Keep your eye on the cross

Texts: Genesis 37.25-36, 1 Corinthians 2.1-13, Mark 1.29-45

Commemoration: Matthias

Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be guided and governed by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Mark's Gospel begins with a flurry of deliverances and healings. When driving out demons, Jesus would not permit them to speak because they knew who he was. When the crowds became too big, he would withdraw and find a "desolate place" to pray. Although he was God incarnate, Jesus did not want to make himself the center of attention. His mission was more than just signs and wonders, although they seemed always to accompany his proclamation of the Gospel.

Paul, similarly, went to great lengths to keep the focus off of himself. He reminds the Corinthians that "my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

Over and over, we see this pattern emerging in the daily readings during Lent. Our focus must be on God, and God alone. Words are spoken by those anointed by the Spirit, signs and wonders accompany their proclamation, and a disciplined life of prayer and fasting seems to be a rule in the lives of such persons. But words, signs, and disciplines are nothing in and of themselves. Paul "decided to know nothing" while among the Corinthians "except Jesus Christ and him crucified."

The Corinthians were, for the most part, novice believers who might easily be impressed by eloquent speech and miraculous signs. But Paul tells them, "Don't be impressed by my words. Don't think these signs make me anyone special. Keep your eye on the cross and never be ashamed to let God demonstrate his power through your weakness."

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me,
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

• John Bowring