Cross addendum

I wrote today's post early this morning. Later in the day, I went to lunch, and read the rest of chapter 10 of Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew. I found some quotes that go right along with today's post:

• It took time for the church to come to terms with the ignominy of the cross. Church fathers forbade its depiction in art unitil the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine, who had seen a vision of the cross and who also banned it as a method of execution.
• It was not until the fourth century that the cross became a symbol of faith.
• CS Lewis points out that the crucifixion did not become common in art until all who had seen a real one died off.
• The cross redefines God as one who was willing to reliquish ower for the sake of love....Power, now matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other.