Matthew 26:1-5 “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ‘As you know, the Passover is two days away–and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.’ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him. ‘But not during the Feast,’ they said, ‘or there might be a riot among the people.’”

Jesus and his enemies seemed to agree on one thing as they got ready for the end of this week: “…the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” The chief priests and elders were plotting to kill him. Jesus intended to give up his life to save us. But neither understood the meaning of this in the same way.

Those against Jesus were convinced that a real Messiah would save his people by raising an army, restoring Israel to power, and leading the nation to victory. Even Jesus’ disciples couldn’t shake themselves free of the idea that salvation should include a free and secure Israel, and a great improvement in the national standard of living. The leaders were going to kill Jesus, but not to complete God’s saving work. This was their attempt to put a stop to the man they considered an imposter, and not a very convincing one at that.

The cross is so ingrained in the culture and life of the church that we may think we are on the same page as Jesus regarding his saving methods.  We nod our heads in agreement when Paul says in 1^st Corinthians, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

But don’t we still become guilty of looking at Jesus as though he were some political hero, a secular Savior? Does our chief plea become, “Make us safe and prosperous?” It’s not just the prosperity preachers on television. In order to be relevant, more and more preachers preach him as the Savior of your marriage, your career, your retirement funds, our nation’s prominence on the world stage. The cross figures less and less in such concerns. I would like a better marriage, career, retirement, and country to live in. The Jesus who secures my earthly happiness sounds good to me, too.

“But what good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). You and I wouldn’t try to get rid of the Jesus who dies on a cross to pay for our sins and save our souls. But would we be content if he and his cross just faded away so long as we still had a Jesus with relevant ideas about improving our present lives?

“The Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” The cross is an indispensable part of Jesus’ work, the key component in his saving plan. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” “He forgave us all our sins,” Paul writes the Colossians, “having canceled the written code that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.” Again: “God was pleased…to reconcile to himself all things…by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

On the cross Jesus is forsaken by his heavenly Father so that we can be accepted by him. From the cross Jesus shouts, “It is finished,” his work complete, our salvation accomplished, our souls secure. The cross is why the Apostle Paul could lay aside his own life, and stop obsessing about his own accomplishments, and frankly tell the Galatians, “May I never boast except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ.” It still deserves first place in our faith.