Galatians 2:20 was a formative Scripture for me as I was just starting out my Christian life. In the old Authorized Version it reads, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." I remember memorizing it, but I don't remember thinking deeply upon it. We like the part that speaks about Christ living in us, about his love and sacrifice for us, but I wonder how it escaped me that these soaring words begin with the harsh reality of being crucified with Christ.
How much do I really know about being crucified with Christ? What does that even mean? Elsewhere, Paul speaks of putting the Old Man to death, of dying with Christ in baptism, that we may be raised to new life. Yet the old life often seems very much alive, doesn't it? In ancient times, crucifixion was a ghastly form of torture-death that wasn't even allowed to be used on a Roman citizen. The procedure itself has been vividly portrayed in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," and in numerous scholarly articles readily available online. But none of them touch on the one aspect of crucifixion that Paul hints at here: the utter surrender of oneself (whether voluntary or not) to death. To be crucified means one has lost all power to decide and control one's future. That future is totally in the hands of others who have chosen to degrade and destroy you in the most humiliating of ways. The victim was hung totally naked upon the cross, exposed for all to see.
I don't want to be totally exposed to those around me. We all have secrets we want to keep buried. Yet, before God, all must come to light. Crucifixion means nothing is left to the imagination, and God is allowed to see. The defenses are down, self-determination is surrendered, and we hang helpless.
And still, resurrection awaits. In Colossians 3, Paul says, "[You were] buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."
We were crucified with him, but we were raised. Our sins however, remain judged, remain nailed to the cross. It all hinges on the Cross, and on our willingness to be judged, to with Christ yield control of our future to the Father. Christians in Islamic lands know what that means; we have yet to learn. Surrounded as I am by the visible blessings of God, am I willing to surrender them if God wills? I guess the only way to know for sure would be to be placed in that situation, a prospect I do not relish. In the meantime, I strive to hold onto the visible blessings with a loose grip, that I might hold to the invisible ones more surely. I give thanks for those blessings I recognize as such, and pray for insight to recognize those that come disguised as difficulties, that I might receive them with gladness also.
No comments:
Post a Comment