Wretchedness and Triumph
“O wretched man that I am who will deliver me from the body of this death?”
Romans 7: 24
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 2: 14
Both of these lines were written by the Apostle Paul. The first represents Paul’s “dark night of the soul.” I have never encountered anything quite like the Christian dark night of wretchedness in my readings of other religions. None of the eastern religions has anything like it. Neither does Islam. Jews at the wailing wall or on the Day of Atonement - might come close at times. But they never say anything quite like Paul’s Roman’s 7 great wail of wretchedness. Christianity is unique - drastically unique.
At the same time the triumphalism of Christianity in its victory parade has no rival. Both the black dungeon and the heroic triumph of Christianity is a mystery to the world. Both things are repellant to them. The full passage starting with Corinthians 2: 14, expresses this remarkable phenomenon:
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death unto death, and to the other the aroma of life unto life.”
The authentic Christian has the aroma of death to the unbeliever. Why is this? Well, we bear the aroma of Christ. But it is not the Christ of American popular culture. We carry the aroma of Christ crucified and Christ risen. The crucified Christ has the aroma of death unto death. His death leads to our death with Him. The risen Christ has the aroma of life unto life - we have life through his risen life.
There is nothing more frightening to the unbeliever than the crucified Christ and to the risen Christ. The crucified Christ testifies to the world that God condemns sin in the flesh. The unbeliever senses that his own flesh is condemned. God condemns sin with such ferocity that the Father decreed a hideous death for His son as a sacrifice for our sin. As we approach the cross we see our own sins there and the Christ suffering the agonies of hell on our account. The sight of our vile sins laid upon the suffering Christ is horrifying.
When I was about 11 years old, my family was visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. I had a morbid fascination for the macabre. I stole away from our group and went seeking for horrors. Medieval Cathedrals are delightfully filled with scarifying things. I darted into a shadowy shrine to the front left of the nave - and encountered twin terrors.
The first horror was a shadowy ancient tomb containing the bones of some king - or perhaps it was a saint, bishop, or Abbott. I took a closer look at a menacing sculpture atop the tomb. It was Father Time. He wore the hooded cowl of a monk and brandished a scythe in his bony fingers. The empty sockets of his bony face stared at me from the dark holes. His hideous grin mocked me. “I am coming for you,” he seemed to say. My pulse raced, and I swallowed hard as I stared into the eyes of the father of horrors.
Then I turned round and saw something that scared me more than the specter of death. A great master sculptor of the 13th century depicted Christ carrying His cross. He was stooping low under the burden of the cross. The crown of thorns wounded his brow. His mouth seem to cry in pain and His grieved eyes were cast up to heaven. The exquisite agony in his noble face was a terrible thing to see. Lightning bolts of terror and grief struck my heart. I wanted to run but I was transfixed. I was compelled to stare upon the torture of this suffering king for an endless and horrible moment. At length I averted my gaze and found relief looking at the skull face. Compared with the cross, what is mere physical death?
I lost my fear of death by gazing upon the cross. And, paradoxically. I gain an increased capacity for joy.
This risen Christ is also a terror to the unbeliever. When Christ returns, “...every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.” He shall return as a conquering Lord of warrior hosts. It will be the day of doom for His enemies. “Then will they begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us! And to the hills “cover us!” Matthew 23: 30 Why are they terrified? “...there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have to do.” Hebrews 4: 13
Paul had been joined by God’s Spirit to the crucified and risen Christ. In the light of the cross his depravity was exposed and he cried out, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death?” But the despairing Paul also knew the risen Christ and was the most joyous and triumphant of men. Those who share in Christ’s death also share in His triumph. Thus, Paul was the fragrance of life to those who are being saved and the fragrance of death to those who are perishing.
Christ is crucified and Christ is risen. Christians grieve in wretchedness. Christians rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
E-prayer message by Fred Hutchison. Adapted for the web 9/30/02