The Old Rugged Cross, Idols and Word-Pictures (part 1)

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks listening to a CD by Christian musician and artist Chris Rice.  This particular album is “The Hymns Project”, a compilation of traditional hymns performed with either piano or guitar.  The settings are largely traditional (no added bridges, no confusing lyric swaps), albeit with some modifications made as they are performed by an individual vs a choir; they are very sing-along-able, which has made the album great for car rides by myself.  I listen to albums of choirs singing hymns and sometimes the acoustics, recording quality or simply the nature of recorded choral singing, obscures the lyrics; that does not happen with this recording, and the pace and enunciation enhances my ability to really listen to and hear the words.  It is the content of good hymns—clear theological concepts expressed with vivid and memorable poetry—that separates them from what might be called the “spiritual songs” of modern Christian-pop music.  The lyrics of “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, “A Mighty Fortress”, and “It is Well with My Soul” can stop you in your figurative tracks by their expressions of God’s mercy, grace and power.  At least they do for me, and this has been a good week to be surrounded by good music that surrounds me with God’s presence.

The flip side is that I’ve noticed some lyrics that give me pause.  Specifically, “The Old Rugged Cross.” 

1. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. Refrain: So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down; I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown. 2. O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction for me; for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary. (Refrain) 3. In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see, for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died, to pardon and sanctify me. (Refrain) 4. To that old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear; then he'll call me some day to my home far away, where his glory forever I'll share. (Refrain)

With music and lyrics by George Bennard (1873 – 1958), this song wasn’t part of the Lutheran Hymnal of my childhood.  It was part of my husband’s Methodist tradition, where I learned to enjoy singing it. There were plenty of images of “old rugged cross[es]” in the Lutheran churches of my childhood—on the altar, on paraments and vestments, in stained glass windows.  For Confirmation when I was 14, I was given a gold crucifix necklace complete with the Corpus Christi; my parents have a handful of such crosses in wood on their walls (one, a gift from me while we lived in Europe—an amazing carving from linden wood). 

As I grew up, I realized that not every Christian tradition was comfortable with such images. CS Lewis expressed that images commonly displayed in churches were reasonably interpreted as “idols” and could offend those who held such belief.  The first time I read that, it set me back a minute; nearly all of Lewis’ statements resonated clearly with how I had been raised as a Christian, but calling Christian images idols—and a potential source of stumbling for some—was a new idea to me.  It is one that I have come back to frequently.  I’ve also read a little about the history of icons—images portraying Biblical stories—which ultimately morphed into passion plays and Christmas pageants, and I believe that images can serve a purpose in conveying Christian truths.  I also believe that with all media, we must be careful what we put into our eyes, minds and hearts. That said, I continue to wear a gold cross with the Corpus (not the same one given for Confirmation—that was stolen during a move many years ago, irony of ironies). 

The objections to images of Christ seem to fall into two main categories.  One generally objecting to any “graven images”, seeing these as a clear violation of the Commandments.  The other objection is specifically to the image of Christ’s wounded and dying body on the cross, seeing that as focusing excessively on the ugliness of His sacrifice and not enough on His resurrection.  Both of these arguments are interesting and worth considering.

...objections to images of Christ seem to fall into two main categories...objecting to any "graven images"...[or] specifically to the image of Christ's wounded and dying body on the cross...

The Commandment (First or Second, depending on how your tradition orders them) states “You shall not make yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God….” (Deuteronomy 5: 8, 9a).  Coming right after “You shall have no other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5: 7), the prohibition against graven images and the prohibition against other gods are tied together.  Interestingly, my tradition (Lutheran, but also true for Catholics) calls the First Commandment “You shall have no other gods” and moves on to the prohibition against using God’s name in vain as the Second Commandment.  Other (later reformed) traditions make the prohibition against idols the Second Commandment, separating but keeping clear the concepts of worshipping other gods and making idols.  The older numbering system seems to skip over making idols completely—and interestingly, if you look at houses of worship, you will find no fear of images in Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches.  Christian traditions for whom the Second Commandment prohibits idol creation and idol worship tend to avoid complex, detailed imagery in their worship environments (any crosses contain no figures; crosses may be avoided altogether; stained glass is more likely to only be colored shapes with no images depicted).  (The exception being the Eastern Orthodox, who order the commandments as do reformed traditions but still heavily use images in their worship spaces). Those raised in reformed traditions for whom images of Christ are seen as idols may be deeply offended by the presence of such images seen in their first visit to, for example, a traditional Roman Catholic church.  I recall my mother telling me the story of a friend of my sister’s (raised possibly Baptist?) who came to worship in our church.  Seeing a large cross on the altar with the body of Christ clearly portrayed the girl exclaimed in horror “You don’t worship that, do you?” 

It is wise and kind of us to remember the words of Paul in Romans 14: 19, 20 “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.  Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.  All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.” And later in Romans 15:1 “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.”   Again in I Corinthians 8: 9 “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.”  Sensitivity in this issue is worthy and important, so that nothing is a stumbling block to fellow believers.  Paul’s discussion focused on food, specifically food sacrificed to idols, but the principle remains:  areas open to interpretation must be approached with caution, lest the preferences of some lead to stumbling by others.

The second objection—that to the specific image of the dying Christ—is also worth consideration. Certainly all Christians celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord, His triumph over death which culminated His work on earth and His redemption of the world.  But when we talk about “the glory of the cross”, to what are we referring?  Is it the empty cross along with the empty tomb?   In John 12: 23ff, Jesus tells His disciples that “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified….”(v23).  He then proceeds to talk about a grain of wheat dying to produce many seeds and how a person who hates his earthly life will preserve it to eternity.  The glory that Jesus is discussing is His death on the cross, through which many “seeds” will be produced, that is, redeemed souls.  Paul, in Galatians 6: 14, says “[m]ay I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” In Romans 6: 3ff, Paul tells his readers that in our baptism we are baptized into the death of Christ and will ultimately be raised with Christ.  The empty tomb begins with the gruesome crucifixion; the resurrection must be preceded by the sacrificial death. 

Skipping gleefully ahead to the empty tomb without considering the weight of the occupied cross risks undervaluing the sacrifice of Christ Jesus.

I find it interesting that (and this may be only an unfair generalization based upon my limited experience) that the same traditions that object to images of the crucified Christ also spend less time focusing on individual reflection on sin and repentance.  Churches with the Corpus displayed are churches where the words “poor miserable sinner” and “mea culpa” are confessed with tears during the worship service.  I do not believe it’s a coincidence that the Stations of the Cross—a visual commemoration of the day Christ died—is part of the Catholic but not other, post-reformation traditions.  Skipping gleefully ahead to the empty tomb without considering the weight of the occupied cross risks undervaluing the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. We have been redeemed “not with…silver or gold….but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”  Christ our sacrificial lamb redeemed us with His blood.  I am concerned that when we fail to remember and even celebrate Christ crucified—when we intentionally fail to focus on the pain and gore, the blood, sweat and tears, shed by our Lord—we forget the true price paid for sin and risk minimizing His sacrifice.