Pastor Dick Hurd: Richard Hurd
The Mid-week Message is an On-Line Ministry Of Pastor Dick Hurd and the “Caton Church” ( A Global Methodist Community of Faith) March 26, 2025
Each week of this Lenten season we draw ever closer to the shadow of the cross. It is both a dreadful specter and an image of joy and remarkably, we see it all in one glance.
How can we even begin to understand the dichotomy and the visual conflict obvious in that image? How can we even begin to explain it? How can we reconcile an instrument of torture with a symbol of redemption and recognize that they are one and the same?
That my friends is our task, our personal “mission impossible,” if you will. It is the eternal message that we as disciples of Christ are charged to deliver to this lost and dying world. We would do well to remember both the words and the actions of our Lord Jesus.
The Gospel of John in the 15th chapter and verse 13 Jesus proclaims, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” and then He laid down His life for you and me.
Jesus laid down his life on the cross of Calvary, truly a dark and foreboding instrument of torture, but he did it for you and me, and that is what makes it an image of joy! So, in this season of extremes, of sorrow and joy, of betrayal and faithfulness, of triumph and tragedy, of life and death and life again, we observe this sacred time with gratitude and love for the one who loved us beyond all measure.
We approach the shadow of the cross with thankful hearts and renewed determination to tell the world, this is my Jesus and spreading our arms wide, declare to all who would hear, He loves you this much, And He wants to be your Jesus too! Thanks be to God!
Yours in the Love of Christ
