My Journal and Diary
2026
November
Friday, November 6th, 2026
The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up
Are you like me? Do you experience a strange attraction for the urban decay as seen in this video?
Verona is a small village about twenty minutes from my home in Sydenham. As you can see, many of the businesses are shuttered and homes are in disrepair. And yet a person can look at it through a gaze of appreciation. There's something compelling and magnetic about the natural and honest state of it all.
It's real and I think that's part of what makes it beautiful.
As I consider Jesus's death on a cross, I think there's a kind of parallel here. We tend to gloss over the cross like it's a pretty symbol to wear around one's neck, but Jesus had to suffer and die: to be "lifted up" on it.
Lifted up: it's a macabre kind of exaltation, no? In order for us to have eternal life, He had to sacrifice His life, and He did so willingly.
The village looks like what it is: worn, weathered, unimproved. The cross looks like what it is: an instrument of execution. We don't need to ignore their realities to appreciate their truths.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 calls the message of the cross "folly" and "a stumbling block." The crucifixion is not a tragic accident that later gets reinterpreted as meaningful; it is the method by which the world finds hope.
Are you able to appreciate the beauty in the cross?
His humiliation leads to our glorification through His death and resurrection! His willing submission gives us confidence before the Father!
It's a tale that seemingly only a fool would tell. Let's not lose touch with its absurdity! Let's embrace this bizarre reality and lean into the beauty of it!
Amen