Hey everybody this is Steve, and when I show you this, what do you see?
Yea, obviously it's a cross, but look deeper.
What do you see?
Hope? Or fear?
Life? Or death?
As Christians we have an answer to that question.
We wear the Cross around our necks, close to our heart.
We make the sign of the Cross over ourselves constantly.
During church services,
before and after we eat,
whenever we need it.
The Cross is hope, life, victory over sin and death, a sign of God's promise.
But if you live in two thousand years ago, you might not be so sure about that.
The Roman Empire use the cross to scare people,
to torture them, to kill them.
You wouldn't see a cross without a person nailed to it
and that sent a very clear message:
Rome was in charge.
The disciples knew this, and it scared them.
So when they saw Roman soldiers coming to arrest Christ,
they panicked.
Christ was mocked and beaten,
and lead up to Golgotha to be crucified.
And at the very end, despite all the people who loved Him,
despite all the people who saw Him heal people and raise people from the dead,
He was basically alone.
Only four people were brave enough to stand at the foot of the Cross.
In that dark moment Christ died it seemed like everything was over.
It seemed like Rome once again used the cross to send a message:
We are in charge.
But now we know that that's not what the Cross really means,
at least not in the light of Christ.
God made everything, from the biggest galaxies to the tiniest grains of sand.
God made everything for a reason, with a purpose
and you need to know that purpose if you're going to find the true beauty in all things.
People used the cross to do terrible things
but from the very beginning God had a different plan for it.
We normally divide the Bible into two parts
the New Testament
and the Old Testament.
The New Testament is about Christ
who He is and what that means for us.
But so is the Old Testament even though the meaning is a little bit more hidden.
In fact we can see the Cross in the books of the Old Testament.
We can see that from the very beginning that God was planning on using it as in instrument of life.
We may not see the word "Cross" the Old Testament
but we see its shape and we see other important words
like "tree" and "wood" which the Church even uses to this day in its hymns to describe the Cross.
For instance when Moses lead Israel out of Egypt the Red Sea he was in the way.
God had Moses stretch his hands over the water with his staff
his wooden staff.
And the waters pulled back,
and Israel was able to cross over to the other side.
To the promised land.
To life.
While they were in the wilderness, the people were being plagued by serpents
which were biting them, and killing them.
So God had Moses create a bronze serpent and lifted up on a pole
so that everyone could see it and live.
Can you see the cross?
And later and leave the people faced enemies that they needed to overcome.
During one battle in particular the Israelites were only winning
when Moses had his hands outstretched, in the sign of a cross.
Being the Bee is about finding the goodness that God has placed in all things
and the Cross is an excellent example of that
For a long time people feared the cross, and for good reasons,
but from the very beginning God had a plan:
to use the Cross as an instrument of life.
To open the door to the Resurrection.
So the next time you're tempted to think badly about something,
or someone,
think of the Cross,
and look a little deeper.
So let's Be the Bee, and see all things
especially the Cross, in the Light of Christ.
Be the Bee, and #LiveOrthodoxy!
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I'll see you all next week!