Exaltation of the
Holy Cross
Numbers 21:4b-9
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17

When I taught the little children at our Cathedral, they were fascinated with the Sign of the Cross. One of them asked me if it was like a “secret handshake” that said they belonged. Almost without thinking, we make the Sign of the Cross with holy water when we enter the Church, before we pray, and on countless other occasions. It seems appropriate that the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross should burst into the midst of what is called “ordinary time.” The cross might easily be called the sign of our ordinary life. It is the ritual that children learn before all others. Throughout the day we sign ourselves with the cross countless times.

From the very beginning, God recognized the human need for symbols and signs. The most difficult things with which people have to deal can be neither touched nor seen. Signs and symbols bridge that gap in our understanding.

The cross might easily have become a symbol of shame for Christians because it brought about the death of Jesus Christ. Instead, faith in the resurrection made the cross a symbol of pride.

The incident from the Book of Numbers (today’s First Reading) is the point of departure for Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. God commanded Moses to hang a figure of a snake upon a pole so that those bitten could be saved from death by looking upon the figure. God did not need the symbol, the people did.

Jesus makes two points. As the snake must be lifted up, Jesus must be lifted up on the cross. As natural life was restored to those bitten Hebrews when they looked at the bronze snake, eternal life is given to those who look with faith upon the cross. Underlying all of this is the clear understanding that God’s will that we be saved is involved in both actions. All of this leads to the most important sentence of the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that he who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

We understand the Epistle in this same context. Jesus “emptied himself and became one of us, “accepting not only humanity but death in the most debasing manner. We need only to look at him on the cross to remind ourselves that we need not be ashamed to die. Death is part of our humanity. It is through death that the Father exalts Christ and calls us all to resurrection.

St. Paul tells us that because of this, “Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” The Sign of the Cross is just that—a confession of our faith. Today’s feast reminds us that we ought not let it become a thoughtless gesture.