Why the Cross?

   I'm not one to usually blog about things I learn during my personal devotion time, but I scribbled down my musings on a passage of scripture recently and felt the need to write it down somewhere. So, bear with me! :)  
  
   Something that has been nagging at the corner of my mind for awhile is the whole way-Jesus-died issue. Every time I reread the Crucifixion story, I couldn't help but frown and wonder, Of all the ways to die...why the Cross? 
  
   In Mark 15:1-15, Pilate asks the crowd, "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" 

   Obviously, they had many options. They could behead Him. Or poison Him. Or throw Him to the lions. Or stone Him. But they said, "Crucify Him! Hang Him on a tree!"

   Why? Because being hung on a tree, suspended between heaven and earth, rejected by both God and humanity, was a cursed death. Being crucified was the ultimate condemnation because it demonstrated that the criminal was cursed by God.

   At the heart of the cross was the great reversal--the Holy One gave up His life for condemned criminals. In fact, Jesus died thrice condemned.

   Jesus was condemned by both the Jews and the Romans. He claimed to be God, which was the most significant felony for the Jews. He claimed to be King, which was the gravest transgression for the Romans. But Jesus was also condemned by another--God.

   We see this in the way He died. That's what the cross was all about--condemnation. It was a flashing neon sign for all to see that the convict was guilty, guilty, guilty and was now paying for his crime in the worst possible way.

   But here is the part worth getting ridiculously excited over--it doesn't end there!

   The story of Jesus Christ does not end at the Cross!
  
   His death had meaning. He didn't suffer in vain. He died the the ultimate criminal death so that the real criminal--me!--could be saved.

   When He died on the cross, he was punished by the religious establishment, the state, and God. It didn't have to be this way. He did not deserve the condemnation. We did not deserve the grace.

   I do not deserve the grace.

   But Jesus didn't save Himself from the condemnation, and instead saved us and set us free to live a new life.

   That is why the Cross.

   "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1-2