(In memory of Dexter Scantlebury, who played the role of Evangelist in New Life Drama Company's 1996 musical adaptation of 'Pilgrim's Progress' titled "Celestial City". He who pointed the way to freedom's narrow gate entered the Celestial City where there is no curse on Feb. 15, 1998)

Michael Bell wrote a poem one Good Friday morning, titled "The Cross". The last lines read:

And I saw that you cannot just stand still

halfway up on Calvary Hill

but you must go up or you must go down

to the crowd at the foot, or the Cross at the crown.

And the choice in my heart was made that day

to walk to the Cross up the stony way.

The poem indicates the necessity of decision. We either meet God's pardon and peace at the cross or we stay with 'the crowd at the foot' that does not want to be identified with the One who takes His place with the guilty. The Cross is a place for executing convicted criminals. It is a place of stigma and shame. But for those who believe it is a symbol of God's plan to rescue us from certain judgment and the City of Destruction.

At the Cross we see the love of God with arms outstretched, inviting the guilty sinner to find full pardon and peace. We hear God whisper through the pain of His suffering servant, "Come unto me".

Christ is ready to meet us at the crossroads, where we can go one way or the other. The Latin word for 'cross' is 'crux'. Today the word 'crux' is used synonymously for 'the most important thing'. We want to get to the 'crux' of the matter. The cross represents the scandal of God's justice: the Righteous dies for the unrighteous to bring them to God. The cross represents the scandal of Christ's particularity: Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me." The Cross represents God's way of escape from death and His alternative to the broad road to destruction. Christ stands at the crossroads of eternity and time and says, "I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in me, will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me, will never die. Do you believe this?"

The Cross is the great continental divide of history. From the cross, where God gave our sins the just penalty they deserve, our destinies flow to eternal life or to eternal destruction, pending our choice.

Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

May the choice in our hearts be made today - to walk to the Cross up the stony way. Make your way to Freedom's Gate.