The Tragedy of the Empty Cross
The tragedy of the empty cross is that we quickly forget the magnitude of our sin and the price which was paid upon it. Our modern (protestant) churches are adorned with Jesusless crosses which come in all types of styles from discreet wooden inlays to crosses with radiant backlighting depicting, I presume, the resurrection. You can purchase them with just about every accessory imaginable: purple robes, crowns of thorns, stained glass… and yes, even Christmas lights complete with synchronized light shows and fiber optic highlights. Everything that is, except for Jesus.
Before I go any further, you should know that I do not think it is wrong for a church to use an empty cross. The empty cross is a symbol of the resurrected Jesus (albeit not as adequate a symbol as an empty tomb) and that is something which Protestantism has rightfully emphasized. However, we miss something important when we take Christ off the cross. We miss the horror and the bloodiness of crucifixion. We miss that constant reminder that our sin is serious business and that Christ bore an awful price to liberate us from it. In the end we lose a deep sense of disgust and proper perspective of our sin. The Lamb of God becomes a cute fuzzy farm animal rather than a bloody substitution for our sin.
The Catholic Church has long used the crucifix as their symbol of choice when depicting the cross. The crucifix is simply a cross with the body of Christ (or Corpus) hanging from it. Contrary to what many Protestant Christians may have been taught, the Catholic Church does believe that Christ has been raised from the dead. They choose to use the crucifix because it is a reminder of the cost of our sin, and it draws them into the mystery of suffering. The mystery of suffering is that when our suffering is united with Christ’s, we find redemption. This is a profound mystery to which Protestant Christians rarely give proper consideration.
Now, at this point I feel that I must interject another disclaimer. For the record . . . I am not converting to Catholicism. I believe that the Protestant church has rightly divided the word of truth when it comes to the essential doctrines of the faith. However, I do believe that we have a lot to learn from our Catholic brothers and sisters and that there are some things which they just have more right than we do. Like it or not, the Catholic Church does a better job at emphasizing the cost of discipleship. You would be hard pressed to find a Catholic church which teaches the tenants of cheap grace; conversely, you don’t have to look very far before you find massive movements within the Protestant church which promote easy believism and Free Grace Theology.
In the end, I believe that protestant churches should retain a symbol of the resurrected Christ, but I am not convinced that the empty cross is the best way to do that. Modern protestant churches have shied away from preaching “Christ crucified” as Paul proclaimed in his letter to the Corinthian church. The crucified God has been replaced with a God who does not demand a high price for sin. The cross is no longer a symbol of shame (as it rightfully should be) but has become a symbol of our shamelessness.
Sin is no longer preached from the pulpit as it once was; and the result is that nobody wants to be purified. We are content to merely bear the name of Christ all the while continuing to live as slaves to the very sin from which He liberated us. We desperately need a symbol to remind us of the cost of our sin; and that symbol very well may be the bloody and beaten corpus which we find on the crucifix. More than ever before, we have forgotten the price that was paid for our sin, and as a result have become just like the world around us. Revival is impossible in this environment. We must first admit that we are pitiful sinners and only then can we do the unthinkable and cling to the bloody cross of Christ.
I don’t want to end this post on that note because it sounds rather hopeless. The truth is, God is moving in the hearts of His people at this very moment. He has reserved a remnant for Himself and out of them he is raising a vast army of committed people who have counted the cost and who have decided to engage in the battle. I know this because I see this vast army all around me. I see them every Sunday night at our prayer service and I see them being mobilized by the great generals who teach us every Sunday morning. It is they who are able to see Christ crucified even on the empty crosses; but how much more would that cross mean to us if just once, we were able to gaze upon the cross and see the horror that it truly is.
Hello Aaron. As always, this is a well written editorial which I will give serious cosideration to. I’m not sure that I can ever worship with a crucifix in the same room. Maybe that is a result of my reformed background. We reformed kind are admitedly suspicious of catholics. Who wouldn’t be suspicious of a religion that rejects the five beautiful points of calvinism?
Seriously though, the reasons that I have been taught for using a bare cross is that we believe that Jesus is no longer in the cross and also to prevent idolotry because people might start worshipping the image of Jesus rather than the real Jesus. I supppose if these two points can be proven false then I would have to admit that the crucifix is a pretty good worship aid.
Nice dog by the way!
Thanks! We all really like him.
You make some good points Ryan. I forgot about the idolatry argument. It was one of the major reasons cited by the reformers for banning the crucifix. In fact, I do believe that they banned all types of ornate crosses and images. Image worship was seen as a big threat. I personally don’t think that this would be an issue today. I think most people understand that the crucifix is a representation of Christ on the cross and that it is not really Him.
Suppose you entered a church and saw a depiction Christ on the cross. Would you start worshipping the little man on the little cross? I don’t think that would be your reaction. You might react with mistrust, or maybe even condemn the practice, but I think the last thing that you would do is to start worshipping it.
I don’t know bout ya’ll but I get the heebie jeebies whenever I see one. I mean, if this stuff about him is all tru then I’m seriously screwed. I don’t like seeing the cruxifix cause it does remind me of sin like you said. I flip flop from feeling scared to discusted when i see it. Sometimes it is a feeling like who the hell are u 2 judge me and then once I think that I start 2 freak out like he is gonna come down off the thing and take me strait to hell for even thinking that. Worhsip is the last thing I think of. You know. Just my opinion. So besides that crap Im doin good. Got a new job as a bouncer at a bar. Well kind of a bar. The kind with dancers. I love my life!
Randy! How are you buddy? Do you really look at the crucifix and ask Jesus what right He has to judge you? That’s pretty brazen. I understand why you get the “heebie jeebies” if you are finding yourself talking to God in that manner. Why don’t you stop by the office one of these days and we can grab a hot dog for lunch or something?
Im good man. Livin’ Large! I’ve been reading a lot of Oscar Wilde. Know him? Im thinking of changing my avatar to his portrait. You know the one with the long hair where he’s sitting down with his cane. My fav quote from him is that a man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her. Ha ha! So yeah. Hey what’s up with Serena man? Shes like not answering my emails and shes all christian and stuff. Her old roomie said that she doesn’t drink anymore and is like always prayin and being happy and washing ppls feet. Man did U do that jedi mind trick thing on her where ur always gettin’ me confused about what I say and make what u say sound like the truth? Man. ur stealthy my friend! But yeah to answer ur question I do think that. Lately I find myself thinking that hes gonna kill me right on the spot and I hear myself say to him “you wouldn’t dare!” so one day I just got fed up with the guilt and said to him “I dare ya to take me out right now” and nothing happend. So I decided right then that if no one heard me then no one is there. So I went out to get drunk at a “bar” I mean why not do that when u just find out that god isn’t there,and saw a help wanted poster and was like “man I think I can dance better than that girl” but the manager was like “no man. You don’t dance. You just stand here and make sure no one touches the girls when they dance” so I was like “dude ur gonna pay me to watch these girls all day” and he said yeah so ive been there ever since. Yeah man. Lets catch a dog sometime next week. And stop prayin for me man. I know u are! It makes me feel all guillty and such. Hasta bro!
Randy the reason why God did not strike you dead is not because he was not listening or wasn’t there. I think he was listening and I think it breaks his heart like it breaks mine. Your response proves Aaron’s point. Seeing Jesus on the cross makes us think of the price that he paid. If you can’t see the price then you start to think that it doesn’t cost you anything. Jesus on the cross reminds us of that price and what it should cost us. It should make us want to take up our own cross and follow him. I was reading Psalms 103 today and it fits perfectly with why I think God didn’t take you up on your challenge. God is listening but he is not dealing with your sin because he wants you to find him. He is slow to get angry. It’s obvious that you are going to need a long time to find him. I would have smited you for that stupid oscar Wild quote alone. But not God. He is giving you lots of chances.
Aaron, I just happened across this post this morning while searching for information on the use of the crucifix in a protestant service. I pastor a large Methodist church in Atlanta and we started using the crucifix a year ago for the same reasons you wrote about. I believe it was the single best change which we have made to our service in our 120 year history. At first we had a lot of members get upset about it. Some even left. But we stuck to our guns because we believed that God had led us to the decision. God had his son die on a cross for a reason so we don’t have the right to display the cross without him on it. You mention that we preach Christ crucified and you are correct. Our congregation is now experiencing a revival like never before. We see true and genuine repentance every week because we see the bloodied cross before us. To take away the horror is to display the cross as God did not intend. God bless you. I have bookmarked you site and will come back.
Bradley thank you for your wonderful testimony. I’ve been thinking more and more about this topic and the more I think about it the more I am convinced that one of the things which we desperately need to to see Christ on the cross again. We must come to see him as our Korban Pesach- our paschal lamb. It is His blood over the doorpost of our hearts which will allow death to pass-over us on judgement day… we need to come face to face with the cost of our salvation. I will pray for your church and for your ministry.