Cross purposes: Symbol is one of death and life

Last night's Good Friday interfaith processional downtown mirrored the solemn remembrances carried out in an untold number of cities and towns across the world, recalling Christ's tortured march to Calvary nearly two millennia ago.

In most such celebrations, the local Christian faithful gather to sing and take turns carrying a cross — the instrument of Roman torture that has become historic Christianity's identifying symbol around the globe. For participants, the cross recalls the suffering endured by the dying Christ to redeem a fallen world.

Yet Christianity's central message is that Jesus not only died as a ransom for human sin, but that he rose from the grave that first Easter morning — a paradox without precedent in all of religious and human history. Many have wondered at the focus on the instrument of Christ's death, when it was his bodily resurrection that galvanized his followers and changed the way millions hope for life beyond the grave.

Pastor Steve Klemz of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church says the cross is "symbolic of access to God but is an instrument of torture. I have a collection of crosses on my office wall — some are very beautiful and some are very crude. It's a both/and. The cross is an instrument of crucifixion and an instrument of victory for us.

"I think if there wasn't a resurrection the cross would not be central. So painful an instrument can only see it through the eyes of the resurrection.

"We'd all rather go through Easter Sunday without Good Friday." But sacrifice, suffering and suppressing one's own interest for the greater glory of God is required of all Christians, he said.

"That is always going to be our natural tendency. We don't like pain and we don't like suffering, especially when it involves ourselves."

While Holy Week in general and Good Friday in particular are widely celebrated throughout the Christian world, a majority of Utahns celebrate the religious aspect of Christ's passion, death and resurrection only on Easter morning.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints see the atonement of Christ as the central event of all human history, but they refrain from using the cross as the symbol of their faith.

In the current issue of the church's Ensign magazine, President Gordon B. Hinckley explains why.

Recalling a question from a Christian minister who had attended a temple open house in Mesa, Ariz., some years ago, the man asked why there was no cross. President Hinckley said he did not wish to offend those who use the cross as the symbol of their faith.