Ascension of Our Lord Devotion
Receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified”…. LSB Rite of Baptism page 268
The theology of the cross – The teaching of the Bible that says, “God accomplishes His greatest good in the midst of suffering and when human reason is contradicted.” This teaching can only be received by faith and centers in the death of Christ for sinful man: “When God makes alive he does it by killing, when he justifies he does it by making men guilty, when he exalts to heaven he does it by bringing down to hell” Luther’s Works, AE, Vol 33 pg 62
You may have noticed that there are crosses in every room within our office/classroom space at
Lamb of God. There is a reason for having all those crosses “hanging around”. We confess the
truth proclaimed by John the Baptist that Jesus of Nazareth is “the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world
Furthermore we teach and confess that: God will only deal with us through the cross.
Our salvation wholly depends on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross and the
theology of the cross make many people very uncomfortable. In fact, many people (even some
Christians) actively substitute more palatable “theologies of glory”. Doing so will always make
us more popular with people and acceptable within our culture, but it is not the way of salvation.
Lent is a particularly good time to remember the “bitter suffering and death” of the cross.
I pray that all of you are committed to growing in grace through the preaching of the cross during
the Lenten season.
“In the Cross of Christ I glory, towering o’er the wrecks of time
all the light of sacred story, gathers round its head sublime
When the woes of life o’er take me, hopes deceive and fears annoy
never shall the cross forsake me; lo, it glows with peace and joy
When the sun of bliss is beaming, light and love upon my way
from the cross the radiance streaming, adds more luster to the day
Bane and blessings, pain and pleasure, by the cross are sanctified
peace is there that knows no measure, joys that through all time abide” LSB 427