Exaltation of the Holy Cross or Sunday 24th Ordinary Season - 14.9.003
First Reading: Numbers 21, 4-9
Psalm 77
Second Reading: Philippians 2, 6-11
Gospel: John 3, 13-17
Today's holiday has it's origins in the dedication of the basilicas that the Emperor Constantine had built on Calvary and on the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. These basilicas were built to honour and guard the holiest and most significant sites of our faith! Jesus died on the cross on Calvary and was buried in a new sepulchre in a garden nearby; the sepulchre from which he rose again on the third day! Today we return spiritually to those places to meditate once again what happened, to understand, to be taught the meaning by our Lord himself who lived there. The first reading takes us to the Sinai desert: all that happened during the exodus of the people of Israel in the desert is a sign and symbol of the reality of the Son of man, the Lord Jesus!
The people, because of their weariness, began murmering against God and against Moses, his servant. In so doing the people showed their lack of appreciation of the gift of freedom, and that they had little faith in their God who in various ways, had demonstrated that He was with them and was protecting them. The complaints lead one to imagine that the people did not see God as a father who loves them and is all intent on guiding them to salvation, but as a servant of their earthly progress. Death by snake bite is, therefore, seen as a punishment, the consequence of the sin of complaining and the loss of faith. Knowing that they were sinners, the people did not feel worthy of praying for their own salvation and ask Moses to do it for them. God listens to His friend's plea and grants it, but not in a magical sense: from whoever wishes to be saved, God asks an act of obedience, ie of faith, even though very simple. Whoever has been biten by a snake, must then look at the copper serpent on the top of a pole, and they will live!
Jesus himself gives an interpretation of this fact. Who has not been biten by the serpent? All men are sinners, everyone has inherited from Adam the tendency to be incredulous, to lose faith in God, to hide himself from His sight. The conseguences of this loss of faith are a source of suffering and discontent for everyone and ruin our daily relationships. We all, therefore, need salvation. We all carry the signs of death within us because of the serpent of old, the devil! Who can save him/herself? Are we forever condemned? What can we do?
God has thought of us. He has indicated to us an easy and joyful act of obedience which can save us. We can look to him who has been raised, we can lift our eyes to the cross from which the Son of man hangs and we will be saved. Jesus raised above us all is our salvation. From the cross, he attracts our looks; we begin to love him, to follow his example, to listen to his Word, we obey his wishes, and we find joy, ability to serve, to look at others as brothers! He who was raised like the copper serpent, is the gift that God has given us so that we can do something to save ourselves. We can look at him with love and contemplating him, let his Spirit enter in us. This is the act of obedience which will save us!
St Paul too, helps us to see in the death of Jesus, God's great love for us sinners: for our sakes Jesus renounced all the advantages of being God and took on the weakness and of suffering of man accepting the humiliation of death! For this great love of his, God exalted him, placed him in our sight so that we could adore him, love him, praise him with our voices! God has exalted him, and we receive him as Lord and God of our lives! Today we continue to give thanks for being saved through the blood of Jesus. His love for us, a love that brings life, is the greatest and most beautiful demonstration that God loves us. It was God Himself, the father, who send Jesus; He sent him to guarantee salvation: holding fast to him, we will be forgiven and saved!
Every cross, from the one we wear around our neck to the one we hang at the entrance of our home, reminds us of God's love that asked Jesus to give himself in the humiliation of death! This reminder is, for us, a help in bearing our suffering as a cross which continues Jesus' offering to the Father, as a gift by which we too may colaborate in the salvation of humanity! The memory of his resurrection will then fill us with joy and feed our hope that we too will be able to receive eternal life and glory!