Crushing: God Turns Pressure into PowerSample

Vineyard to Victory 

How exactly did the cross become the much-beloved symbol of our faith? Doing a bit of research, I discovered that Helen, the mother of the emperor Constantine during the fourth century, allegedly went on a quest to find the actual cross upon which Jesus had died. She searched the known world until she found what she believed to be the antique wooden artifact, which had started to splinter and crack. But what to do with it?  How could she spread the gospel once she found what she had been looking for? 

Helen took carious slivers and splinters of the wood and sent them to believers and churches around the world. With these wooden fragments, people from every corner began venerating the cross and contemplating its reality. Seeing part of the actual cross caused people to pray and worship. Gradually, the cross began to represent something sacred, sacrificial, and sacramental. 

Prior to Helen’s quest and distribution, the cross only marked a place of agony. But as its presence spread thanks to Helen, the cross became an emblem of Christ’s crushing and the new wine produced when He emerged from the tomb. The cross went from an artifact of atrocity to an icon of adoration. 

Helen’s actions as much as anyone’s caused the good news to be spread and accepted all over the world. Isn’t it ironic that God used a woman to transform how we see the cross just as He used women to carry the message of Christ’s resurrection back to the men? Yet, we still debate where and when and how God can use women to minister. How striking that if not for women, the story would not have broken in the first place. Women at that time lived in such a misogynistic society that I can’t help but think they related to Jesus because of His own crushing. There is a fellowship among those who know the pain of suffering. 

Yes, we all have our crosses to bear. Whether we want to or not, all of us must pick up some kind of cross and follow Jesus into suffering. A failed marriage, a special needs child, a debilitating injury, a chronic illness, unbearable debt. We all go through crushing, but we must never forget crushing is not the end. We go from the vineyard to the vat to the victory.