A Stumbling Block

“...but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness.” I Corinthians 1:23

In 1982, Vice President George Bush represented the United States at Leonid Brezhnev’s funeral. The Russian leader epitomized the atheistic culture he guided, yet something deeply spiritual happened that day at the Kremlin.

Just before his casket was closed, Brezhnev’s widow stared motionless at the remains of her husband. Then as the soldiers touched the coffin to close it, she reached in and made the signs of the cross on his chest. It was both a courageous and desperate gesture. The woman who stood by her husband as he continued the long initiative against Christianity, was at that final moment hoping he was wrong.

In one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed, she acknowledged not only a belief in eternal life, but that Christ was the only One who could provide it.

The Cross of Christ is a stumbling block to those who reject it, and salvation to those who embrace it. Romans 9:33