Reformátusok Lapja, 1969 (69. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1969-03-01 / 3. szám
Hungarian Reformed Religious Paper Founded in 1900 OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE CALVIN SYNOD—UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST A Conversation With the Crucified When Bishop Ordas of Hungary was imprisoned by the Communist Government, a prayer was born in his heart: “Lord Jesus, I have spoken so often ABOUT you to others, help me now to talk WITH you in my prison cell so that I may understand the mystery of thy Cross!” Lent means a conversation with the Crucified Lord so that we may understand His suffering BECAUSE of us, INSTEAD of us, and FOR us all. He suffers because of me. “Lord Jesus, how can 1 evade the burning question: ‘Is it 1 who betrays You?’ when I acknowledge in myself the unexplainable wavering of Judas, the blind envy of llie priests, the cruel compromising of Pilate, the irresponsible enjoyment of the mob, the faithless obedience of the soldiers!?... Yes, I am inescapably involved iii the sin syndicate of this world. I am the man who has great difficulty to run with you when your way leads to give up something valuable willingly for the life of my fellow man. I am there where they cry, ‘Crucify Him!’ 0 how much You suffer because of me! For every sin of mine surely reaches Heaven!” But not only because of me! He also suffers INSTEAD of me. “Lord, Jesus, how can I understand that 1 do not reap the full consequences of my evil deeds? The apostle Paul warned the Galatians that ‘whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.’ I am frightened, surprised, humiliated, but I cannot explain this in any other way except that you have something to do with it. Your Cross breaks the Law. I do not know all the theories about this, hut I do know as I stand face to face with You on the Cross that my sins and your unjust sufferings are redemptively connected. I am judged and freed, condemned and released, sentenced and acquitted under your Cross!” And He suffers FOR me, too! WE suffer together. "Lord Jesus, is it presumptuous to think that my uneasiness about the ‘bread-solution’, the ‘miracle-salvation’ and the ‘power-hopes’ of this world are somehow linked with your Cross? But regardless of my uneasiness, is it not true that your broken Body is the true Bread which satisfies poor and rich alike? that your Death is truly the Miracle which performs the humanly impossible? In any case, I cannot help being caught up, captured, captivated by You, my Crucified Lord!” I wonder, what is your conversation with Him in these Lenten days? Dr. John Butosi HE IS RISEN... There was hardly ever a more depressed and discouraged group of men than the disciples of Jesus after His crucifixion. With Him on the cross, their faith, hope, their belief in Christ as the Messiah, who was to restore the Kingdom of Israel, seemed to be shattered. They had lost everything: Calvary was the end of the world for them. Yet, in a few days we find the disciples united, strong, exultant, a group of changed men, facing the world with faith, with hope, with a definite message in their hearts and on their lips. The divine act which had quickened their souls into new hope and power, WAS THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. Easter morning changed everything. Peter describes the change that came over them through the resurrection as a rebirth and said, “Blessed be God, who had begotten us again unto living hope.” Actually two things happened to the disciples after Christ rose from the dead: First, confidence; their faith in God was restored because He had not allowed the Cross to he the last word. The second thing that happened to them, was that their faith was not only restored but reborn. Their faith, after it had been broken to pieces in the shattering Cross, rose to life in a new form. The risen Christ dispelled from them the ancient darkness of pain and sin; and their old, dark, sad and sinful world was love-lit through and through. With the risen and living Christ and with their rekindled hope, they could face the world again, they could jace anything; and SO CAN WE TODAY! There is no other way to get “living hope” of which Peter speaks, hut the disciples’ way. It is to notice and follow the risen, the living Christ! It is to get a vision of His deathless love before which sin and the grave are powerless. It is to see that love, His kind of love, Í9 the only way to real happiness, peace with God, with ourselves and with our fellowmen. To see, to meet, to learn, to know and then to follow the risen Christ in the depths of our being, that is the experience that quickens hope, strengthens faith, enriches love. That is the experience that always assures us of a happy Easter and a happy, hopeful and peaceful life individually, as a church and as a nation. Nothing else will do it... In this shaken, insecure and unhappy world let us, therefore, lift up our hearts and pray with the apostle: BLESSED BE GOD, WHO HAD GOTTEN US AGAIN UNTO LIVING HOPE.” Joseph Kecskemethy
