the Cross

Two Thieves

Frank

What do your prayers sound like? When the pressures of life are pressing you down, when it feels like there is no hope at all, when there is no other place to turn do you pray, “aren’t you the Messiah? I need to you get me out of this. Save me”? Or instead do you simply pray, “Jesus, remember me”?

I don’t know why, but when I read the account of Jesus on the cross in Luke 23 and reflected on the words of the two thieves crucified with him, I couldn’t help but think of myself. I thought about how I approach God with the attitude, “you created the universe, you can fix this!” as though God owes me something. It convicted me to think of the second thief and his response, “don’t you fear God?” (v 40) as I ask myself the same question. I thought about how Jesus instructed not to pray by rambling on and on and how simple a prayer it is to surrender what I want and just say “Jesus, remember me.” (v 42)

I thought of how God is just and by his grace he saves me from all that I deserve. Yet there are times I deserve what I get. When I make my job the most important thing in my life and am later all stressed out. When I stop being giving to my family and act surprised when my children stop obeying. When I fail to ask the simple request for Jesus to remember me and wonder why life seems so hard. Then the second thief replies, “we are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man [Jesus] has done nothing wrong.” (v 41)

No, Jesus did not deserve to die like he did. And he does not deserve to be treated like a cosmic vending machine, or some strip mall self-help guru. Sure, he can get me off this tree, but I need to be honest and ask myself do I want this for me, or for him?

Lord Jesus, remember me.

Foolishness

Frank
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

This isn’t some self-righteous criticism. I actually really like both of these songs. But you see the truth in the verse above if you browse through the comments on these videos.

First up, A Perfect Circle’s “Judith”. The song is about Maynard James Keenan’s mother, Judith, who suffered a stroke when he was 7 and was confined to a wheelchair the rest of her life. Yet, she remained steadfast in her faith. A sampling of the lyrics:

It’s not like you killed someone
It’s not like you drove a hateful spear into his side
Praise the one who left you broken down and paralyzed
He did it all for you…

Oh so many ways for me to show you how your dogma has abandoned you

Next is the Deftones’ “Change (House of Flies)”. This one is interesting. The video is pretty debaucherous which leads many in the comments section to think it’s about addiction or sex. I don’t think there’s any hidden meaning at all when the lyrics explicitly call out the cross:

I look at the cross
And I look away

The way this song hits me is as someone who is jealous seeing the change in someone after their decision to follow Christ. In my recovery ministry I’ve seen this first hand, where there’s an attitude of “oh, so you’re too good for us now?” It’s part of the victim, savior, persecutor cycle. “I’ve watched you change, like you never…”

The message of the cross is foolishness.