THERE IS ROOM AT THE CROSS

In John 19, we find Jesus on a hill outside of Jerusalem crucified on a tree.

Even as His body was writhing in pain beyond anything we could possibly even begin to imagine, Jesus was concerned about His mother.

“Woman...here is your son”….“John, here is your mother.” John 19:16-27

And in that single moment a new family was born!!

John and Mary were not related. In fact, though they were both Jews, they were very different. They were from different families, different tribes and lineage, different cities and backgrounds. Yet Jesus, on the cross, binds them together.

There is no where in the world, but at the cross, where people, no matter where they are from, what they’ve done, what race they belong to, what color of skin they are born with can come together.

ONLY AT THE CROSS.

It is here that our distinctive markers are shed and we can truly become one.

Christ was stripped of his clothing when He was nailed to that cruel tree. Clothing is a distinct cultural and social status identity marker. But it was at the cross, that Jesus shed His own nationality and cultural identity for us. It was at the cross, that King of the Jews was written in three languages so all people could come near and understand. Raised up in the midst of Romans, Greeks, Jews and Gentiles, He became Christ For All Nations!

He cried...Forgive them! And His Forgiveness enables us to also to Forgive!

…The Cross enables the former Muslim to embrace the Jew…

…The Native American to forgive the hostility of the western pioneers…

…The African slave to forgive the white slave owners…

There on that tree.... we all become tied together by His forgiveness and

that forgiveness enables us to be reconciled with one another!

Ephesians 2:14, 16, 19 For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility...to reconcile both to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility...you are no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.

Perhaps you have been abandoned by a husband, abused by a father or neglected by a mother. You may feel isolated, alone in the world, disconnected from a family. Today, at the cross there is room for you!

BECAUSE THE CROSS IS YOUR FAMILY TREE!