HOLY CROSS DAY
14 September 2013
Readings:
Key Verses (using the World English Bible):
1 Cor. 1:18: “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.”
John 12:32: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Reflection
This feast day seems like a random intrusion into the autumn season, one that might better fit Lent or Easter. Its formal Orthodox name is “The Universal Exaltation [or Lifting-up] of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross”. Legend has it that in 326, St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine the Great (yes, that Constantine) found pieces of the original cross in Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on that site, and dedicated on 13 September 335. Pieces of the cross were exhibited to the general public for veneration on the following day.
The cross has been one of the most recognized symbols of human history for the past 2,000 years. It’s been an instrument of fear, an inspiration of solace, and even an amulet of protection. When Shakespeare’s Hamlet resolves to “cross” the ghost, he may mean that he’ll intercept the ghost while holding his sword upside-down, thereby turning it into a cross.
Early Christians, however, seldom portrayed the Crucifixion until about 400 years after Jesus’ death. While depicting it may have been traumatic, talking about it was far from uncomfortable. A mere 20 years after Jesus’ death, Paul, the former Pharisaic Jew, a “Hebrew of Hebrews”, had no difficulty ascribing “power” to the cross of Christ. In his letter to the Corinthian Church, he also suggested that the cross has a message, a word of its own:
“The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.”
Paul may sound smug in his remark, but he’s really not trying to draw a line between *those* poor souls who are dying, and *we* the elite who are saved. In fact, Paul confesses to the Galatian Church that he has been “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). Apparently he’s realized that Christ cannot bring new life without bringing the death of an old life. As a result, all Christians are called to a kind of spiritual crucifixion before the promised spiritual resurrection.
Intelligence quotients vary, but God doesn’t require you to be smart before he’ll talk to you. In fact, he’s willing to use “foolishness” because that’s something that everyone, even a child, will understand—and aren’t children the ones who’ll enter the kingdom of heaven? Maybe this is where Paul’s attitude comes from. It’s like when you’re looking so hard for a solution, and then you find it where you least expected it. You thought the more you knew, the more you looked, the closer you’d reach your goal. But the universe had different plans, and pondering its humor now makes you laugh. Jesus’ death wasn’t funny—but the irony that what he was executed on could foolishly come to symbolize healing, peace, and even hope is enough for you to possibly let out a chuckle.
For me, the ultimate message of the cross is that there’s no place one can go where God is not present: in wisdom and in foolishness; in strength and in weakness; in peace and in violence; in clear paths and stumbling blocks; in life and in death.
What does the cross represent to you?
Prayer of the Day
Almighty God,
your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ,
was lifted high upon the cross,
so that he might draw the whole world to himself.
Grant, in your mercy, that we,
who glory in the mystery of redemption,
may have the grace to take up our cross and follow him,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, in glory everlasting.
Amen.
Hymn: “Lift high the cross”
(Words by George W. Kitchin, altered by Michael Newbolt in 1916; adapted by Joseph A. Soltero, 2013
Tune, “Crucifer”, by Sydney H. Nicholson, 1916)
Refrain:
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
Till all the world adore his sacred Name.
Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.
Refrain.
Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of him who died.
Refrain.
O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
So draw the peoples to your victory.
Refrain.
Crucified Jesus, we to you shall raise
Our songs of triumph and unending praise.
Refrain.
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