Accepting the way of the cross (Charles Hefling)

   [It is not] that because Christ accepted his suffering we do not have to suffer.  It is the other way around.  He accepted it because we do have to.  His was a cross that had always been ours, the one way open to us, in a skewed world, for putting a stop to the consequences of our own malice without adding to them.  Accepting that way, the way of the cross, was an act of solidarity with us and an offer of solidarity with him – an appeal for us to follow him by willingly taking up whatever cross the world imposes, by making them occasions for joy, by forgiving.

--Charles Hefling, 

Why the Cross?  God’s At-one-ment with Humanity 

in The Christian Century (March 20, 2013), 26-27.

Image source:  https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/january-2010/the-gospel-of-salvation/