Good afternoon! I am so excited and feeling so blessed to be here.

My name is Ting Ying. Currently, I am working as a coordinator for

an educational program of Kachin Baptist Convention – Youth
Department. So, I am running a school of leadership outside of this
town.

I believe this is more than a privilege for me to be standing here and

sharing my Christian faith with all of you this afternoon. I indeed
thank God and the concerned persons here for giving me such a
wonderful privilege to do so. This afternoon the talk will be centered
on a topic “the Cross.”

Firstly, let us meditate on the words of two of the most wonderful

people who have ever followed Jesus.

The First reading is from the writing of Saint Paul, from his first
letter to Corinthians 1:18 – 19 – For the message about Christ’s
death on the Cross is nonsense to those who are being lost, but
for us who are being saved it is God’s power. The scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and set aside the
understanding of the scholars.”

The Second reading is from the writing of Bonhoeffer (was a

German theologian), from his classic book entitled “the Cost of
Discipleship” I quote – “The passion of Christ strengthens us to
overcome the sins of others by forgiving them. We become the
bearer of other’s burdens. As Christ bears our burdens, so we
ought to bear the burdens of our fellow-human beings. The law
of Christ, which it is our duty to fulfill, is the bearing of the
Cross.”
Today, many people use the cross for many reasons. Some people
use it symbolically, some for fancy, some even have cross-shaped
tattoo on every part of their body. I wonder whether those people
have really thought about the meaning of the cross which they are
using for different reasons. For christians, at the heart of the
Christian faith, there is the Cross of Christ. A person can never be a
true Christian without grounding oneself on the Cross of Christ.

But in the history of humanity, the Cross of Christ has always been
doubted, tested and examined again and again. Albert Schweitzer (a
German philosopher and writer) once said, “The death of Christ on
the Cross is noble but mistaken or foolishness.” In today’s language,
it would mean that the death of Christ on the Cross is very nice but
useless. Schweitzer believed that “Jesus was obsessed with the
concept of the Kingdom of God. And, Jesus could not fulfill his dream
to build the Kingdom of God and died on the cross as a disappointed
dreamer.”

No doubt, the Cross has been seen as mistaken, as a shameful place,

as foolishness ever since Jesus’ time. Despite of all these, I am more
and more intellectually, practically and emotionally convinced that
Christian faith can rightly be understood only on and through the
Cross where our Lord was crucified inhumanly. Meaning to say, we
can know the reality of God for that matter the reality of Jesus only
on and through the Cross (when I say reality; it means the nature,
the purpose, and the being of God). Therefore, the death of Christ on
the Cross testifies the essence of Christ or the essence of God. At the
same time, the cross also tells us about how much human beings are
in need of it. Anyhow, there is only one way to follow Christ or to be
the disciple of Christ, which is the way of the Cross.

So what, then, do we see on the Cross? Or what is there for us to

follow? The answer is LOVE, the love of God which is directed
towards the undeserved (in our deep down we know ourselves that
we don’t really deserve God’s love anymore because we rebel
against God every now and then but on the Cross God’s love reach
out to people like us who are undeserved), the love of God which is
directed towards the “unattractive,” (we are not attractive in God’s
eyes because of our wrongdoings but on the Cross God’s love reach
out to people like us who are unattractive) and the love of God
which is directed towards sinful humanity. Above all, on the Cross
the love of God which bears the burdens of other/us.

This afternoon, I want all of us to reflect on the way of the Cross

which is LOVE. If we are honest, we must admit that our human love
is naturally directed towards the “attractive.” (young people we
know ourselves more. We look at someone who is beautiful and we
say “well I think I love him or her because he/she is so beautiful and
attractive. We love a person because of his/her attractiveness. If we
see a person who is “unattractive” we say “oh … old fashion..
she/her will never get married” that’s what we normally say) Our
love is attracted by what appears good to us. We draw boundaries of
deserved and underserved among us. We love those who love us.
We love those who are beautiful, intelligent and who speak well. We
love those who favor us. That is human love.

But the love of God on the Cross is the other way around. It
transcends the reality and acceptance of human love. It goes beyond
our cultural norms and values. It embraces the unattractive, loves
the sinful humans, and gracious to those underserved.

Here what can we do with all these – talking about the cross? Or
why are we even talking about all these? I believe because the only
way of true Christian living and the only hope for the world is the
Cross of Christ.

Are you feeling so unsecured of your life? Are you feeling that you
are ignored and left out by everyone? Or you feel unloved, hated by
everyone around you? Or are you feeling that you are useless and
you are not valued and you sense hopelessness in your life?

I have a good news for you today that “for God loved you/the world
so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in
him may not die but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

My friends, no matter what you feel, always remember that God

loves you so much. You are loved, valued and always secured by the
Cross of Christ which testifies the everlasting love of our God the
father.

No matter you feel yourself as unattractive, ugly, and undeserved,

God still loves you because the Cross of Christ testifies that God
loves each and everyone of us so much that He himself hang on the
Cross.

In the letter to Romans, the apostle Paul rightly claims that “while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us on the Cross.”

Yes, Christ died for all. It is not only for the Kachins, or Shans, it is
also for the Burmese, or even the Buddhists. Therefore, the Cross of
Christ is for everyone. Yes God’s love is for everyone sitting here,
staying outside and for everyone on this earth.

My friends, there is unfailing love on the Cross. And there are power,
transformation, new creation, confidence, hope, peace, new and
everlasting life and saving grace on the Cross of Christ.

May we all find peace, love and everlasting life on the Cross of Christ
which makes our hearts unrest to be at rest in God who created us!

Amen.