Near the cross? SRO—Standing Room Only

olinfregia
Jul 18
4 min read

We wear it in our noses, belly buttons, toes, around our necks, and in our ears. If it can’t be pierced in, then it’s tattooed and glued on. We burn it out of hate. We kneel at altars to it out of love. From Madonna to Mother Teresa, Tupoc to 50 Cent, rock stars and religious “whose-who”, to the greatest-of-all-time athletes who sport it at press conferences and clinch it in their teeth as they run triumphantly down the World Cup football pitch—it’s a part of their wardrobe and uniform. It can be iced up or carved in the side of your head. It’s in art and architecture. It is near as your pew. What is it? You’re looking right at it—the cross. The cross is ubiquitous, everywhere. The cross is near you, but are you near the Cross?

That depends on what it means to you. To some, it’s just fashion. To some, it’s a symbol of faith. To Christianity, it is at the center of discipleship according to Christ in the gospel of Luke:

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:25

For the writer of the gospel of Mark (Mk 15:33-41), the “cross” is the climax of the story of Christ, the Son of God. If you’re going to follow this 33-year-old Middle Eastern carpenter, the cross you carry daily should be near the cross He carried once for all. That cross was near rejection, acceptance and service.

Rejection is near the cross according to verses Mark 15:33-36. There are two rejections at the cross: God rejects sin, and sinners reject God. Jesus is in the last six hours of his 26,280 hours on earth. These final hours will be the darkest. The sun’s light was blocked by the clouds. The S.O.N. was blocked to the Father by S.I.N. for the salvation of man. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made Christ who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He was thus rejected by God, so that we would not be. He cries out: Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachtani, translated: My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me.

If you’re going to take up your cross, to be near the cross, you will carry rejection. God will reject your sin, but not you. If you’re a thief will reject your stealing ways, but not you. If you’re a hater of your brother, He will reject that hate and your mistreatment of the least among you. He sees it as a mistreatment of Him. He rejects that. So must you. Reject hate.

With that nearness to the cross rejection will carry with it, rejection by the world who loves hate. They rejected Christ and His love, and He warns that world will reject you, who loves your brother. Expect their rejection, but love even more, to be near the real cross.

Nearness to the cross also means acceptance according to verses 37-39. There are two. The blood sacrifice of Christ was accepted by God at the cross. We see that acceptance at the temple in verse 38. As He takes his last breath, the next moment the curtain in the temple that separated the holy of holies from the temple, where only the high priest was allowed in to make a once-a-year atonement for the sins of the people, was torn from top to bottom. According to Hebrews 9, Christ entered the holy of holies as the supreme High Priest because His blood was accepted as payment for our sins, once and for all. His body became the new veil that allows us to be nearer to God because Christ was near the cross.

Not only did God accept Christ as the cross, but He also accepted all sinners who make the confession like that of the centurion who had a hand in killing him who said at the foot of the cross: Truly this must be the Son the Son of God.

Your nearness to the cross means you accept God’s acceptance of you through the only acceptable way—the work of Christ of the cross. You can’t live good enough. You can’t pray hard enough. You can’t read enough books. He is the way, the truth, the life. No one, according to John 14:6 comes to the father except by him. Accept it.

Lastly, nearness to the cross carries service with it according to verses 40-41. We see that service in a band of women, though afar off in society, were near the heart of the Christ of the cross—ministry to other. These women were with Jesus in Galilee as he ministered. They were there when he raised the dead, delivered the possessed, cleansed lepers and opened blind eyes. They ministered to him as he ministered to the region. And now that he was gone, they were there to minister to him. So must you.

The cross is the symbol of service, not style. It is stylish to be waited on, but it is nearer the cross to serve others. Christ’s heart was enunciated clearly in Mark 10:45: …the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. And who do you serve? A final judgment will be made on how you treated the least according to Matthew 25:39-40:

39When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40"The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

There are no stools near the cross; no place to sit, only SRO—standing room only— a place to serve Him and the widow, the orphan and the alien. You have to decide if being near the cross is the place where you find, not just rejection, acceptance and ministry, but a relationship with the One nailed on it. Blind hymn writer Fannie Crosby never saw a physical, fashionable cross, but she found Christ who first saw her and found a place for her—and for all who believe in the cross—a Person of eternal rest: