The Roman empire crucified many thousands of people, sometimes even thousands of people at a time. On at least one occasion in 70 AD, the Romans constructed so many crosses and hung so many men upon them that the soldiers ran out of wood. The cross was a symbol of the seemingly unlimited power of the Roman emperor and his empire.

One day, on one of these crosses, the Romans crucified one man, and that one death changed the trajectory of the world.

From a symbol of evil to a symbol of God’s love

While the cross remained a symbol of the Roman empire’s violent power for decades, just three days after Jesus’ death, it also became a symbol for something else: a power even greater than the power of the empire.

For a small but growing group of people, the cross became a symbol of the unlimited power of God and His kingdom. The cross represented the power of a God who had not only undermined the power of the Roman empire, but seemed to be at work rewriting the rules of the very fabric of the world.

Over time, one meaning weakened to the point where it fell out of public consciousness. Meanwhile, the other picked up steam, and in time the symbol of the cross became the most widely recognized symbol in the world. But instead of representing an oppressive empire, the cross became the symbol of a loving God.

Where it once represented death, it now represented life. Where once there was slavery, now there was freedom. In a truly shocking turn of historical events, the Roman empire fell and the church rose. While the meaning of this symbol has changed dramatically, one thing remains consistent: the cross has always been about power.

What will we do with the power of the cross?

In the nearly 2,000 years since the crucifixion of Jesus, countless people have encountered power when they encountered the cross. Millions of people have approached the cross, and, as a result, their lives have been radically transformed.

My hope during this Lenten season is that we will get our minds around the cross in a new way, giving us a renewed understanding of why it has the power that it does. My hope is that our hearts will get wrapped around it as well. Perhaps some of us will join the millions of people whose lives have already been transformed, for the first time or for the 100th time, by the power of the cross.