I’m sticking with this picture of the “REPENT” sign another day because something intrigues me about it.

Looking at it closely and noticing the shadows under the sign makes me believe the sign is nailed to a telephone pole. But for some reason, it makes me think of a cross. The fact that there is nothing in the background but blue sky and clouds would seem to support that. Our line of sight is looking up. And though you cannot see the crossbar, you subconsciously think it’s there.

Imagine for a moment, then, that it is a cross. The word “Repent” is well suited for the cross because it is all about the transformation the cross makes possible for you and me.

The cross is a stark reality. It’s a gruesome death. It is a sobering reminder of the seriousness of our sin and what it cost God to send his son to pay for it and get us back. But the cross is not a stopping place. (Marti is always talking about those who gather around the cross with their folding chairs and notebooks.) The cross made possible a new life, a new relationship, and a new covenant in Christ’s blood. That new life is represented by the cup (the wine) when we commemorate the Lord’s Supper.

That would be the blue sky and clouds on the other side of the cross. The point of the cross is to get beyond it – to pass through it to a changed life on the other side. God doesn’t want us to sit around mourning his death on the cross; he wants us to pass through it to the other side and become active followers of him, depending on his Spirit for our every step and manifesting the qualities and actions of Christ wherever we go. The cross is not the end; it is just the beginning.

We do carry around a physical body that still tends toward sin, but there is a new possibility. Jesus crucified that body’s power over us so that we don’t have to do what it tells us. We can choose a new way in the Spirit that has been provided. Like that Doors hit: “Break on through to the other side.” That would be what it means to repent.

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:10)