our preaching? Do they see a cross at all? Is the cross being rendered void? What say ye?
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.
But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14
