Lift High the Cross

    

    Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Reflecting on the mass and the readings I had a light bulb moment. The first reading from the Book of Numbers tells the story of the grumblings of the people of Israel. They complained to Moses “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert?” 

    Continuing to grumble about the wretchedness of the food and lack of water the Lord sent serpents among the people. In researching saraph serpents I found this explanation: “Saraph simply means “fiery,” a modifier used to indicate the severity of the snake’s venomous bite.” So the Lord didn’t just send snakes, he sent deadly snakes and many whom were bitten died. The people came back to Moses understanding this as punishment for their complaining and said, “Pray the Lord to take the serpents from us.” 

     Then in the gospel reading from John, Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night, under the cover of darkness so as not to be discovered and asked Jesus about his teachings knowing He was a teacher that came from God. Jesus shared his teachings and told 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 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.” 

     And that’s when it clicked. When the Jews asked Moses to pray for the Lord to take away the snakes, he did not. Instead He instructed Moses to lift up the snake, to gaze upon what they feared most and when they looked at the serpent even if they were bitten they would not die, he delivered them from their suffering. Thinking about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane he also prayed that God take away his suffering, but God did not. Instead what he did, like in Numbers, he gave Jesus the strength to endure the suffering so that by going to what he feared most, the cross, he could be saved through the love, mercy, and grace of the Father. Winning victory over shame, victory over the sins He took on for our sake so that we would not perish and we would have eternal life through the Son, the only one He sent to save us. 

      God doesn’t take away our suffering like some magician. He gives us the strength, the endurance, the faith, hope and love to overcome. On this we can rely, believing and trusting in Jesus’s words “In this world you will have troubles, but take courage! I have overcome the world.”