For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18, ESV
The saving grace we receive through Christ is shown to the fullness of God’s glory on the cross. Not because of Christ’s resurrection but because of what He took from us as He was placed upon that Cross. Paul begins this section with his focus on the divisions arising because of baptism, and then he points us to the Cross. Baptism points us to the death of our Lord in whom we are baptized. Christ’s death was seen as a defeat to those who did not believe, and it is still a weapon to try to still the voices of those that speak out against the darkness in the world. Many only like to look at the empty cross, but it is that cross on which our Lord was hung that reminds us of the cost and what was truly done for us. In it comes saving power and a reminder of the glory of God’s love. When we peer upon it, we should not look away but see in the suffering of our God the forgiveness that we have been given. This forgiveness cost us nothing but cost our Lord everything. He who knew no sin suffered and died that I may be His own. These words speak to me as they should to all who believe. If the cross had remained empty, we would not know His forgiveness. The baptism of John was merely a baptism of repentance, but when we are baptized in the name of our Lord, it is the promise of new life. When we enter the Baptism of our Lord, we are buried, and the old Adam is destroyed, and the new Adam, Christ, rises up. In the Baptism of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, we are made new and adopted into our Lord’s family. It is through the Cross that we know that our salvation has been secured, and on the Cross, our sins have been lain.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.