The Meaning of the Cross, Day 37

Welcome to Day 37 of our series, “40 days of the cross,” when we’ve taken just a few minutes each day to look at a word which will help us better understand the meaning of the cross. Today’s word is reconnection. 

Separation from those you love can be hard. Especially when you don’t understand the reasons why. This was the case on the night that Jesus shared His last Passover meal with His disciples. The dinner was strange. It didn’t go according to the script of a normal Passover meal. Jesus had washed their feet; He had called out the one disciple, who would betray Him, and another who would deny Him. 

Jesus knew His path would soon lead Him to the cross, and so He told them that He would be taken away from them. But He also told them not to be troubled, because He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house. Thomas complained, saying, “How can we get to the Father’s house? We don’t know the way.” Jesus’ response echoes through the millennia and reaches us today: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” John 14:6. 

The only way to be connected to the Father is through Jesus, and that connection is made through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Because of His shed blood, we can be washed clean and be connected to God. You might say, “But I thought the word for today was Reconnected.” That’s right. Reconnection implies a previous connection to God. Maybe you as an individual weren’t previously connected to God, but humanity was. 

In the beginning, man and woman walked in complete fellowship with God. But the connection was broken when humanity chose sin and rebellion. Suddenly Eden wasn’t good enough. Ever since, man has been disconnected. But from before the beginning, God planned the cross as a way for men and women to reconnect to Him. To partake once again in His paradise, and to avoid His judgment on sin. We’ll talk more about judgment tomorrow. 

Thank you for reading today. After we pray, I encourage you to take some time today to think about how humanity was reconnected to God through the cross, and how you can enjoy that blessing. 

Father, I may not understand all the mechanics of how it worked, but I know I am connected to You through the cross of Jesus. I thank you for the cross, and how reconnection has been made possible for us. And in the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Continued tomorrow