The Cross: Symbol and Scandal. The Number Forty.
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist

Q: Why is the cross your symbol, since Jesus was killed on it? If I were killed by someone
with a gun, would my mother use the symbol of the same gun to remember me? Please
answer me as soon as possible because I am really confused.

A: Christians use the symbol of the cross precisely because it was the instrument of Jesus' death.
His death was not vain and worthless, because it also paid for our sins and brought forgiveness
from our heavenly Father. While it was used for torture and death, the cross also brought hope to
those who were bothered by sin and guilt.

Scripture speaks of the "scandal" of the cross, telling the Church that its message is offensive to
many in the world who don't realize their sins and don't know that they live under God's wrath
and judgment. Yet without Christ's suffering and death, there would be no Christians, no
Christian Church, and no cross symbol to celebrate.

Let's take a slightly different picture of a family. Suppose that your mother is attacked by
someone with a weapon. Out of love for her, you throw yourself in front of the gun and the bullet
meant for her strikes you. Your love gave her life. To remember your sacrifice, she wears a small
piece of jewelry in the form of a pistol or a bullet.

Even more so, the Christian responds to Jesus' love for us. He died not only for those who
already knew and loved Him, but for those who didn't know, or who knew and hated. He didn't
suffer and die for good, righteous, holy people, but for sinful, hateful, rebellious people. We place
the cross in our churches, wear it as jewelry, and hang it on the walls of our homes as part of our
lives of thankfulness for His sacrifice.

We also use the cross or the crucifix (a cross that bears a likeness of Jesus' body) with joy,
because we know that on the third day, Jesus was raised to life and that we, too, will participate in
the resurrection and eternal life with Him. It is truly the sign of a horrible, violent death. But His
death destroyed the power of death, sin, devil, and hell. Our Savior faced the horror so we might
receive the honor of adoption as the children of God.

Q: As the number seven in Scripture often stands for completion, what does the number
forty represent?

Depending upon the translation, the number forty appears between ninety and one hundred sixty
times in the Bible. This is in part because some translators omit duplicate occurrences in the same
verse. Thus "forty days and forty nights" is sometimes rendered "forty days and nights."

There is no "one size fits all" symbolic interpretation of the number, but in general it seems to
occur in times of testing, probation, judgment, or separation. Among its many mentions in the Old
Testament, we see forty days in the active flooding of the earth, the period spent by Moses on
Sinai, and the length of Elijah's journey. Israel spent forty years wandering in the Wilderness
during the Exodus. Moses' own life was expressed in three forty-year periods by Stephen (Acts
7:23-36). Jonah proclaimed, "Yet forty days, and Ninevah will be destroyed." Forty was also the
maximum number of stripes that could be inflicted in corporal punishment and was the number of
days of purification a woman underwent after the birth of a boy (Leviticus 12; Luke 2:22). Other
events could also be listed.

Since Christ is the New Israel, He experienced forty days of testing, fasting, and prayer in the
Wilderness, just as His earthly fathers spent forty years. Yet while they continued in sin, Jesus
continued in righteousness. So also, as God poured out His wrath upon during the days of Noah
for forty days, so also the wrath of God began to turn on His sinless Son, who was "made sin for
us." After His resurrection, He spent forty days with His disciples before ascension.

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Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."

Ask the Pastor is copyright (c) 2001 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced  in totality,
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