We do not use a crucifix as one of our symbols. A crucifix is a cross that has Jesus still hanging on it. This is the wrong image. He is not still dying, let alone being crucified again and again as the official doctrine of the Catholic mass teaches.

Christ is not still dying, but He will always be the one who died. Paul used the perfect tense in 1 Corinthians 1:23: “we preach a having been crucified Christ.” The crucifixion is finished, but the results of it are forever.

So when the apostle John saw the lamb in heaven, it was “standing, as though it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). The marks of death were obvious; they couldn’t be ignored.

We will never get passed the need to remember, or the blessing of remembering, the cross. As we commune at the Lord’s Supper, we are remembering His body and blood, spent in substitutionary death. Paul says, “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaimed the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). It’s interesting that he does not say “you proclaim the Lord’s resurrection until he comes.” Christ’s resurrection is our hope. But even a natural man wants resurrection, who wants the cross?

The bread and wine are simple elements. Eating and drinking are among the most mundane activities we do. And yet a crucified Christ is not normal. It offends the world. And it is the power of God and the wisdom of God to us who are called. The cross is craziness to men, and it brings us into communion with God.