Lancaster First United Methodist Church
March 7, 2010
Isaiah 66:1-2 & James 4:7-10
Rev. Robert McDowell

“The Crosses of Jesus: St. Andrew’s Cross”

During the Season of Lent, these six Sundays leading up to Easter, we are focusing on the different crosses of Jesus and how each one of these crosses offers a unique perspective on the meaning of our faith. Let’s briefly review the first two crosses that we have already covered.

We began this series by looking at the significance of the Latin cross. This particular cross helped us to see the simplicity of the cross. This is the cross shape that the Romans most likely used to crucify Jesus. It’s just a horizontal piece of wood with another vertical piece of wood near the top, about two thirds high.

And I think this particular cross has a way of helping us to remember the basic truth of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. To know that Jesus died for the world and on the third day rose again. It doesn’t get any more basic than this simple but profound message.

Last Sunday, Sam helped us to reflect on the particular meaning of the Jerusalem Cross which consists of a large cross in the middle with four small crosses in each corner. And the whole point of the Jerusalem Cross is to remind us that the good news of the cross of Jesus Christ didn’t stay in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified and rose again, but has been extended throughout the whole world.

And this brings us to today and our focus on the St. Andrew’s cross. This cross is shaped in a unique way to help us appreciate the importance of humility in our walk with Christ. And here’s the reason why it reminds us of humility.

Church tradition tells us that Andrew, who was one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus, ended up being crucified, as is true with all twelve of the disciples with the exception of just two, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus, and the disciple, John, who as far as we know, lived into his 90s and died of natural causes.

Here’s the brief story about Andrew. His name appears only fourteen times in the New Testament with only one of those references being outside of the four Gospels and that is in the Book of Acts. And of those fourteen references where Andrew’s name appears, three of them are simply where he’s included in a listing with the other twelve disciples.

But whenever Andrew’s name appears outside of those lists, there’s a common thread – he’s always bringing people to meet Jesus. If you remember, it’s Andrew who brought his brother, Simon Peter, to Jesus for the first time.

And it’s Andrew who brings a little boy to Jesus who happens to have five loaves and two fish. And with those five loaves and two fish, Jesus miraculously fed five thousand people with that little bit of food.

It’s Andrew, who with the help of the disciple, Phillip, tells Jesus about some people outside of the Jewish faith who wanted to meet Jesus.

So every time Andrew’s name is mentioned, he is about bringing people to Jesus and that’s why he is primarily known for evangelism. But the particular type of cross that bears his name is not primarily about evangelism, but about his humility.

You will notice that the St. Andrew’s cross is really an “X” shape which is very different from any of the other crosses. Church tradition tells us that following the time of the New Testament period, Andrew was crucified for his faith. And because of his tremendous humility he chose not to be crucified in the same way as Jesus. Instead, he was crucified upside down and that’s why we have this particular shaped cross.

Incidentally, Andrew’s brother, Simon Peter, also chose to be crucified in a similar way, but the shape of St. Peter’s cross is an upside down Latin cross. Both the cross of St. Peter and the cross of St. Andrew are symbols of their example of humility as followers of Jesus Christ.

And if you’re into history, you might be interested in this. Several centuries after Andrew died for his faith, tradition tells us that his relics were brought to Scotland by a missionary which is why St. Andrew is known as the Patron Saint of Scotland.

Even today people continue to make pilgrimages to this location in Scotland that is named after this saint. In fact, many pilgrims will be visiting there this July. These religious pilgrims are also known as golfers. And they will be at St. Andrew’s for this year’s British Open. If you watch the British Open this summer, I want you to think back to this message on St. Andrew’s Cross and how Andrew was known for his humility. Come to think of it, golf is a great way to keep a person humble.

One of my favorite scriptures comes from James 4:10. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Humble yourselves.

In our Isaiah scripture passage from the Old Testament, the Lord says, “But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word.”

St. Augustine, one of the most well known of all the Christian saints who lived in the 4th century once said, “Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion? I should reply: the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.”

Maybe you heard of the famous conductor who was once asked which instrument he considered the most difficult to play. He thought for a moment and then said, “Second fiddle.”

Being humble isn’t an easy thing.

A few years ago, some members of our church joined Penny and me on a ten day religious tour of Italy. One day while we were there, I was standing in front of a famous fountain in the beautiful city of Florence when a woman tried to get my attention. She wanted me to be in her picture and had me scoot over to my right so that the fountain could be seen in the background.

So I moved toward my right thinking that I was now in the place she wanted me to be. But then she put down her camera, and while scrunching up her face, she motioned for me to get out of the way.

It was at that point, that I looked behind me, and there posing for her picture were her husband and children.

Why she didn’t want me in a picture with her family, I’ll never know!

William Beebe, the naturalist, used to tell this story about Teddy Roosevelt. At Sagamore Hill, after an evening of talk, the two would go out on the lawn and search the skies for a certain spot of star-like light near the lower left hand corner of the Great Square of Pegasus. Then Roosevelt would recite:

“That is the Spiral Galaxy in Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our sun.”

Then Roosevelt would grin and say, “Now that we are reminded of how small we really are in this world, it’s time to go to bed!”

Well, I guess that’s one way to stay humble – just think about how large God’s world is and how small we really are in the world.

But I think St. Andrew’s Cross might offer a better way for us to stay humble. The reason that church tradition tells us that Andrew chose not be crucified in the same manner as his Lord, was because his focus was totally on his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It’s by keeping our focus on Christ that allows us to be humble people whose main focus is to be the most faithful disciples of Jesus Christ that God is calling us to be.

James says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

Penny and I moved to Ohio almost twenty-five years ago. We had just been married and were two of the most naïve people on the face of the earth. Still in our early twenties, we had no clue how difficult it would be for us to move away from our families and start a new life together as a married couple.

During our first summer, we looked for a United Methodist Church to attend and we ended up attending a large congregation near our apartment. That very next day, I received a phone call from the Senior Pastor of this church, inviting Penny and me to come to his office so that he could get to know us. See what you get for signing the attendance pad on Sunday morning?

This senior pastor was so gracious to us. We told him that I was about to begin at the seminary in the fall and he offered to help me in any possible way. He was so encouraging and caring during that one hour there in his office. One of the leading pastors in our West Ohio Conference, he took time out of his busy schedule for this newlywed couple. He introduced us to some other couples our age and helped us to get involved in a wonderful Sunday School class that helped us to get connected in the life of the church.

We attended that church for the remainder of the summer, but then I ended up getting my first position at a different church and we lost track of this senior pastor for the next four or five years. One day, I happened to be at a clergy meeting, and I heard my name. It was the voice of this Senior Pastor that I had met. He even remembered my name!

And then he asked how Penny was doing, again, remembering her name after all of those years, and he asked me about something else that he had picked up on during that conversation that we had together four or five years ago when we first met.

Amazing. What a humble person. One of the leading pastors of our conference and he remembered this “would be pastor” in the making. He left a big impression on me.

I don’t know. Maybe he knew something about St. Andrew’s cross and the importance of keeping our entire focus on Jesus Christ, every moment of every day. It’s when we keep our focus on Jesus that we are able to be humble and to be a blessing to the people around us, making friends of strangers, and including all people into the life of the church.

Maybe this is why Andrew is also known for evangelism. His humility and focus on Christ led him to invite others to come to know the good news of Jesus Christ. Humility and evangelism go hand in hand.

Mark Feldmeier, who has written the book, “Stirred, Not Shaken,” tells of a time when he was visiting Washington D.C. and he was sitting on a bench in front of the White house. And while he was sitting there and eating a hot dog, he was thinking about all of the monuments that were around him, monuments of famous people who have done great things. And he began to wonder why at age 35, he still hadn’t done anything all that great in his life.

As he thought about this, a stranger came up to him and asked if he could have a drink of his coke. Mark said that this man had fire in his eyes with the sour smell of the city all over him.

Here, Mark had been day dreaming about doing something great in his life that would make an impact on the world, maybe even something great enough that a limestone monument would be erected in his memory someday.

And now, all that God seemed to want from him was to give this guy a swig of his coke. He watched him raise the bottle to his cracked lips, tip his head back, and take a hard long swallow. When he finally came up for air, the man tried to give the bottle back to him but he insisted that the man just keep it and drink the rest of it.

While it’s not a bad thing to want to do something great and awesome for the world and maybe even have a monument named after us, the cross of St. Andrew reminds us that it’s really serving others in the little ways that matter the most to God. The small humble ways like giving a stranger something to drink on a hot day.

Sometimes, we are so focused on doing something great and noteworthy that we take our eyes off Jesus and we miss those moment to moment opportunities to serve others in the name of Christ. And those moments are right there in front of us. All we need to do is see others through the eyes of Christ.

Three weeks from today, we will be celebrating Palm Sunday when Jesus’ came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey and the large crowd of people waved palm branches as he went by.

You know, I wonder if that donkey who carried Jesus that day, ever thought to himself that they were waving those branches for him instead of for the one who was riding on his back.

The cross that is in the shape of an “X” reminds us that those palm branches were meant for Jesus, the one who would die on a cross for the sins of the world, the one who would die for sinners like you and me.

What a humbling thought.