1 Corinthians 1:22-24 “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Christ crucified may be mocked. It may be rejected. It may be neglected. But it hasn’t lost its power. The night I went to see Mel Gibson’s movie about Jesus’ crucifixion, The Passion of the Christ, after it was over, the only sound in the theater was the muffled sobs of people weeping. The impact was unlike anything I had ever seen at the movies. Reports around the world told of criminals turning themselves in after seeing the movie and being led to repent.

The presentation of Christ crucified doesn’t have to be so dramatic for the cross to work its power. Pastor Curtis Lyon wrote a book on Christian counseling called Counseling at the Cross. In it he describes the process of taking people on a personal trip to the cross, walking them through details of Jesus’ suffering, talking them through the truth that Jesus carried their sins to that cross, paid the full penalty for their sins there, left nothing unaccounted for, that all was forgiven, the reconciliation with God was complete. He describes one woman paralyzed by fears and consumed by anxieties created by her feelings of guilt. Even with heavy prescription medications she could not sleep. After Pastor Lyon took her on a personal trip to the cross, she finally, fully processed what it meant. She was so immediately relieved that after months with hardly any sleep she fell asleep right in his office and had to be carried home.

This power isn’t limited to new Christians. Christ crucified is preached to us in our baptisms. “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death,” Paul writes the Romans. It is preached to us in the Lord’s Supper. “Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes,” Paul writes later in this same letter to the Corinthians. My wife once came home after a midweek service in Lent and told me that for the first time she can remember she was able to sing the hymn My Song Is Love Unknown without getting choked up. Why is that so hard to do? This hymn walks us through the scene at Jesus’ trial and cross. Because “To those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks,” the cross is still, “Christ the power of God and Christ the wisdom of God.” It is still a power that feeds and grows our faith.

Focusing on that death makes perfect sense. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” There is seemingly nothing more foolish or weak God could do than become a man and die. Yet no greater power or wisdom has ever been unleashed on the world than Christ crucified on the cross. It has canceled every sin. It has reversed the effects of death. It has crushed the power of the devil. It has changed more hearts and won more followers than any other message ever preached. It has moved millions to forsake everything they owned, or go to prison and death with songs of praise on their lips.

How? All for the love of the one who loved them even to death on a cross. That’s its power. That’s what saves.