23 Crosses: The One with the Names

By Pastor Wilson

This year I’m writing a devotional series based on the 23 Crosses that hang on our family’s cross wall at our home. Each unique cross serves to uniquely remind us of the love of God for us in Christ. I pray that these devotions will remind you of the same. Each devotion will also be posted on our blog at TrinityZanesville.org.

The first cross we looked at together was a cross with Jesus’ name carved into the horizontal beam. It served to remind us what the cross is truly all about for us as Christians. No longer simply an instrument of capital punishment and so much more than just a fashion element- rather it is the place where Jesus died for our sins, so that we would be forgiven and free in Him. For us as Christians the cross is all about Jesus and the victory that He has won for us there. This second cross in our series builds off that exact idea. 

This wooden cross is shiny and polished. It was given to Brianna by a friend one year when she taught at a Lutheran school in Wisconsin. And while it is a beautiful cross in and of itself, the thing that is unique about this cross is what is on the back- names. You see, each student in Brianna’s class took the time to write their name on the back of the cross. Because of this, I know the cross is especially significant to her. When she sees their names she thinks of her students.

The names on the back of this cross also beautifully remind us of something else though too. For they remind us of who Jesus died for. For because of our sin- death and separation from God is what each one of us deserved. The perfect, spotless, Son of God didn’t deserve to hang on the cross, we did. And yet in His love for us He took our sin, and shame, and all our names upon Himself and journeyed to the cross to pay our debt so that we would be righteous in God’s sight. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

You see, I love this cross because it reminds me of who Jesus died for. He died for each of the individual’s whose names are on that cross, and He died for each of you and your names too. Jesus took your sin and shame to His cross. And even though you weren’t born yet, He knew your name. And He knew He was there not because He deserved it, but because you did. And so, in love, He stayed. He bled. He died. For you. So that your name would no longer be counted amongst those deserving of such a death, but rather that your name would always and forevermore be that of a redeemed Child of God instead.

If you have a suitable cross in your house, perhaps you would like to write your name and the names of those you love on the back of it, to serve as a reminder that Jesus died for you and each of them.