What did He do?

For as long as I remember, I have theoretically known what Christ achieved on the Cross. Atonement. Propitiation. Sacrifice. It has become a pat, dusty little theology sitting in the unused corners of my mind for much of my adult life. Theologically dry and practically inaccessible.

I am left with a dutiful amount of gratitude but also find myself wondering, what am I missing here? Is Calvary overrated? Over advertised? Short on delivery? Because when I look around, I don't see nearly so much dynamo unleashed that you would expect given the sheer amount of real estate given this work in the Bible. The Cross was changing lives. Literally tearing them apart and making something new. As a Christian, I see the rhythmic beat of redemption in the life of His followers. The steady, quiet work as we are shaped by the Great Parent, but I rarely see the life-cracking power of Calvary grasped tenaciously, turning agony to victory, stirring hope like elixir through the bitter brew of broken lives. Why do so many of us Christ-followers seem to struggle with many of the painful pitfalls and despairs experienced by broken society? Where is our hope? Where is our power? I'm not talking vague, pat 'everything will be ok one day' mentalities... Don't get me wrong, these attitudes are good, necessary: great in fact! But where is the power of the cross in our today? Is there some powerful concept woven into the fabric of that controversial event that we are missing....a secret awaiting our discovery, readily accessible moment by moment in all our agonies and victories, trials and triumphs? And if so, what does it look like in my mind? My life? My skin?

I am no theologian, but I am beginning to reassess how I have viewed the Cross. Because, I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that I am only scratching the dust here and there just might be a wellspring beneath my fingertips. What if the Cross really was the most exciting thing to happen to mankind? What if it truly was the Great Battle Conquered: that mighty and invisible clash of worlds, where the military control of Darkness was literally overthrown and a New Kingdom was set into motion? What if it its implications are as tender as a lover, as real as Youtube and as readily accessible as a breath?
I know, right? It sounds like the stuff of an amazing tv series, but is it real? The short answer is: YES! more real than the skin we inhabit! And I have a growing suspicion that is supposed to crack open our lives, our days, our moments just as it cracked open the very earth beneath His feet.

Because when His body exhaled, an invisible, corrupting Kingdom bled into the dusty ground and began to distort the cells of Fallen Humanity. Like a viral infection leaking into the hopelessness, the despair, the injustice, the loss. Every event from that moment forth: every single exquisite, painful moment from that day until the folding up of this planet, was cataclysmically divided. Hope vs Despair. Redemption vs Destruction. Life vs Death. Within reach of fingers and hearts and minds... The word of the Lord is near.

We are offered a Kingdom. Viral. Wild. Corrosive. Accessible.
The ramifications are dynamic.
Sink your teeth into it. Get your head around it. Let it invade.
It's where our story begins.