What The Cross Means: Solidarity

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” - Galatians 3:13

This week at City Church we have been celebrating Juneteenth as well as discussing the cross as a symbol of solidarity. In Sunday’s sermon, Bill drew on the work of Black Liberation theologian James Cone (1938-2018) to discuss the cross as a symbol of Jesus showing solidarity with the oppressed.  

James Cone, like many black leaders in this country who were fighting against white supremacy, saw the intrinsic link between white Christianity and systemic racism. As a result, he actively rejected the oppressive ways of white theology and pursued a theology of liberation through invoking new images. One of the method’s emplored was linking two of the most charged symbols to black Americans: the cross and the lynching tree. He equated the lynching of over five thousand black men and women by white Christians between 1890 and 1940 to the Roman crucifixion of Jesus. Through linking these two symbols, Cone argued that people can “see Jesus in America in a new light, and thereby empower people who claim to follow him to take a stand against white supremacy and every kind of injustice.” Telling the story of Jesus through the lens of oppression created a concrete argument that God incarnate, like the black community, was oppressed. God’s solidarity remained with the oppressed to the point of death on the cross or lynching tree. 

In the face of white-spremacy-fused American Christianity, Cone used these images to remind and reclaim God's undeniable activity in liberation. God takes a side and that side is always with the oppressed. Juneteenth and James Cone’s images of the cross and the lynching tree remind us of the crucial work of justice God is calling us to. We remember and reflect on the evils of injustice. We celebrate the bravery of those that have combated it and the freedom found. We mourn the ways oppression still takes place. And we draw on the cross as an image of Jesus’ solidarity with the oppressed to ground us to our calling. Like Jesus, we must take a side. In word and deed, we are called to solidarity. 

This week, take time to sit with your images of God and Jesus. Does your God take a side? What does it mean to love and follow a God of liberation? How does this change you? Keep these questions in tension as you ask God to help you move and grow in seeking liberation and justice.