“Congratulations, Graduates!” is a familiar phrase this time of year. And as a church family, we are especially blessed this spring with a large number of graduates.
To all of you who are graduating, we salute you for your fine accomplishments and achievements! How proud we are! We rejoice with you at this significant milestone!
All this excitement about graduations brings to mind something Bob Putnam shared with me about a catchy tagline the Cross Pen Company once used in their May/June promotion: Graduate to the Cross!
I hadn’t previously considered the Cross as a graduation moment for Christ… but it may, in fact, be an accurate concept.
Think about it: all eternity past was riveted in anticipation, looking forward to Christ’s “graduation moment” at the cross.1 And every moment since and all of eternity future looks back to that same moment.2 It truly was that pivotal – God’s Son humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:9,10).
How we thank You, Lord Jesus, for all that you expended at the cross. What a graduation! We are beside ourselves with joy at Your accomplishment on that tree! Hallelujah for the cross – the wonderful cross! We celebrate Your graduation – summa cum laude – that sets us free from sin and death!
1 Eph 1:4/ Gen 3:15/Gen 12:3/Is 11:1, ff/Acts 3:22, ff.
2 1 Pe 1:18-21/Rev 1:17/Rev. 5:6-14