Lift high the cross: Why do Christians honor a Roman torture device?

See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high (Is 52:13).



Why is the cross the central symbol of our Catholic faith? Perhaps it’s not a question we’ve ever really thought about before. On the one hand, it’s hardly surprising that the cross, the outstanding sign of God’s love for us, would be a symbol of our faith. But on the other hand, the cross has become so much more than that. Today it is not merely one symbol among many, but the central symbol in our art, our devotion, our liturgy. On its face, this is rather strange.

Think about it for a moment. Christianity is about the Good News of what God has done for us through his Son. Given this, it seems that some other symbol would do a better job of summing up what Christianity is all about. Take a lamb, for instance. Wouldn’t an image of a nice, gentle, happy lamb be more effective at capturing the peace and joy of the Gospel than the image of a man dying on a cross? Or even better, consider the empty tomb. Surely the empty tomb would be a more fitting symbol of Christ’s victory over sin and death. Yet, for some reason, this is not the approach the Church took.

Continued below.