Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 14, 2023 - Sept. 14: The Exaltation of the Cross
[Num 21:4b-9; Phil 2:6-11; John 3:13-17,]So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. [Numbers] "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." [John] He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. [Philippians]
Although this feast commemorates the discovery in 335 AD of what tradition considers to be the "true" cross on which Jesus was crucified, the power of the cross as a symbol of deliverance and salvation and not of shame took awhile to develop. St. Paul's words, from his letter to the Philippians today, "even death on a cross," shows some of that shameful regard for crucifixion which was a question early missionaries had to deal with. Why was Jesus executed like the worst of criminals? However, once the power of the cross as a means of salvation and Christ's sacrifice took hold, it became THE symbol of Christianity.
In the gospel passage for today from the Gospel According to John, Jesus is speaking to a Jewish elder, Nicodemus, who would have been familiar with the story of Moses and the serpent on a pole (which itself has become a symbol of health care professionals). The incident was seen as a foreshadowing of Jesus' saving death on the cross.
Because this feast often occurs on a weekday, it can pass by without a lot of notice. But on Good Friday, the power of the cross comes forward in the "veneration of the cross" as the congregation comes forward to touch or kiss the cross. In daily Catholic life, the "sign of the cross" becomes united with faith in the Holy Trinity. Above all, the suffering endured by so many in humanity around the world every day finds some of its own meaning in Jesus' suffering on our behalf. This feast day is a reminder of his love and his care for us, enduring death, "even death on a cross." AMEN