Marriage Lessons at the Foot of the Cross #6

The death of Jesus set in motion several physical cataclysms in the natural world that "mirrored spiritual realities, for Jesus' death was a spiritual cataclysm that resulted in opening the way for sinful human beings to approach a Holy God."

The Bible says that even if His followers say nothing, the rocks will cry out the Truth of Christ being Who He says He is.  As soon as He died on the cross, the crowd, the very people who wanted Him to be their king and then crucified Him, beat their breasts in horror ~ a non-believing Centurion exclaimed Jesus to be a Righteous Man ~ and Joseph, a member of the Jewish council,  got permission to give Jesus a proper burial.  And what about Christ's acquaintances, His disciples, His close followers?  They held back and watched. 

Before we condemn them, think about what they must have been thinking and feeling.  Confusion.  Sorrow.  And even, maybe, a bit of anger and a feeling of having been misled.  We have the perspective of hindsight.  We know how the story ends, but they were living knee-deep in the midst of it. 

We can find ourselves knee-deep in behavioral cataclysms in our marriage that render love cataclysms between spouses.  The behavior may be drastic as an affair or substance abuse, or systematic as a pattern of lying, overspending, withholding love or forgiveness.  It may even be outside forces that have the power to break apart our relationship.  So who do we choose to be in these confusing, sorrowful and angry times?  As the spouse who is acting out, do we justify our behavioral cataclysm, or even worse, refuse to recognize our damaging behavior, or do we acknowledge and get help?  As the hurt spouse, do we offer love (with healthy boundaries) or stand by and watch?  If outside forces are hurting our marriage, do we suffer an implosion or stand guard at the gate to protect our sovereign bond?

In the middle of the story, do we turn away or turn towards Christ ~ who went to the Cross to die for us even though He knew that those closest to Him would be confused, sad and even a bit angry; who would do nothing on His behalf at His moment of greatest need.  Whether we are the acting out spouse or the aggrieved spouse, do we bow at the foot of the Cross to seek and accept Christ's gift of His death so that we can approach a Holy God whose Love is desperately needed to overcome our natural human condition?.

(Luke 22:44-56)