Exaltation of the Holy Cross - Joyful Celebration of the Triumphant Love of God with Humility and Gratitude as One in the House of the Lord

The Roman Catholic Church celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14. This began out of veneration of the Holy Cross in the 4^th century, as a result of St. Helena’s discovery of the original Cross in Jerusalem around 326 AD.

Every Good Friday, we kneel before the Cross, paying our homage to this object, on which the incarnated Christ fulfilled the Father’s will of saving us through his passion and death (Matthew 26:42//Mark 14:36//Luke 22:42), followed by his resurrection, as prophesized in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. On the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we also exalt this salvific Cross, through which the incarnated Christ has saved from the possibility of eternal damnation for our sins. So, we triumphantly lift the Holy Cross high, celebrating the victory of God’s love over Satan’s snare through the incarnated Christ on the Cross (i.e. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Hebrews 2:14; cf. Revelation 21:4).

Though we should not only venerate and exalt the Holy Cross but also should rejoice, pray, and give thanks to God (1 Thessalonian 5:16-18), we often complain because we do not feel content with life. We are discontent because we still let our egos dictate us. Demands and desires of our egos numb our sensitivity to God’s grace. This is why we are not satisfied with God’s providence but desire worldly things in ways of down-spiral addiction. And we forget how gracious God is and do not even know how much we waste God’s grace.

In this regard, we are like grumbling Israelites in the desert during the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land, described in the First Reading (Numbers 21:4b-9). While they were going through the wilderness of Edom, wearing out of patience, they complained to Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” (Numbers 21:5). In fact, the Israelites complained to Moses before. They had complained to Moses and his brother, Aaron, when they were easily discouraged by the negative report on the prospect of conquering Canaan by the twelve spies sent by Moses (Numbers 13:1-33), “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or If only we would die here in the wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be taken as spoil. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt? Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt”(Numbers 14:2-4). It was because of their lack of faith in God, resulting in a negative prediction to overcome obstacles to reach the promised land in Canaan and complaining about being brought out of Egypt – though it was them who cried their misery in Egypt and God sent Moses back to Egypt to deliver them into freedom (Exodus 3:7-9). And God put them in further challenges, keeping them in the wilderness for 40 years (Numbers 14:27-38). In other words, the Israelites’ lack of faith resulted in more time in the wilderness. And they complained again.

They were to die by snake bites for not keeping their trust in God, resulting in ingratitude to God. They also forgot that Moses, to whom they directed their complaint to God, was appointed by God to do God’s will of saving them from the misery of slavery in Egypt. Rather than keeping their gratitude to God for saving them, they soon began complaining for challenges and obstacles on their way to the promised land.

But when God’s punishment on them began to inflict through venomous serpents, they repented and asked their leader, Moses, to pray for God’s mercy. So Moses prayed on behalf of his fellow Israelites, and God commanded him:

Make a saraph (שָׂרָף) and mount it on a pole, and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live (Numbers 21:8).

In response, Moses made a bronze serpent (נְחַ֣שׁ נְחֹ֔שֶׁת/nehos hehaset), lifted on a pole, as instructed by God. And those who had been bitten by snakes for their sins but repented and looked at this, were saved.

Saraph (שָׂרָף) is a serpent with venom that gives burning sensation. Thus, it is also translated as “fiery serpent”.  Though not all but many of those who grumbled against God perished as bitten by these poisonous serpents. But those who repented and begged God’s mercy through Moses were saved through the bronze fiery serpent lifted on the pole of Moses.

This episode in the First Reading (Numbers 21:4b-9) is a prototype of our salvation through the incarnated Christ lifted on the Roman Cross, as reflected in the Gospel Reading (John 3:13-17). This Gospel narrative is drawn from Jesus’ discourse to Nicodemus (John 3:1-21).

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, unlike his colleagues, recognized Jesus as being sent by and being with God (John 3:2; cf. 1:1). In response, Jesus said to him:

Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above (John 3:3).

But Nicodemus did not quite understand what Jesus meant by “being born from above”, thinking if Jesus was talking about being born again upon going back to mother’s womb (John 3:4).

So Jesus said to him:

Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, “You must be born above.” The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:5-8).

To help Nicodemus understand, Jesus first told that being born from above means being born of the Holy Spirit, which he juxtaposed to wind, in contrast the flesh, which refers to mother’s womb. Namely, Jesus was speaking of being born to eternal life through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus calls Nicodemus attention to above, where Jesus came from, being sent by the Father, and where the Holy Spirit was sent from to let us be born to eternal life. By pointing to heaven above, Jesus wanted Nicodemus to understand that he came to save us, as he is from above and so is the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus said to Nicodemus:

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. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (John 3:13-18).

Earlier, Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit from above to let us be born to eternal life (vv. 5-8). Now Jesus, as the only begotten Son of God, is stating that he came down from heaven above to save those who believe in him to eternal life. For this reason, he is lifted up as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. And, this is because God the Father loves us.

In describing why the Father in heaven above has sent down him, Jesus makes a critical point on his salvific role on earth, representing the Father’s love for us: being lifted up as the bronze serpent was lifted up on the pole of Moses (v. 14).

Here, we see the bronze serpent lifted up on Moses’ pole, saving repentant Israelites, from the First Reading (Numbers 21:4b-9) is antecedental to Jesus’ Crucifixion, being lifted up on the Roman Cross (Matthew 27:27-44; Mark 15:16-32; Luke 23:26-43; John 19:16-27).

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross humbly calls us to be content with God’s grace, as St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “sucipe” prayer concludes. We do not want if we are content with what God provides, trusting His pastoral guidance and providence (Psalm 23:1). Everything we need to live, to be born to eternal life in the Kingdom of God, has been made available to us as the incarnated Christ, who has come from above, sent by the Father, who also sends the Holy Spirit, has been lifted up on the Holy Cross.

As God’s mercy on the repentant Israelites made a venomous serpent a symbol of God’s salvific love in the bronze serpent lifted on Moses’ pole, it also turned the Roman Cross, which was a symbol of shameful condemnation to death, into the victorious symbol of the salvation, as the incarnated Christ was lifted up on it. So why not that we are content and rejoicing in giving thanks to God, as we continue to pray to God for his sustaining providence?

Yes, it is exaltation of the Holy Cross, lifting high up the Cross, because the incarnated Christ has been exalted on the Cross for his humility and obedience to the Father’s will of saving us, as reflected in the Second Reading (Philippians 2:6-11). Note that the Greek word, ὑψόω/hupsoo (John 3:14), means “lift up” as well as, “exalt”.

Let us gather as one to the Holy Cross, on which the incarnated Christ is exalted/lifted up, as we exalt the Holy Cross triumphantly with joy and gratitude (i.e. John 12:32). So we gather as one to the House of the Lord on the Holy Mountain (i.e. Isaiah 2:2; 56:8; 66:18) through our exaltation of the Holy Cross.