A Cosmic Cross

Bread and Wine Reading: "A Cosmic Cross", Paul Tillich

Scripture Reading: Matthew 27: 50-54
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’

We read this account of Jesus’ last breath with all the drama it deserves. With that single breath, all of nature, all of Creation seemed to move uncontrollably, as if the very foundations were sliding from beneath our feet. Tillich points out the notion that Jesus’ death is inextricably connected to nature and a series of events in nature: “Darkness covers the land; the curtain temple is torn in two; the earth is shaken and the bodies of the saint rise out of their graves. Nature,” he says, “with trembling, participates in the decisive event of history…Nature is in an uproar because something is happening which concerns the universe.”

We Christians tend to remember the Cross as our own salvation, as the crossroads at which our human sins were forgiven and life continued on into the eternal. We hang tightly to the idea of the human Christ bearing the cross for us, the sinful human creatures that never really seemed to get it right. And yet…the earth shook, the rocks split, earthquakes, winds, tearing, opening, darkness…all of Creation that since the beginning of time had been moving and growing to this…the whole of Creation now stops in its tracks and with a painful groan moved its very foundation into something beyond who she was. The Cross is not just about us; the Cross is about the whole of Creation as she moves toward reconciliation—Creation with the Creator.

Tillich says that “since the hour when Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the rocks were split, the earth ceased to be the foundation of what we build on her. Only insofar as it has a deeper ground can it stand; only insofar as it is rooted in the same foundation in which the cross is rooted can it last.” The entire universe, all of Creation, all of nature, once rooted in the very laws of itself and its own doing are now swept up and rooted in the laws and vision of God. We forget that. We forget that we are not the center of the universe. We forget that God exists all around us. And that we, made in the image of the Creator, are called to be a part of that change—not just a change in ourselves, not just a change in how we live or how do things—but the transformation of all of Creation.

The Cross began the change in which we and all of Creation participate. And, as part of the whole, we still groan in pain as we move toward the full transformation. Change is hard; change is painful; but change is life abundant. No longer are we the changeless ones standing by the cross with heroic admiration for our Christ as he opens the door to our eternal lives. We are instead swept up into the transformation of time and space and all of Creation. As Tillich says, “since this moment the universe is no longer what it was; nature has received another meaning; history is transformed and you and I are no more, and should not be anymore, what we were before."

1.) What image of the Crucifixion does this present for you? What image of the Resurrection does it present?
2.) What does this cosmic view of the Crucifixion say within your own faith understanding of your salvation?
3.) If we are truly not “what we were before”, what does that new image look like?

So go forth toward the Cross, and receive another meaning!

Grace and Peace,

ShelliDiscussion Questions: