The Man on the Cross

Dr. Zac Varghese

I was baptised into a faith in a son of man, the man on the cross.

I sucked the faith from my mother’s breast, and the family tree.

A Good Friday preacher made me cry about a man on the cross, My role in his death was clear to me in that passionate sermon.

The Good Friday story is within my life – the man on the cross.

Once, I felt that I shouted for “Barabbas” as part of a crowd. But to think of my guilt, as part of a fall, is a comical excuse; The sign of the cross is part of my gesture for public display.

He died for mankind on Good Friday – the man on the cross. He did not die an ordinary death-the man on the cross. To make certain of his death, his side was pierced.

“Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabathani,” he cried – the son of God.

The agonising cry of this son of man is impossible to forget. Jesus was condemned to a shameful death on the cross. He was humiliated and scourged- the man on the cross. How do I learn the incomprehensible mystery of the cross?

Two planks of wood and three nails did not make the cross. At the heart of the cross was a suffering, but loving God. The ignominy of the cross poses innumerable questions, Questions about the design and heartlessness of the event.

Abraham was asked to take the same road, but stopped. But “God so loved the world and he gave his only son,” “Jesus was put under a wine press and crushed like a grape,”

“Father into your hands I commend my spirits,” he prayed.

Jesus’ arms are spread wide on the wooden cross, As if to embrace the whole world in a gesture of love. His heart, his mind, all is open, open for all mankind. The cross is the costliest gesture of faith, hope and love.

Calvary is not simply a scandal story from the past. The loving sacrifice of Jesus is a reality in the present. And is destined to point to the future, to very eternity. The cross is our ‘V’ sign and on the Easter day parade.

He loved his own and everyone – the man on the cross. And would share his love to the end – the man on the cross. He paid a costly price for our salvation – the man on the cross.

The man on the cross was the son of God – the paschal lamb.

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, There can be but one explanation for the cross, the love A love, which destroys all ‘ego boundaries’ for friendship On Calvary everything speaks of this love and friendship.