Once, a friend asked me “Why do we have the crucifix? In the crucifix, you see a suffering and wounded God. Why do we promote misery? I rather see a triumphant and risen Christ than one who is defeated.” My friend's experience is not far from our experience as we gaze upon a crucifix.
It displays Christ enthroned on the cross, adorned with a crown of thorns, with hands and feet firmly nailed to its woods, sweat and blood running from Christ head to toe. We see a dying, if not a dead Christ. Other Catholic would not dare to look at it and changed the dying Christ with an image of a risen Christ.
But does the crucifix exalts death and suffering? As we gaze upon the dead body of Christ, do we simply see a failed cause? If the crucifix promotes brutality and defeats against the evils of this world, then the Catholic faith does too, for the crucifix is the symbol of our Catholic faith for thousands of years. The truth is far from it.
More than defeat, the crucifix is our sure symbol of God’s triumph over death and sin, over pride and anger; the exaltation of God’s love for man. In a crucifix, we see and experience our God who emptied Himself and took the form of a slave; a form of a criminal who suffered the consequences of sins man committed. Christ crucified on the cross manifests the extent of the love of God for man; a love that is willing to do everything for the beloved, even shedding His very own life that man may live.
As man was tainted by sin and death through Adam’s disobedience and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so man regained grace and eternal life through the obedience of the new Adam (Christ) and the tree of the cross. By obediently accepting death, death on the cross, Christ atoned for us and gifted us eternal life. Seen from this perspective, a crucifix ceases to be a symbol of suffering and defeatism, but the triumph of God’s love.
The crucifix is prominently displayed in our churches for a purpose. The crucifix reminds us of the fact that God never abandons us. In our sufferings due to sin, and daily toils of life, God accompanies us. God is with us as we carry our cross. A cross devoid of the image of a crucified Christ is deduced as an instrument of punishment of cruel death. A cross with the crucified Christ is a fitting remembrance of God who suffered and is suffering with us and for us. Through the crucifix, we experience not a distant God, but God who is among us; God who never forsakes us. As we carry our life crosses with Christ, we can be assured that no matter how heavy these crosses are; however painful our sufferings are, they are bearable for they become meaningful through Christ’s abiding presence. With Christ in our struggles, our crosses are means towards a triumphant end; resurrection and eternal life. But when we carry our life crosses by ourselves alone, without Christ, they become punishments to us; meaningless chores and obligations whose immediate end we wish for. The cross is meaningful because Christ embraced it.
Do not remove Christ from the cross. Let Christ’s presence grace too the life crosses you carry. Embrace your life cross with Christ. Carry your life cross with Christ. It will become your crucifix that will bring you to your glorious resurrection.
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