In the emptiness...

This was my revelation this weekend as I was staring at my Sign of Faith cross ring, which I wear as a daily reminder to myself of who I am and who I represent to others....

I have heard people talk before about how the latin cross came to be the symbol of modern Christianity...when historically it was an icon of humiliation, torture, death, and brutal punishment. My mind always processed it as a sign of our faith because the cross is empty! All crosses are empty, though....all of the criminals are taken down from their cross and buried after they died. Jesus was no exception. The true miracle is the the empty TOMB. No one else disappears from their burial ground, apart from Jesus. It is the emptiness of the tomb that should make us shudder.

The miracle of Jesus' resurrection goes on, however....and Thomas (forever marked as the "doubter" yet probably no lesser faith than mine) is invited to touch the holes in Jesus' hand and the gash in his side. These empty spaces, these holes proved the resurrection and identity of Jesus. THAT is why we have faith and hope. They are the sign that Jesus not only died on the cross but that he came back to life in tangible, physical form for a time.

There are days (and sometimes weeks and months) when I would love to have touched the hole in Jesus' hand....to assuage my doubts. It feels so different to bring to a mind an image like this green one when I think of the word faith---maybe because it's new and requires more processing than the ubiquitous, universal cross. I still love the cross....but I love the thought that Jesus is in the emptiness. I believe....Jesus, please forgive my unbelief.

....and that is why it's called Scrambled Eggs.