The Way Up is Down

 Survival of the fittest. It is a term most closely associated with the work of Charles Darwin and if you’ll forgive this non-scientist’s summary of the idea, essentially states that organisms that are better suited to the environment in which they find themselves are more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation. These creatures “win” the biological game. In the days following Darwin’s work, this principle has expanded its reach well beyond the realm of biology. You have perhaps heard of the term Social Darwinism, which, roughly, applies the principle of the fittest surviving to our economic and social lives. The strongest, be they businesses, organizations, or people, are the ones who make it. They are the ones who win: money, status, power. 

If you haven’t noticed, we are obsessed with winning. Our social media profiles are full of the different things we have convinced ourselves we’ve won: our families, our vacations, our stuff. Only highlighting the best, we struggle to prove that we have “made it.” 

Sadly, this attitude far too often invades our spiritual lives. We want to win at the game of walking with God. Sometimes we even post our proof that we have our spiritual lives together - a quiet time selfie here, a picture of an open Bible there. We feel guilty when we don’t measure up to the picture of what we feel like we should be doing, and that guilt prevents us further from turning to God when he is ready to receive us. 

In recent days, the idea of winning at all costs has invaded the arena of Christian public witness. Our political discourse, even among those who claim the name of Jesus, is badly broken. David French, a Christian writer and legal expert, has lamented this in this way: “the church has formed its members to be adamant about policies that are difficult and contingent and flexible about virtues that are clear and mandatory.” (Read French's whole article here.) Part of French’s lament is that many Christians have sacrificed Christian virtue for the sake of political expediency. This is a sacrifice that makes sense in a world where it is only the strongest who win, only the fittest who survive. 

And into all of this, the witness of the Church calendar puts before us Holy Cross Day. And what a rebuke the cross gives to the idea that we must win at all costs! By all measurable counts, Jesus of Nazareth lived a life of great insignificance. He never seems to have left the area just a handful of miles from where he was born (a brief travel to Egypt excluded). While he did have a tendency to draw a crowd, his closest followers were closer to the dozens, and he would occasionally alienate even those most closest to him with the difficulty of his teaching. He was rejected by the religious authorities and crucified on a Roman imperial cross with other criminals. Those who didn’t believe in him would have had ample evidence to say his was a life that didn’t really matter, didn’t really move the needle when it came to things that counted. 

Contrast this story with that of Constantine, an emperor for whom the cross was a significant symbol as well. According to his biographer Eusebius, Constantine was warring for the Roman Emperor’s throne when he saw a vision of a cross in the sky, and with the cross the words, “conquer by this.” After winning that particular battle, Constantine made sure his troops were marked by the sign of the cross and he went about his imperial ways carrying the edifice of Jesus. They were “Christian” shields that beat Constantine’s enemies into submission. Adopting a pagan view of the god’s role in warfare, Constantine attributed his success in conquering to him giving credit to the most powerful god. Constantine was successful in the eyes of the world, but was he walking in the way of the cross? 

As Christians, we are called to walk the way of Jesus. He is the one we are to imitate. Paul encourages us in Philippians 2:4-11: 

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Notice the honor that Jesus deserves and willingly lays aside. Jesus is God and yet he comes to serve, to die. He lays down his life. What if we were willing to step aside from everything we feel we deserve and lay it down, yes, even our lives, for the sake of God’s Kingdom and for our neighbors? What kind of witness would that be for the Gospel? I can tell you it would be far more powerful than any conquering army with earthly weapons or any political landslide victory. It would be a movement that keeps its heart, that keeps its integrity. It would be the victory of God. 

Because of course that is the end of the story. Jesus, who by all worldly measures is the one who loses, is the one who is truly victorious. Not only in the Resurrection, but in the glory of his Ascension. The Roman Empire is long gone, and yet the Church of Jesus Christ remains forever. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. That is a power won not by earthly might, but by the love of God. 

My mind is drawn to the irony of Holy Cross Day falling so close to a date that looms so largely in our nation’s history. All of us who were old enough can probably remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard of the horrors of 9/11. It was a day of loss and tragedy. Very soon, that loss and tragedy turned to questions of justice and even revenge. It felt like we had been defeated and we had a felt need to get on the winning side again. 

Up the highway from here in Johnson City, a professor of mine was preparing a chapel talk with this day celebrating the Holy Cross in mind. The theme for the day was the “The Cross of Triumph,” and Dr. Tim Ross offered this encouragement to not lose sight of the way of Jesus, just two days after 9/11:

When will the victory of the church be won? When all the points on the map are covered? When Christians are in charge everywhere? When we have a bible in every language? When we blast the Muslims into submission? Maybe, as Robert Lupton says, victory will be found where Jesus said it will be found–in the lives of Jesus’ followers which have been laid down for each other. Perhaps the world will glimpse that great victory when the wealthy ones and the bright ones among us lavish their time and talent on the less fortunate…when those who have too much sacrifice for those who do not have enough, when those who are normally separated from each other on basis of skin color or earning potential place their lives together for the sake of their Lord. (Read the whole sermon here.)

The world changes, often in incomprehensible and horrific ways. We are put in situations that are beyond our control and where it seems like there is no way out. But we have been shown the way through even the most difficult of times. We are to lay down our power, our identities, our possessions, even our very lives and pick up the Cross. Such is the way of our Lord. But the good news is that he not only has walked the path before, but walks it once more at our side.