Martin Luther writes (he was the one who constructed a theology of the cross versus a theology of glory):

But under the cross which we experience, eternal life lies hidden. . . . We, too, experience the cross, and death appears to us, if not in fact, yet in our conscience through Satan. Death and sin appear, but I announce life and faith, but in hope. Therefore, if you want to be saved, you must battle against your feelings. Hope means to expect life in the midst of death, and righteousness in the midst of sins. [taken from this post]

So there is a certain tension and dialectic that Luther is noting about the Christian life. Instead of me elaborating further on the theological context and depth of what Luther’s quote springs from, I want to simply use this quote from him to get us into an application of this in my own life—as I am experiencing it. The rest of what I am going to write, will be brief, and a simple reflection and thought that I am sure the Lord put on my heart yesterday as I was driving to work.

We all have trials and tribulations in this life, if we didn’t Jesus would have been a liar when he said this:

³³ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:33

My family has been through one thing after the other it seems over so many years; poverty (by American standards), long term unemployment, cancer, unemployment again, my daughter needing emergency head surgery, employment that keeps me from seeing my family that often and keeps me, often, from going to church on Sundays, and many other things too intimate to get into here. And in the midst of this, it seems, at points, I have been striving to read all of these theology books and do theology; which, at points, seems to be an inane process. And it is this that the Lord really spoke to my heart about yesterday on the drive to work. He br0ught to mind I Corinthians 1 (the passage I wrote on for my Master’s thesis), and Martin Luther’s theology of the cross. I have been striving, in large part, to “do” theology by becoming in-formed through reading all of these theology books, etc.—a task, in an of itself which can be a fruitful and good thing [indeed, the fact that I know of Luther’s theology is because of this very kind of endeavor]—but the Lord spoke to my heart by reminding me that I don’t need to strive to do theology because he has already done (and is doing) theology in me, and in my family (and in all of us who are his). I don’t need to construct a space or situation wherein I can do a pristine and academic theology; instead, theology is God in Christ meeting me where I am at, in the mire (which unfortunately it seems to be so often) of my own circumstance. This is the wisdom of God, he humbled himself and became us (me), that I might, by adoption and grace become and participate what he has in his own resourcing life in Christ. In other words, the Lord impressed upon me that the very circumstances he has us currently facing in life (as a family, and individually), has been redeemed by his life in Christ; and all of the mundane, and, at points, dreary things facing us (me) are theological and chritologically rich situations wherein he reveals himself moment by moment as my sustenance, as my daily bread. It is not wrong to read theology books, but it is wrong when I think that “I” have to create some sort of situation that makes it so that I am doing theology. Instead, all of life is theological, all of life is christological, all of creation and its tumultuous circumstance has been reorientated to its orientation and purpose in Christ (cf. Col. 1:13ff). This perspective (which is what it is, ‘perspective’ providing) does not change the circumstances of life, it doesn’t really make things easier, but it does allow me to know that nothing that I am doing is in vain, because what I am doing has been placed into the context of what God is doing in Christ in and through the recreative activity of the Holy Spirit.

How does this relate to Luther’s theology of the cross? It gives me the perspective I need, to know that the only lens that can truly make any sense of anything in this life is the lens of the faith of Christ. Things don’t appear to be what they are (nakedly), just as the manger didn’t seem to be what it is for Christ; but to know that I can come to know God in rich and deep ways through every hard and rugged detail of this life gives me hope, I hope it gives you some too!

⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight. ~II Corinthians 5:7