Transformed Through the Cross

The Cross. As essential as this symbol  is to Christianity, the views, opinions and spirituality of the cross are varied and sometimes contradictory. So I feel right at home giving my own views on the cross and its relation to suffering, trials, hardships, etc.

In early Christian spirituality, the cross became a symbol encouraging early martyrs to endure suffering. If Jesus did so much, what should we not do? Perhaps because of that, the cross, especially the phrase from scripture, "Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple" became the goal of many Christians.

True to my contrariness, I think such statements cannot be interpreted so simply. I agree with Frederick Faber, who once wrote that our concepts of the cross and suffering are all upside down. We think, well, Jesus carried his cross, so I must do the same. As though Jesus brought this hard way of life to us, and to follow him, we must choose it too. But Jesus didn't bring suffering to our lives...it was already there, through the free will of others. And no matter how good you are, you will be affected by bad choices others make.

So, my interpretation is this: Jesus is telling us, suffering isn't the end, something to make us bitter, or sad, or rejected. It isn't even something he wants us to have to go through. But because it will come in our lives, he is showing us it can be turned into something good. How that happens depends on us.

Someone I know recently learned he had cancer. The treatments he underwent were brutal, exhausting, and made him even want to just die to end it all. But being a true Christian, he knew something good could come from it. He says he learned to surrender to what was beyond his control, the suffering from his treatments. And as he continually surrendered, he began to realize the power that was his: take this pain and reap good from it. He said when he did this, he realized that very little has happened in his life for which he was not later grateful when seeing it in a different light.


So it is how we gaze upon what happens to us that makes the difference. Burden remains burden only while we continue to struggle under its weight. With time, thought, reflection, prayer, questioning, struggling, which are all part of the process, we can keep moving, beyond pain into realization. Then, we can glory in the cross, as St. Paul says. And when we can do that, then are we transformed.