Until Jesus was crucified, died, and rose from the
dead, the Cross was a symbol of humiliation, condemnation, and shameful death. It
was something to be despised of. The Romans used a cross to execute “aliens”,
who committed capital offenses. This method of execution with cross,
crucifixion, was never used for a Roman citizen, who committed capital crime.
When Jesus, who was not a Roman citizen, was put on
the Cross to die, the unbelievers mocked and reviled him (Matthew 27:39-41;
Luke 23:39). To them, the Cross, to which Jesus was crucified, was nothing but
one of those crosses, a symbolic reminder of the most humiliating method of
execution for a grave crime against Caesar.
On the other hand, to us, the believers, the Cross
does not symbolize a shameful defeat to death. Rather, it not only powerfully
represents the love of God but its victory over death. The Cross reminds us
that God’s powerful steadfast love has redeemed us from the snare of Satan, as
God Himself in the Son died on the Cross and resurrected. Therefore, as the
Firstfruits of the dead, Christ has opened the way for us to follow him in
overcoming death with resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:12-58), and the Cross is a
powerful reminder of this promise of triumphant Christ.
On September 14, the Church exalts the Holy Cross of
Jesus Christ, in commemorating the discovery of the Cross that Jesus was
crucified on. It is believed that the Cross was discovered during St. Helena’s pilgrimage
to the Holy Land between 326 AD and 328 AD. The Cross that Jesus was crucified has been
known as the life-giving Cross as it has brought miraculous healing ever since
its discovery.
In the Gospel reading (John 3:13-17) for this feast
day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, Jesus explains the atoning and
redemptive, and salvific meaning of the Cross, in connection to the bronze
serpent on Moses’ pole, which is addressed in the First Reading (Numbers
21:4-9). What we can be gathered from
these readings is that the Holy Cross of Jesus saves sinners, who have
reconciled with God, just as the repentant Israelites were saved by the bronze
serpent on Moses’ pole during Exodus, because God loves us so much.
What led to the bronze serpent on Moses’ pole was
Israelites’ offense against God for spurning the manna that He sent for them. Rather
than being grateful for the God-given food to sustain their lives in the
desert, the Israelites complained and rejected it, calling “wretched food”
(Numbers 21:5). This sure invited God’s wrath and punishment on them with fiery
serpents. In reaction to God’s punishment, the remaining Israelites repented
and confessed their sin against God. And, Moses prayed to God on their behalf
for mercy. In response, God instructed to make bronze serpent on his pole, and
these repentant Israelites were saved from the serpents’ poisonous effects as
they looked upon the serpent on the pole.
Jesus referenced this story of the bronze serpent on
Moses’ pole during his conversation with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee on the Sanhedrin.
While his associates, the Pharisees, were persecuting Jesus, Nicodemus was very
curious about who Jesus was and what he was about, but at the same time, he was
afraid of being seen his association with Jesus. So, he secretly met with Jesus
during night hours to get to know Jesus and his teaching. As the conversation
between Jesus and Nicodemus continued, Jesus revealed that he was from heaven
and would return. It was in this context
that Jesus likened himself to the bronze serpent on Moses’ pole, saying, “No one has gone up to heaven except the one
who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 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 3:13-15).
Jesus, who called himself the Son of Man, needed to
be lifted up in order for sinners, who have reconciled with God, can be saved
for eternal life. It is the body of Jesus high on the Cross to be looked up, as
the repentant Israelites looked up the bronze serpent on Moses’ pole.
Furthermore, it is the body of the Resurrected Jesus lifted up from the dead on
Resurrection and raised all the way up to heaven on Ascension to assure our
salvation to eternal life.
After nailing the body of Jesus on the Cross, Roman
soldiers gradually lifted the Cross up. From the foot of the Cross, Mary and
John looked up to him. Upon his death, Jesus was buried in the tomb but
Resurrected on the third day to show that death, which was brought by Satan, no
longer has last words on our life. Therefore, when Jesus was lifted up from the
dead as the firstfruits, death was set to be swallowed up in the Lake of Fire
(Revelation 20:14, 1 Corinthians 15:54). This is the consummation of the
victory of the Holy Cross of Christ. This is also when death, which was brought
to the humanity upon the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden (Genesis 3) is completely
destroyed, leaving us with eternal life.
God makes a new thing and let it spring forth
(Isaiah 43:19). He has turned an old cross, which symbolized humiliating death,
into a new Cross: the Holy Cross, which symbolizes God’s victory over death,
though Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection.
This Cross has overcome death because of Christ being crucified (Romans
6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57), leading to complete destruction of death and its
author, Satan (Revelation 20:10, 14-15).
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