On my walk to work last year on Good Friday I took a shortcut through the cemetery, as I often do. As you look at the tombstones in this cemetery the most common image or symbol you see is the symbol of the cross. I would say that a good 85-90% had crosses on them.
It’s a bit odd at first thought. Why would a symbol of one of the most horrible forms of execution in human history be adorning people’s graves? Couldn’t we use a different Biblical image for our tombstones, maybe an image of the Tree of Life or something? Wouldn’t that be a more hope giving symbol for those loved ones that come to visit these gravesites?
The symbol of the cross adorning these tombs is only odd until you understand the meaning of the cross of Christ, and until you understand how Jesus’ death on the cross is relevant to your own mortality. You are going to die. This is the inescapable reality that we all must face.
We must remember though that death is not natural. It is God’s curse on this world due to the sin of our first parents (Genesis 3). This is not the way God made the world to be. Our first parents had the opportunity to eat freely of the tree of life, instead they chose to reject God’s way and seek their own. Since then, the great human endeavor is to seek to regain access to the tree of life, from the tower of Babel, to utopian socialism, from enlightenment rationalism to the current diet and weigh-loss fads. Any way of life that doesn’t try to solve the death problem usually just encourages means of distraction from the reality of death.
The message of the cross though is that God has made access available to the tree of life again. Tim Keller puts it this way:
“Why can we have the tree of life? Because Jesus Christ climbed the cross, the tree of death. And because Jesus climbed the tree of death you can have the tree of life.”
In other words, Jesus lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died so that we can now be restored to an edenic fellowship with God, and can have access to life. Or as the Bible puts it:
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18)
Jesus’ death on the tree is the gift of God to reconcile rebellious human beings to himself. When you die, you will stand before God’s judgment seat. If you put all your trust in the cross of Christ there is no need to fear that moment. Though God’s justice demands eternal punishment for us all, Christ took that punishment on himself on the cross. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ (Galatians 3:13)”
We see now why the cross, this symbol of execution, is adorning these tombs. Jesus’ death is directly related to our death. I wonder how many of the 85-90% with crosses emblazoned on their tombs understood the cross during their life? I wonder how many of them wore the cross not only on their necks, but also had it emblazoned in their hearts? I wonder how many of them realized how much they personally needed to trust in Jesus’ death on the cross? Ironically, and even more sadly, if they didn’t realize it during their life, they know now.
This post first appeared at lifereformation.org
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
