Theme: “Lifted Up in Love”
Speaker: Teclus Ugwueze (Rev Fr)
Today’s feast invites us not simply
to admire the Cross, but to exalt it—to lift it high as the great paradox of
Christian faith: an instrument of death that became the tree of life; a symbol
of shame transformed into the throne of glory.
In Numbers 21, the people of
Israel, weary and rebellious, are afflicted by venomous serpents. In response
to their repentance, God commands Moses to raise a bronze serpent on a pole.
Whoever looked at it was healed. It was not the bronze that saved—it was the
obedience to God’s command, the act of trust in God's mercy mediated through a
visible sign.
This event was a foreshadowing of
the Cross. Jesus Himself makes the connection in John 3:14-15: “Just as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
Here, Jesus reveals that His
crucifixion is not accidental, not tragic, but redemptive and necessary. To be “lifted
up” on the Cross is both His humiliation and His exaltation. This is
reinforced in Philippians 2, one of the most profound Christological hymns in
the New Testament. “Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard
equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself…”
This kenosis, Christ’s
self-emptying, culminates in death, even death on a cross. But it is
precisely through this descent that He is exalted and given the name above all
names. In the logic of the Gospel, the way up is down, and glory is found in
sacrifice.
Thus, we do not venerate the Cross
because it is made of wood, but because on it hung the Salvator Mundi, the
Savior of the world. On the Cross, sin was destroyed, death was defeated, and
love was revealed in its most powerful form.
To exalt the Cross is to embrace
its power in our lives:
- It calls us to humility: “If
anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross…” (Luke 9:23)
- It calls us to sacrifice: “Love
one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34)
- It calls us to hope: “He who
did not spare His own Son… how will He not also graciously give us all things?”
(Romans 8:32)
Pastoral Message:
- In a world that exalts power,
wealth, and comfort, the Cross reminds us that true power is in mercy, true
glory is in self-giving, and true victory is in love.
- When we carry our own crosses, whether
suffering, illness, injustice, or spiritual struggle, we must remember that we
do not carry them alone. The One who was lifted walks with us. And through His
Cross, He draws all people to Himself.
Let us pray:
O God, who willed that Your Son
should be lifted high on the Cross,
so that all who gaze upon Him might
be saved,
grant us the grace to glory in the
Cross of Christ.
Teach us to carry our own crosses
with love,
to bear suffering with trust,
and to follow You in the path of
humble obedience.
May the Cross, once an instrument
of death,
become for us a sign of life, hope,
and victory.
We ask this through Christ our
Lord.
Amen.
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