Some years ago, during a Hanging of the Greens service at the beginning of Advent, I leaned a wooden cross against the empty manger and left it there for the next couple of Sundays. I really heard about that one. I don't think any sermon, hymn selection, or other worship move ever generated that level or intensity or complaint. A lot of us, it seems, don't want the cross interfering with Christmas.
On a surface level, this is easy to understand. We're celebrating a birth, a moment of beauty and hope. Who would want to bring the pain of the cross into that moment? But of course the two gospel writers who mention Jesus' birth, Matthew and Luke, both include hints of trouble to come in their accounts. In Matthew, Jesus' family has to flee for their lives following the visit of the Wise Men, narrowly escaping the slaughtering of all the infants in Bethlehem. And in Luke, Simeon tells the baby Jesus' mother, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul too."
I wonder if most all of us, to some degree, wouldn't prefer a crossless Jesus. Surely there is some way to avoid this. Surely this isn't absolutely necessary. Despite the fact that fact that the Apostle Paul speaks of wanting to know only Christ crucified, despite his insistence that Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God, the cross unnerves us. And this manifests itself in ways as diverse as blaming the Jews for Jesus' death, sparse attendance at Good Friday services, or being startled by a cross in the Advent decorations.
Soon we will proclaim, "Christ the Savior is born." Perhaps the Apostle Paul would say "the crucified Christ." And to be honest, I'm not exactly sure how to hold all that together.
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