The true way of the cross is not the way of despair, resignation, or disappointment. It is, in fact, the way to find one’s true self “resurrected”—the way to put on the new man or woman as the spiritual reflection of God.
For many Christians, as the Easter season approaches, religious sentiment may sometimes be drawn first to sadness and despair. Even Jesus’ disciples surely felt this as he struggled on the way to Golgotha with the burden of carrying his own heavy cross. The awful sentence of death that had been imposed on Jesus by the Roman authorities weighed on the hearts of all his followers who witnessed the event that day. Yet, because we know the whole account of what occurred more than two thousand years ago, any sense of defeat that might accompany the crucifixion story never has to carry the day. Easter is actually a time for the Christian’s rejoicing—even for the greatest of hope and glory.
Jesus’ “last day” on the cross clearly was not the end of his story, not even on earth. Sin, hatred, and the world’s rejection of the Master’s God-ordained mission, would not and could not triumph over purity, love, and the healing power of divine Truth. There was to be a great victory in Jesus’ resurrection and then finally in his ascension. Jesus would prove that his real life—the life of God’s man reflecting the eternal, almighty nature and grace of the Creator—could never actually be destroyed.
