Of all religious symbols I think it is fair to say that the most familiar and perhaps most popular is the cross. Christians are baptised with the sign of the cross. They begin their prayer with the sign of the cross. The cross is hung in church buildings and religious institutions. It is placed on top of monuments and displayed in many of our homes. It is even worn as a piece of jewellery around the neck and in the form of a broch.
So why does the cross have such significance for us? “This thing called love,” to quote the words of a well-known song by the late Johnny Cash. For Christians the cross is above all a symbol of love. It is the symbol of the love we all hunger for, desire and need.
We cannot separate the cross from love. The cross makes no sense apart from love. Jesus changed the cross from a symbol of failure and death to a symbol of victory and hope by his radical love. Jesus lived by the ‘rule’ of love and he died in fidelity to this love.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). These are perhaps the most quoted words of scripture, displayed in all sorts of places and for all sorts of gatherings. The greatest and most powerful revelation of God’s love was the death of his own beloved Son on the cross. The cross is the symbol of the unconditional love that God has for each and every human person. As we gaze at the cross how could we doubt that we are infinitely loved, how could we refuse to accept that we are cherished, precious, valued? Through the symbol of the cross God says to each one of us, “I love you.”
Unconditional love is the greatest power in the world. It has the power to motivate, to liberate, to heal, to transform. It even has the power to change death into life. The power of the cross is the power of unconditional love. This is why Jesus said, “When I am lifted up on the cross I will draw all people to myself” (John 12: 32). It is why the followers of Jesus continue to find hope and comfort in the cross. And it is why the cross will always be the most used and most popular religious symbol of all.
Lord Jesus, each time I bless myself with the sign of the cross may I remember that you love me personally, affectionately and unconditionally. Amen.