"We are faced with the demand of a life under the cross."

The meaning of the cross does not disclose itself in contemplative thought but only in experience. The theologian of the cross does not confront the cross of Christ as a spectator, but is himself drawn into this event. He knows that God can be found only in cross and suffering (W. I, 262, 28f). For that reason he does not, like the theologian of glory, shun suffering, but regards it as he would the holy relics, which are to be embraced devoutly. For God himself is "hidden in sufferings" and wants us to worship him as such. If the footprints of God in our life are all to visible before us, we have no need of faith, and then faith does not come into being. Therefore faith stands in a closer relationship to suffering than to works. If we are serious about the idea of God and the concept of faith in the theology of the cross, we are faced with the demand of a life under the cross.

von Loewenich, Luther's Theology of the Cross, p. 113.