In the movie, Forrest Gump just feels like running. While he runs, he thinks about Mama, Bubba, Lt. Dan and especially Jenny. As he crisscrosses the country and contemplates his life experiences, a young man runs alongside Gump. “An alarm went off in my head! Here’s somebody who has the answer. I’ll follow you anywhere, Mr. Gump!” Gump’s characteristically simple narrative is, “So, I got company.”
If anything, this is a bit of satire about humanity’s frustrating search for answers about life. But it doesn’t have to be that way. An event that became a defining moment in human history is a huge hint at the answer. But to understand the cross of Christ as the answer, you must know the problem God chose to solve.
Unfortunately, what Jesus said and did are often repackaged for modern sensibilities or some cause du jour. J.I. Packer calls out those who do that. “One of the miserable ironies of our time,” he writes, “is that whereas (certain) theologians believe themselves to be re-stating the gospel for today, they have for the most part rejected the categories of wrath, guilt, condemnation, and the enmity of God.” The result is that “they cannot now state the basic problem which the gospel of peace solves.” Franklin Graham finds fault with religion that “fails to see the ruinous consequences of mankind’s depraved, sinful state. Biblical teaching on the precious blood of Christ, the atoning work of Christ’s death on the cross, is too often neglected or distorted.”
The problem answered by the cross is the fallen human condition that we all share – sin and separation from God. Sure, that offends the modern claim that all people are basically good. But that offense only amplifies the cross as good news, the defining event, the ultimate answer. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:8-10).
The cross of Christ offers a change of relationship with God – from hostility into friendship, out of wrath into forgiveness, from conflict to peace. To embrace Christ Jesus as Savior is to have the answer that explains your life and identity.
After running many roads from coast to coast, Forest Gump stops. Someone yells, “Quiet! He’s gonna say something!” “I’m pretty tired,” says Gump. “Think I’ll go home now.” You can be done with running – chasing the wind, dwelling on your past. The cross of Christ holds the answer for you. It is the defining event that turns your face towards home.