Too Scandalous to Be False

It has become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. We see it on church buildings, jewelry, artwork, and even clothing. Yet it's easy to forget what the cross originally represented.

It was an instrument of torture, humiliation, and death.

This Sunday, Cody Guitard, National Director of Ratio Christi Canada, challenged us to look at the cross with fresh eyes. His message reminded us that the earliest Christians weren't proclaiming a message that sounded impressive or believable by the standards of their culture. Quite the opposite—they centered everything on the crucifixion of Jesus, something both shocking and offensive to the people of the first century.

In 1 Corinthians 1:23, the Apostle Paul writes:

"We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."

For the Jewish people, a crucified Messiah seemed impossible. Their expectation was a victorious political leader who would defeat Israel's enemies, not someone publicly executed under the curse associated with hanging on a tree. For the Gentile world, following—and even worshipping—a man condemned as a criminal made little sense. By every human standard, the message of the cross appeared destined to fail.

Yet the earliest disciples never abandoned that message.

Instead, they proclaimed it boldly, even in the face of persecution, imprisonment, and death. Why?

Because something extraordinary had happened.

The resurrection changed everything.

Jesus' followers became convinced that His death was not evidence of defeat but the very means by which God accomplished salvation. Through His sacrifice, Christ bore humanity's sin and took upon Himself the curse we deserved so that we could receive forgiveness and new life. The cross, once a symbol of shame, became the greatest symbol of hope.

The message also invited us to consider an important apologetic question: if someone were inventing a religion, would they choose an executed criminal and a cross as its central message?

Probably not.

The Gospel is remarkably different from what anyone would have expected or invented. Its unexpected nature is precisely what gives it credibility. Christianity did not grow because it presented an easy or culturally appealing story—it spread because countless eyewitnesses became convinced that Jesus had truly risen from the dead, transforming their understanding of who He was and what the cross meant.

As followers of Christ today, we can also become familiar with the cross to the point of losing our sense of wonder. Cody encouraged us not to become desensitized to its meaning. Every time we see the cross, we are reminded of both the seriousness of sin and the immeasurable love of God, who willingly gave Himself so that we might be reconciled to Him.

The cross remains scandalous. It still challenges human expectations, confronts pride, and calls us to faith.

And perhaps that is exactly why it continues to point so powerfully to the truth of the Gospel.