The third response we are to consider this afternoon comes from near the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. There he says, ‘Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.’ And those words lead us on to consider two things; first the paradox of glorying in the cross; and second what Paul means by our being crucified to the world?
So first for the idea of glorying in the cross, or perhaps a more accurate translation would have it as ‘boasting’ in the cross, which sounds even stranger. The original word means to be loud tongued, to boast or pride oneself in something. Paul uses it far more than any other New Testament writer. He uses the word in a variety of contexts. When writing to Jewish converts to Christianity with whom he is in disagreement, he boasts of his own Jewish upbringing and heritage. When writing to defend himself against those who say he is not a proper apostle he boasts of his Christian experience; he can even boast of his sufferings. But every time he uses this word in these contexts he also makes it ironically clear that he doesn’t like speaking in this way – he doesn’t like boasting, it is a pointless way of gaining a point.
To a pagan reader this would all have seemed very strange. He would have seen nothing wrong with boasting. Amour propre was a virtue in the ancient world. To be shamed was their greatest fear. The social reward they sought most was honour, the honour which established worth. They strove to fit in to their class group and social situation and to please significant others by playing the part expected of them. In this way they established for themselves their personal worth. From this we can immediately begin to see how subversive Christianity could be. We have already heard how no respectable Roman could witness, even speak of crucifixion. We can also see how the idea of glorying in the cross or boasting of one’s sufferings would make no sense to them at all. Perhaps ne of the most dismissive comments ever made about early Christianity came from a 2nd century critic who described Christians as being like maggots on a dunghill vying with one another as to who could suffer most.
Why then does Paul boast of, or glory in the cross? His argument with those Christians who had converted from Judaism was about the Jewish law – should rules prescribing what should be eaten, or rules requiring circumcision, still be observed? Paul says no because he thinks that large parts of the Jewish law have been used as a form of self preservation. Just as the Romans pride themselves on their social ranking and personal worth, so Jews have prided themselves on their observance of the rules of Jewishness. Paul sees this as a trait common to all human beings that they need to build up for themselves patterns of self esteem. We need to belong, to fit in, to be reassured by some human measure of attainment that we have made it. Whereas for Paul this human trait hits the buffers in the last week of Jesus’ life. Our methods of self preservation are brought under extreme scrutiny by the cross and seen to be futile. This is not what we were made to be or to do. On the cross such a world whether it be Roman or Jewish or modern is crucified to us – and if can accept it, we are crucified to such a world.
Of course to feel the full force of this we need also to appreciate Paul’s understanding of who Jesus is. For Paul, God is undoubtedly acting in Jesus. In Jesus, God is saving humanity. God in Jesus is reconciling the world to himself. Jesus is as a Son to God. Jesus has existed at all times in God. But when Jesus comes into the world he confounds all expectations by taking the part of a servant or slave. He humbles himself and becomes obedient to death, even death on a cross. Humility as we have seen was not a virtue in the ancient world. And yet this Jesus humbly accepts the most abject and shameful form of dying. Why? Paul has several answers to that question but the one we are considering here concerns human self image making. If God’s representative in the world can die like this then God is placing a great question mark against how we see ourselves.
Are we willing to see that all our self identifications lead us nowhere? Since birth we are always learning. When we succeed in learning something we earn approval, when we fail we are either criticised or encouraged to try harder. At this level we are always being built up by our achievements or brought low by our lack of them. And perhaps for many that remains the pattern of their lives, for many Christians too. And yet Paul is exhorting us to go deeper than that. This pattern of success or failure is only secondary to who we are. And this pattern of perceived success or failure leads to most of what is sinful in our lives. It leads to greed and envy, and judgmentalism, to pride and lust and violence as we struggle to assert ourselves in our own eyes and the eyes of the world. But if we go below that surface, Paul is saying, then there is another way of being human.
The new humanity begins by accepting that the old pattern is brought to nothing by the crucifixion. He who was in the form of God is crucified. And if we identify with him, if we allow the old patterns of self assertion to die, we shall find a new way of being human. We shall find what Scripture calls eternal life.
Eternal life is not simply a mode of living that goes on for ever according to the clock time which governs our lives. Eternal life is a life freed from those fears and desires which lead us to build up a self satisfying and reassuring image of who we are. Eternal life is a life which knows itself dependent on God, gifted by God and reflected in the response of those among whom we live. We are not self made men and women, we are made by God, we come from God, we return to God. All that is good in our lives, all that we can do well, all that we enjoy, is gifted by God. The loving response which we receive from others, the affirmation which others show us is an expression of God’s love. All this is a sign of eternal life. What then happens to the self, what happens to my way of knowing myself if I accept this? From the perspective of eternal life that question has become redundant. It is the kind of question which belies the old anxiety. Elsewhere Paul takes up this theme of being crucified to the old anxiety about self, and says that when this old self has died, our life is hidden with Christ in God. Our true identity is held safe by God – all we have to do is get on with living the blessed and joyful and selfless life of the new community of those whom God has saved from themselves.
In a moment we shall again keep silence together. Can I suggest that in the silence we reflect for a moment on the images we have of ourselves which are important to us. What do we value about ourselves? Some of these images may be accurate – others would agree and like us for these things. Other images may be a little more illusory, things we cling onto, things which we try to assert to make ourselves feel good. But as we identify each image let it go, even though in some instances that may be painful. Nevertheless let all the self images go and take courage from knowing that your surer self lies hidden with Christ in God. Amen