We Shall Overcome

Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow me!" What did he mean by this? The more Jesus identified with the poor and downtrodden, the tighter the noose became around his neck. He knew he was heading into the valley of death. At the same time, he identified more and more with Papa God. He knew that his life could not be totally destroyed by Roman power. There was a transcendence about his humanity that gave him the power to take on the whole Roman Empire and its brutality. He knew that even if he lost his life, he would be the winner.

What a gift he gave us! We too can have the hope that Jesus appropriated in his communion with God. We too can have a transcendence in our humanness that will empower us to take on the powers of this world. We are empowered, not by identifying with political and military might, but by identifying with the powerless. To me, that is what Jesus meant when he said. "Take up your cross and follow me." It may mean that the noose may also tighten around our necks, but it will give us the power to take on the whole American Empire and its brutality. As Paul said, even if I lose my life, I will be the winner.

The cross, like the lynching tree, is a horrible, horrible symbol. Yet it echoes with the knowledge that as humans, we are children of God, and our ultimate identity is not with the human body that they may kill, but with the human spirit that cannot be destroyed. That is the beauty of the cross.

I just finished listening to Bill Moyers interview of the Black theologian, James Cone, on this very topic. He gives a perspective on the cross that makes a lot more sense to me than most of the theories of atonement that I have heard from the pulpit over the years. Jesus did not die because God required it of him for our atonement. He died in an act of terrorism, perpetrated on those who would oppose political authority. Yet he won the day because they could not kill his spirit. There is a redemptive nature in that act that frees us to follow him. As we take up our cross and follow him, we also have the hope that we may receive the power to win even over death. That is the hope of the resurrection.

I had never thought of the connection between the cross and the lynching tree before. They are powerful symbols that reveal not only the brutal nature of humanity, but also the redemptive spirit of humanity that transcends even the cross and the lynching tree. These are simply a few thoughts that come to me this evening. I encourage you to think about them.