I don’t know about you, but we have had a recent out break in our house of what could be described as wandering shoe syndrome. You take your shoes off and leave them somewhere and then when you go to put them on again they are somewhere else; somewhere where you would never have put them. It happens most frequently in houses with small people involved. NO it is not Alzheimer’s setting in but a phenomenon that can explain for us the brutality of the cross which we remember today.

You see Rupert loves to wear mummy or daddy’s shoes. He loves to put them on his feet and walk around and for the most part it is pretty cute. This is a driving force in children who seek to copy their parents and so grow up. I think we have all seen a young child who has found mummy’s lipstick. No nice lines on the lips, but a red smear from cheek to cheek. Children try, but do not quite succeed.

Perhaps it is a number of years of youth work that have led me to speculate what growing up means? What is the true sign of maturity? I have come to the conclusion that maturity comes, when the individual is fully aware of the consequences of the action. Binge drinking, drug experimentation and fast driving are all elements of immaturity, because there is little thought for the consequences. Even the studies of youth suicide tend to indicate that the action has little concept of the fact that dead is forever.

Now I am not saying the young people are the ones who are responsible for the cross. But like young children seek to usurp there parents (never more evident in the terrible twos when No is the flavour of the month); we as humans seek also to do that to our heavenly father. We seek to push him out of the picture and take over ourselves. And we need only look around to see the results.

As I was growing up, I read a book called Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. This book detailed the imact of the use of Chemicals like DDT. You see the theory was, if insect pests eat 20% of the crop, then if we were to eliminate the insects then we will increase yields by 25%. But it didn’t work, as we eliminated more than the insects and poisoned the food chain. The words trust me I am a scientist are still frightening. Perhaps this is what frightens me most about GM or Genetically Modified crops. The same people (or their vocational descendants) are telling us that they know what they are doing. Playing God. Usurping him.

In Jesus day, the world was not governed by the science industry, but rather by the religious industry. The High Priests and Scribes that brought Jesus to trial were very powerful. It was a good job, with good money and certainly there was no room for any one to rock the boat. Rather than making God accessible, they had used God to make themselves powerful and in doing so had pushed the people away.

When Jesus came along and questioned them and their portrayal of the world and of God, there was a problem. They had two choices really. They could respond to what it was that Jesus was saying, or they could follow the path that they did to maintain their position of power, to eliminate Jesus from the picture.

Now before we become judgemental of them, are we not also guilty of this. Do we not seek to use our positions of power or authority or our particular skills to get our own way? In our relationships, are there not times that we manipulate the other for our own benefit? Manipulate the situation to our own advantage? If we were to look honestly at ourselves we would have to say yes. And don’t be surprised at that, for that is the nature of humanity. And that is the reason for the cross.

So we come to this day, and see the end result of pushing God out of the picture. Goodness crucified and disposed of for the sake of human pride. And we all must share this guilt. It was not someone else that crucified Jesus — It was us!!!

But that is the good news. For God, acted on our behalf on the cross. He gave us the freedom to be free. We have choice because of the cross to choose one of two ways — the way that leads to eternal life by accepting that God is God or the other way continually trying to be God, to solve our own problems. Maturity is not about coping, but recognising our limitations. About recognising our need for God.

But there is one last thing. I am always concerned at the portrayal of Christianity in simple terms. We all know the testimony - I was a sinner deep in sin, and then suddenly I encountered Jesus and I was saved. In fact looking back over a number of years many of these do not seem to go anywhere as Christians. I do not doubt that this happens, but it is not the norm as far as I am concerned indeed it is the abnormal.

Normality as far as Christianity is concerned is what our wise forefathers gave us in the church calender. A regular new and fresh encounter with Jesus. Not that we are backsliding, but our growth in the faith comes as we deal with one problem, only to encounter another problem that God wishes to deal with. Another part of our life in which God has no control.

The burdens that I have spoken about this week, are the things that we are hanging onto. The cross before us is big enough to carry them, we need only to put them down. Jesus died to set us free, let us give to his cross the things that are binding us.

do you want a hand in the crucifixion? Or Are you prepared to put God back in control?

Let us listen to "Would you Crucify him?"