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.
When Jesus was lifted up on the cross he drew all men to himself (see John 12:32). On the cross Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Zechariah that we would look upon the one whom we had pierced:
And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn (see Zechariah 12:10).
We celebrate today the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This feast reminds us that the cross was not a mere accident in the plan for our salvation. It was not something to simply be rushed through on the way to the resurrection. The cross itself was given to sinners as a gift. At the cross we ourselves must pause. Like the Israelites that grumbled in the desert we too have a tendency to grumble when God doesn't run the universe in the way we think he should.
With their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses
Like the Israelites we need to receive healing from the poison of the saraph serpents of sin. And though it is hard to look directly on the results of or sinfulness, to look upon the bronze serpent mounted on the pole, it is necessary to look upon it for life.
Jesus was lifted high upon the cross just as the serpent on the pole was raised up. In both events we see the ugliness of the consequences of our grumbling and our sin. But in both events we see that God's mercy is greater than any sin we can commit, greater than any evil in the world, greater, even than death.
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.
It may not have been evident to the Israelites that God's mercy shown in the bronze serpent was beautiful. Yet he did turn the results of their downfall into the very vehicle of their own deliverance. But that the cross of Jesus Christ was beautiful should be far more evident. It not only turned the just condemnation of sin into the means of our salvation, but it demonstrated in the face of the most heinous of sins that the love and the mercy of God was without limit.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Let us take the time to behold the cross of Christ today. Let us thank Jesus that he did not insist on the prerogative of his rights as equal with God, but instead emptied himself and embraced death, even death on a cross for our sake. From that cross we receive the spirit of grace and petition prophesied by Zechariah. We receive the living water of the Spirit that poured from his side. Jesus was exalted most explicitly in his resurrection. But in the way he revealed his love for us from the cross we can see that his exaltation had already begun.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Looking to Jesus on the cross the good thief was able to sense that he was indeed the Lord who could offer the mercy of his Kingdom. Looking to Jesus on the cross the centurion recognized that, "he was the Son of God" (see Matthew 27:54). Already, before anything the world could recognize as victory, the tongues of all began to confess that victory. Therefore, in the cross is the secret of all faith. May we look upon him whom we have pierced.
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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