Holy Week - Friday

Mark 15:21-27  A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)  And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”  Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

As we think about Jesus being crucified we can think about the symbolism of the two portions of the cross.  One vertical post that was placed in the ground and reached towards the heavens.  The crucifixion of Jesus impacts our vertical relationship with God. Jesus described it as a new covenant between God and humanity.  Through the forgiveness of our sins by the cross we have gained access to the presence of God.  

The cross also had a horizontal post which held the arms of Jesus.  The crucifixion also impacts our lives horizontally.  Because we live in a new covenant with God we can live differently in our relationships to each other.  There is a bond in the body of Christ that is cross empowered.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote if we are struggling with a fellow Christian we should pray that God would help us picture them at the "foot of the cross." We are all equally in need and we all look the same at the foot of the cross. 

We must continually look to the cross to impact our lives both vertically and horizontally!