Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The cross is a strong Christian symbol. We can see it everywhere. It is in our churches, in our homes and it is being carried in procession. In some countries, like the Netherlands, you can see crosses out in the country. They are called field crosses. Some wear necklaces with a cross on it of have other ways to show the cross. In the beginning of the Mass we sign ourselves with the cross as a sign of our faith. I have known someone who used to say that the sign of the cross is a Creed in itself. On the other side the cross contains a paradox. The Cross symbolizes a tool of execution. We Christians affirm the sign of the Cross but in the days of Jesus it was a cruel and inhuman form of torture and execution. It was a horrible death to die. Probably the most horrible way until in our days. That is why the Church opposes all forms of torture and above all abortion and the death penalty. The Cross is not just what Jesus died on. It symbolizes execution, torture, oppression and senseless violence. The cross was an instrument of execution. But yet” the symbol of our faith.

Holy Cross Day traces its roots back to the fourth century, when Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, was overseeing some archaeological digs in the Holy Land. At one excavation site, she unearthed what she believed to be the true cross of Jesus, a relic which quickly became an object of veneration for pilgrims visiting Jerusalem — at the site over which the Church of the Resurrection now stands. Holy Cross Day is an important day. We place our emphasis on the cross because we believe that we can’t have Easter without Good Friday, or resurrection without death. St. Paul tells the Galatians: “ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”.
 
In Jesus’s time the crucifixion would not be a triumph but rather a lost. How can we glory in the instrument torture? How can we glorify the tool on which our savior died? That frightening cross where thieves, slaves and criminals were publicly executed? But yet,  that is what we are celebrating today. As John the evangelist says in this morning’s gospel, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.’ Jesus revealed God’s love most fully on the cross. The cross of Christ revealed God’s glory. That is why John’s gospel speaks about the hour that Jesus is glorified. The cross is life giving because the crucified Christ is our Lord and savior. His Cross is the life-giving throne of mercy. With the penitent thief we pray: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  The instrument of his death became for us a channel of salvation and mercy. And so we proclaim the triumph of Gods Life, poured out from the Cross.

This is the message of the cross: God’s glory and majesty and saving power come to us in the least of all expected places. An instrument of torture and execution becomes a symbol of life and victory over death. The cross stands at the center of our faith and our life together. It is indeed the very reason we keep showing up Sunday after Sunday. The cross shows us where God is — in the foolish, despised, rejected things of this world. The cross is our calling as the church. It calls us outside these walls, to the margins, alongside the suffering, to proclaim the message that God meets us where we are, as we are. The message of the cross proclaims that God is for us and with us. It might sound foolish to the world but not to us as followers of Jesus. It is life in the midst of death, hope in the midst of desperation, love in the midst of what divides us. The message of the cross my be foolish to the world but to us it is everything. The Cross that saves! Amen.