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| SERMON notes |
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| Written by Rev. Paul Johnson | |
| Friday, 21 March 2008 | |
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A cross of beauty and life An ancient legend tells of a monk who found the crown of thorns, which had been pressed into the head of our Lord. On Good Friday morning, he set the crown on a side altar of the cathedral. It was a cruel-looking, ghastly thing, covered with blood. People glanced at it for just a moment and then turned away.  Rev. Paul Johnson As he approached the altar, he detected an unfamiliar fragrance. The bright morning sun was streaming through a window directly onto the altar — directly onto the crown. The brightness and warmth of the sun had transformed the sharp thorns and cruel, twisted twigs into roses of the rarest beauty and the most pleasing fragrance. Traditionally at Our Saviour’s, we have a floral cross processional. No one was aware of this legend of the crown of thorns when this tradition began, but the resulting idea is very much the same. In front of the sanctuary stands a stark wooden cross. It serves as a reminder of the horror of death, particularly the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus. One by one, adults and children alike move up to the cross and place a flower in the wire mesh surrounding it. The cross transforms before the watchers’ eyes and becomes a picture of beauty and life! Although the cross remains an instrument of extreme torture and death, for Christians it takes on a look of beauty. That cross which held Jesus became for us a stay of execution. He died in our place, a death that we deserve in our sin. And if that was all, it would have been enough. But it didn’t end at the cross. It ended at an empty tomb in a garden. Not only have we been set free from sin by the cross, we have been set free from death as well. As Jesus rose, so shall we, as we trust him as our Lord and Savior. And that is something beautiful beyond our comprehension! The Rev. Paul Johnson is minister of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Sermon Notes is a column by ministers of the Patterson Ministerial Association. Any religious leader who would like to write for the column may contact the Patterson Irrigator.
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