“The Story of the Cross” Part 2 Canon Graeme W interton at Holy Trinity Kew - Advent Sunday - 27th. Nov. 2016
He came to give his life a ransom for many
Matthew 24:36-44 1. Today’s Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent warns us to be ready for the sudden unexpected appearance of the Messiah when he fulfills his promise to establish God’s Kingdom and bring earth to the end of its allotted time. 2. Last week we explored the reason why the Church Fathers made a practice of pointing to the cross by inference and interruption as a way of reminding us that nothing is more important than the cross, and we were led to understand that the cross is the preeminent theme of the Church overshadowing every other consideration. Our Lord’s challenge to take up the cross is personal and can never be overlooked. We concluded by saying. ‘When people take up the cross they discover that The cross becomes the passage from death to life. Like Jesus we are asked to choose the cross, for unless we do we can never expect to achieve the crown. And so today we will follow the lead of the Church Fathers and continue the Story of the Cross as a natural prerequisite for personal partcipation in the life of the Kingdom when Christ returns. 3. How does the Cross of Christ touch our lives today? St Paul explained what God did through the cross: 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them '. 'Christ gave himself to redeem the whole human race; it is the proof at the right time 'that God wants everyone to be saved, 1 Tim 2:6 People of our time have great difficulty with these statements. Most of us are so locked into the humanist mindset of our society that we just can’t comprehend how it can apply to us personally. We naturally ask — “How can it be possible for something which took place 2000 years ago apply to me now, let alone how can I experience the power of his death and resurrection?” Our logic asks, “after all, many sins have been committed long after his death - what about them?”