14 Sep 2015
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross
Not too many people really like it. But it just comes with being human,
especially since we can be weak and fragile.
It’s just something we have to face from time to time—and it can really feel
like torture to accept that it’s part of life.
But then there we are again, and we feel the pain, the sting of it. And then the nurse puts a bandage on the
spot, and tells us to have a nice day . . .
Oh . . . you thought I was talking about the Cross? Oh . . . no.
I was talking about going to the doctor to get a vaccine shot. They’re not very pleasant, you know. But, I suppose, the Cross is a lot like a flu
shot, or a booster shot, or those other vaccines. Jesus even says it’s like that serpent which “Moses
lifted up” in the desert.
The people had been bitten by the serpent, and many
died. But then God made a “vaccine” from
the serpent itself—or, he made a “vaccine” from a less powerful version of that
serpent. And anybody who looked at that
serpent was healed and made whole again.
God turned a symbol of death—the serpent—into a remedy for death.
And it that way the Cross is like a vaccine for us. The Cross was (and still is) a symbol of
death. But Jesus turned the Cross into a
remedy for death. In effect, Jesus is
saying: “If you don’t want to die (literally or figuratively), then accept a
certain amount of death into your lives.”
It’s just like a vaccine: If we don’t want to get the flu, then we
accept a certain amount of the flu germ into us to build up our immunity
against it.
Embracing the Cross works as a remedy against the Cross. And what is the Cross but death and those
things in life which have the “scent of death;” you know, something like losing
a job. Losing a job has the “scent of
death” about it; it threathens our livelihood and our sense of security. Losing a friendship has the “scent of death”
about it; it threatens our happiness and our sense of personal value. Getting older has the “scent of death” about
it because, well, it moves us closer to physical death.
But instead of falling under the weight of those crosses in
life, we embrace those crosses. We
embrace the Cross and lift it up. And in
doing so, we disarm it. When we accept
the Cross (and the hardships and death it represents) then it isn’t a threat to
life, but instead because a part of life.
Embracing the Cross works as a remedy, as a vaccine, against the Cross. And we do that all the time.
Every Sunday, the first thing that leads the opening procession
is the Cross. As a people of faith we “Lift
High the Cross” as a sign that we embrace it, just as our Lord embraced
it. We gather for meals and make the
Sign of the Cross. We visit friends in
the hospital and we bless them with the Sign of the Cross. We wear the Cross on necklaces, on bracelets,
on rings, on clothing. We build churches
in the form of the Cross. On Good Friday
we kiss the Cross.
We already bring the Cross into our lives all the time. We know that the Cross is a divine “vaccine”
against what ails us. It’s a remedy
against death itself. And the more we
embrace the Cross, the sweeter it becomes.
The more we embrace the Cross, all the more is death defeated in us, and
is Life triumphant and beautiful.
The Cross is the one remedy against the Cross. And so, today and always, may we “Lift High
the Cross” and be joyful in it.
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