The Sign of Your Favor

The Cross of Christ is the most powerful reality in the world. All of Creation flows from it and is drawn again to it, held together in unity by it. It is the divine favor, the grace of God fully revealed to the world.

Psalm 86 is a prayer of David in a difficult time. He cries out to God, “Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.” (Psalm 86:1-3)

He recalls the goodness of the Lord and how, in times past, when he cried out for mercy and help, the Lord was faithful to hear and deliver him. There is no help anywhere else that can compare, and so all the nations will finally come before the Lord and glorify his name. The Psalmist is now once again in distress, from arrogant foes, ruthless people out to destroy him — they have no regard for him, or even for God. Once again he cries out to the Lord for help:

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Turn to me and have mercy on me; show your strength in behalf of your servant; save me, because I serve you just as my mother did. Show me the sign of your favor, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. (Psalm 86-15-17) 

The favor and grace God has shown beyond all measure is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world, uniting divinity with humanity, God with humankind, to trample down death by death on the cross, and destroy the power of that arrogant foe who held the power of death — that is, the devil — so to deliver us from the fear of death, from which all sin and darkness arises.

Christ, in his death and resurrection, is the reality of our salvation — the salvation of the whole world. From the earliest days of the Church, the time of the New Testament writings and the preaching of the Gospel, the Cross has been the symbol of this reality. As symbol and sign, it participates in that reality.

The early Church has handed down this symbol to us in a very tangible way, through the Sign of the Cross, the practice of tracing the Cross on the forehead or body with finger or hand. It is most certainly a sign of God’s Favor — one I am never without — and has long been honored in the Church.

Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us “in a mystery” by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force ... Were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more. For instance, to take the first and most general example, who is thence who has taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? (St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit, 27.66)

Let us not then be ashamed to confess the Crucified. Be the Cross our seal made with boldness by our fingers on our brow, and on everything; over the bread we eat, and the cups we drink; in our comings in, and goings out; before our sleep, when we lie down and when we rise up; when we are in the way, and when we are still. Great is that preservative; it is without price, for the sake of the poor; without toil, for the sick; since also its grace is from God. It is the Sign of the faithful, and the dread of devils: for He triumphed over them in it, having made a show of them openly, for when they see the Cross they are reminded of the Crucified; they are afraid of Him, who bruised the heads of the dragon. (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 13.36) 

At every forward step and movement, at every going in and out, when we put on our clothes and shoes, when we bathe, when we sit at table, when we light the lamps, on couch, on seat, in all the ordinary actions of daily life, we trace upon the forehead the sign. (Tertullian, De Corona, 3)

But imitate him always, by signing thy forehead sincerely; for this is the sign of his Passion, manifest and approved against the devil if so thou makest it from faith; not that thou mayest appear to men, but knowingly offering it as a shield.  (St. Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 42)

[St. Anthony instructs]: The demons make their seeming onslaughts against those who are cowardly. Sign yourselves therefore with the cross, and depart boldly, and let these make sport for themselves. (St. Athanasius, Life of Antony)

Thus [the devil] suffers and is dishonored; and although he still ventures with shameless confidence to disguise himself, yet now, wretched spirit, he is detected rather by those who bear the sign on their foreheads; and he is even rejected by them, and is humbled and put to shame. (St. Athanasius, Letter to the Bishops of Egypt, 1.2) 

At the beginning of our prayers let us sign ourselves with the seal of baptism. Let us make the sign of the cross on our foreheads, as on the day of our baptism, as it is written in Ezekiel. Let us not first lower our hand to our mouth or to our beard, but let us raise it to our forehead, sing in our heart, “We have signed ourselves with the seal.” This is not like the seal of baptism, but the sign of the cross was traced on the forehead of each of us on the day of our baptism. (Horsiesius, Regulations, 7) 

“Show me the sign of Your Favor,” 
the Psalmist prayed. It is 
the Sign of the Cross.

Christ and the Cross of Our Deliverance

The Gospel is not about sinners in the hands of an angry God, but about sinners in the hands of a loving God, God in the hands of angry sinners, and how God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us. For the Word did not become human to satisfy divine anger or settle divine accounts but to confront the powers that enslaved humanity — to destroy death and bring us to life.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15) 

This is not the appeasement of an offended deity, but freedom from the enslaving power of death, the fear of death, the devil — and so, also, from the power of sin.

Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:9-10)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

This early Church Fathers understood the atoning work of Christ to be not one of divine penalty or appeasement but of divine victory over everything that stood against us.

St. Irenaeus, in Against Heresies (5.21.1), “He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head.” 

St. Athanasius, in On the Incarnation (2.10), “For by the sacrifice of His own body He did two things: He put an end to the law of death which barred our way; and He made a new beginning of life for us, by giving us the hope of resurrection. By man death has gained its power over men; by the Word made Man death has been destroyed and life raised up anew.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his Catechetical Orations (§24), speaks of  how Christ deceived the devil by offering himself under the veil of our human nature, like bait to a greedy fish, “the hook of divinity might be swallowed with the bait of the flesh, and thus when life came to dwell in death and light shone in the darkness, that which is understood as the opposite of light and life might be utterly destroyed.”

St. John Chrysostom, in his Paschal Homily, tells how Christ destroyed death by enduring it, and Hades by entering into it. “It is in an uproar because it is now made captive. Hell took a body, and it discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.”

Christ did not go to the Cross to deliver us from 
God but to rescue us from the power of death, 
the power the devil, and the power of sin.

Some Moment Other Than the Cross

The Cross is where the world is judged and the sins of the world forgiven. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:12). Even as he was being crucified, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for us all, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

The Moment of the Cross is the only true moment, the only moment in which we belong — the only moment there is. To turn away from this moment is to turn toward non-being. To embrace this moment is to embrace Christ, who draws us to himself. Looking to this moment, Lord Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:31-32).

When we do not forgive others, or ourselves, 
we are living in some moment other than 
that of the Cross, for the Cross is where 
the forgiveness of all is revealed.

The Gospel Begins With Jesus Christ

The Gospel begins with Jesus Christ. He is what God meant when God said, “Let us make Humankind in Our image, and to be like Us.” He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the Fullness of Divinity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 1:15; 2:9). By the Incarnation, he is the one Human Being, of which we all partake. He is what it means to be human, and in him we are made complete, and become partakers of the Divine Nature (Colossians 2:10; 2 Peter 1:4).

To be created in the image of God — which is to be truly human — is to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is the Image of the Invisible God. To be like God is to be like Christ, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. 

God is Love. Self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped Love. To be created in the image of God, and to be like God, is to love with the divine love, to live the life that is self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped. The image of God is most profoundly revealed at the cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ shows us what it is to be God and so what it is to be human. 

The Gospel begins and ends with Jesus Christ, the Incarnate One, Crucified and Risen. For all in heaven and on earth are created by him, through him, for him and in him, and all hold together in him (Colossians 1:16-17), and the express, eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity in Christ — all summed up and headed in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10). If we begin with anything else, we make Christ and the Cross secondary.

The Reciprocal Truth of the Incarnation

On the Cross, we see the reciprocal truth of the Incarnation: Jesus Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward us, he is also our faithfulness toward God. 

Just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:18)

Where Adam was unfaithful and disobedient to God, resulting in death and corruption for all, our Lord Jesus Christ was faithful and obedient to God, resulting in justification and life for all. 

You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will 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. (Philippians 2:9-11)

As fully divine, Christ did not consider being equal with God as something to be plundered and exploited, to be held on to at all costs, and used for his own advantage — Christ reveals that God is simply not like that! As fully human, Christ was fully obedient and faithful to God, even to the point of the shameful death of the Cross. So, by the Incarnation and the Cross, we see exactly what the faithfulness of God is, and what the faithfulness of humankind is — what it means to be God, and what it means to be human.

Dying Your Best Death Now

We are not here to live our best life but to die our best death, to deny ourselves in self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped love. So shall we find our life. For this is the life of Christ, and our life is in him. Lord Jesus said, 

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Mark 8:34-37) 

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 8:45)

And St. Paul answered, 

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NET)

This is for all of us, the way of life for everyday saints and everyday living. It is the way of True Being, for it is the Way of Christ, in whom we have our being. 

It is the way of marriage and family and home. For though it may seem funny, it is nevertheless true that marriage is a martyrdom: we lay down our lives for the other. Parenthood, also, is a martyrdom: we lay down our lives for our children. 

Dying our best death is the only way of truly living our best life — dying and living with Christ for the sake of others. And so we discover the love of God, the life of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit at work within.

The Final Word is the First Word Fulfilled

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, God said, “Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness.” And so God did.

St. John the Evangelist puts it this way: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was (and is) God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made that has been made. The True Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world: “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.” Here we see the creation of human being and the divine glory, and the union of the two in one Person.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word, by whom, through whom, for whom, and in whom all in heaven and on earth have been created. He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. And so have God chosen us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. This is the Incarnation, by which Christ the Word who became flesh has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind. In him we are made complete, and in him we become “partakers of the divine nature,” and so, conformed to the Image of the Son.

St. John, in pondering the depths of the Gospel, draws us back to the Creation account in Genesis. Christ is the Creator, who by the Incarnation has also become the Created. At the trial of Jesus near the end of the book, Pontius Pilate forever directs our attention to him: “Behold the Man!” This is human being created in the image of God. And from the Cross, just before he bowed his head and handed over the Spirit, our Lord Jesus declared, “It is finished.” And so we see what it means to be human being in the image of God.

Scriptures referred to above include: Genesis 1:26; John 1:1-3,9,14; 19:5,30; Romans 5:29; Colossians 1:15-18; 2:9-10; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Peter 1:4. I am indebted to Fr. John Behr for these insights into John’s gospelling.

Christ and the Final Judgment

Yes, there is a Final Judgment — and thank God for it! It means that God finally puts everything right, even as God created it to be from the beginning. The Final Judgment is where we see that the end is in the beginning and the beginning is in the end. 

The Final Judgment is Jesus Christ crucified and risen. It is Christ upon the Cross, the Lamb of God upon his Throne. It is all in heaven and on earth being gathered together and summed up in Christ, which is God’s eternal purpose and the mystery of God’s good will (Ephesians 1:9-10). It is all in heaven and on earth being reconciled through Christ having made peace by the Blood of the Cross (Colossians 1:19-20).

Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself. (John 12:31-32)

For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8)

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:13-15) 

We must all stand before the Judgment Seat, the Cross, where our Lord Jesus Christ poured himself for us in self-giving, other-centered love. We must all be tested and corrected by Divine Love. For our Lord has said, “Everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49).

The Final Judgment is the Fire of God’s Consuming Love. It is not retributive, for God is Love, and Love is not retributive. It is, rather, a Refiner’s Fire, burning away what is worthless, what does not come from God — the “wood, hay and stubble” — while purifying and preserving safe what is precious, what does come from God — the “gold, silver and precious jewels” (see 1 Corinthians 3:11-15). It is purgative, therapeutic and restorative.

Jesus Christ does not save us from the Final Judgment. Through the Cross and Resurrection, Jesus is the Final Judgment — on sin, death, and the devil. The Final Judgment, then, is salvation, for the judgment of God is never retributive but is finally restorative.

Christ the Singularity

In Colossians 1, we discover that Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, is the creator of all things. Through him, by him, for him, and in him all things are created — not merely created, as if once and done, but continually sustained through and by and for and in him. 

Yet, he who is Creator has also become part of his Creation. He did not leverage divinity for his own benefit, but taking on the form of a servant, he became human. For our sake, he made himself subject to the mortality of our humanity, even to the point of a shameful death on the cross, crucified by our own wicked hands. But he being Life, death could not hold him, and by his death, he put death itself to death, and was resurrected.

This is of great significance not only for humankind but for the entire cosmos as well. All Creation is transfigured by his Cross and Resurrection. For he is, as John the Revelator says, the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World. Indeed, Christ Crucified and Risen is the foundation of the world, he who is the “firstborn from the dead” is the “firstborn of all creation.” The language of “firstborn” (Greek, prototokos) is not the time bound language of chronology but the eternal import of his absolute primacy in every way. 

It is not merely that Christ who created all things, including time, would one day be crucified in time and raised from the dead — that is all true, of course — but it means that Christ, who is eternal and has transfigured time by his coming into the world, is eternally the Crucified and Risen One. And it is as the Crucified and Risen One that all things are created through him, by him, for him and in him. Christ Crucified and Risen is the singularity from which all of heaven and earth explodes into being.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)

What We Become By Grace

We are created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ, as indeed are all things. “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).

By the Incarnation, all humankind is united with Christ — divine being made one with human being. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14). “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

So are we included in the death of Christ on the Cross, and so also in his resurrection. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). 

Through the Creation, the Incarnation and the Cross, we become by grace what Christ is by nature. Indeed, in Christ, we become partakers, participants, sharers in, the Divine Nature. 

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Sin is the Soul Rejecting Itself

Sin is often thought of as the infraction of a law, the breaking of a commandment. But it is really the brokenness of a relationship. When Adam turned away from God to his own way, he turned away from the very source of his life and being — he turned away from his true self, toward non-being.

From the beginning, we are created in the image of God, to be like God. That is our true self, yet we continually resist it. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in whom we are made complete and become partakers of the divine nature. This is the Incarnation, and it includes us all, for Jesus Christ is the image of God we were created to be. The good news of the gospel is that God is transforming us, conforming us to the image of Christ. In turning to Christ, through repentance and faith, we become reoriented to our true self, what God intended for us from the beginning.

Who Can Forever Resist the Love of God?

If there were a being who was eternally impervious to God, forever able to resist the Love of God, would not such a being be greater than God? Indeed, would not that being then be God? But we are created by God to be the image of God, which is to say, the image of Love, for God is Love. We were made by Love and for Love, to be loved and to love. It is inherent to our true nature, what it means to be human. The evil that has invaded the human heart cannot change that but can only obscure it.

Yet, our Lord Jesus Christ has come to deliver us from this darkness of heart, this depravity of mind, this enmity of the will against Love, which is to say, against God. This is the truth of the Incarnation, in which Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, Love with the human heart. And it is the truth of the Cross and Resurrection, by which Christ has defeated death and the devil (who held the power of death), and all of the powers that blind us and pull us away from Love. 

In self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped love, our Lord Jesus submitted himself to shameful death by the wickedness of our own darkened hearts. And by that one death defeated death for all, for Love is stronger than death. Who, then, could forever resist the love of God?

There is no heart so hard
that the Love of Christ
cannot soften it,
No mind so darkened
that the Light of Christ
cannot enlighten it,
No will so bound
that the Truth of Christ
cannot set it free.
And so shall God
be All in All.