This week, we celebrate the feast of the exaltation or the triumph
of the Cross. The word 'exaltation' literally means a lifting up.
In John's gospel Jesus says: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I
will draw all people to myself."
As the Gospel indicates, Jesus' 'lifting up' finds a reminiscence
in an experience of the Israelites during their 40 years' wandering
in the desert. They had been - as was often their wont - grumbling
against God and against their leader, Moses. When they had
complained formerly about not having enough food, God had provided
them daily with manna. But now they were fed up with manna: "We are
sick of this tasteless food."
Their ungratefulness brought on God's displeasure and they found
themselves being attacked by a plague of poisonous snakes. After
several people had died, they came to Moses begging forgiveness and
asking him to save them from further death. Moses knew that God was
a "soft touch"; he can never remain cross for very long. In fact,
he is never cross. The sufferings which he allows to come into our
lives always have a positive side to them. So Moses was told by God
to make a bronze serpent and set it up on a standard. If anyone was
bitten, they just had to look at the bronze serpent and live.
THE 'LIFTING UP' OF JESUS
Jesus, too, though in a very different way was also 'lifted up' and
his 'lifting up' has two meanings.
There is first his lifting up on the cross. The cross is at the
very centre of our Christian faith. It is something which
non-Christians often find difficult to understand. Superficially,
it points to the utter failure of Jesus' mission. Crucifixion was
one of the most barbaric and painful forms of execution. It was
also one of the most shameful. The convicted person hung stark
naked in a public place, the object of all kinds of abuse and
mockery. It was the ultimate stripping of all decency and human
dignity.
Immediately after Jesus' disciples, led by Peter, recognised that
Jesus was the Messiah, he went on to tell them that he was going to
be rejected by the religious and civic leaders, that he would be
made to suffer, be crucified and then rise on the third day. This
revelation clearly came as a terrible shock to the disciples. This
was not at all part of the expected scenario for the Messiah. It
would take the disciples some time, in fact not until after the
resurrection, before they began to see the meaning in the cross of
Jesus.
GLORY NOT FAILURE
It was, they realised, not a terrible mistake, not a failure but a
dramatic and extreme manifestation of God's love for us. "God loved
the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God
sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that,
through him, the world might be saved." The crucifixion was a
terrible thing, it was a horrible thing, it was utterly evil. What
changes it for us is the reason why Jesus accepted to go through
this terrible ordeal.
THE EMPTYING
And this is what Paul is talking about in the beautiful hymn he
quotes in his letter to the Philippians which is our Second Reading
for today. The state of Jesus was divine. "In the beginning was the
Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" Yet Jesus "did
not cling to his equality with God". He did not insist on his
status.
Instead, "he emptied himself" and took on the condition of a slave.
God's Son became like a slave, the lowest person in society of
those times, a person who could be bought and sold in a public
market, who had no rights, no status.
But there was more to come. Sharing our human nature, like us in
everything but sin, he went to an even lower level, "accepting
death" and not any death, but death on a cross, though totally
innocent, dying as a convicted criminal.
He gave up everything, life and good name and all human dignity.
And all to show us how much God loves us, how much he himself loves
us.
No wonder that believers in other religions find it either totally
incomprehensible or outrageously shocking and blasphemous that God
should go through such an experience. Our faith, says St Paul, is
offensive to the Jews [and, incidentally, also to many Muslims] and
nonsense to the Gentiles.
THE PUREST TEST OF LOVE
But it was at this rock bottom level when Jesus gave the uttermost
proof of God's love for us that "God raised him high and gave him
the name which is above all other names" so that the whole of
creation "should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every
tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the
Father".
This is where one lifting up - on the cross - leads to another
lifting up - in glory. And that is what we are celebrating today.
And, apart from this Eucharist, how can we celebrate it? We are not
meant simply to remember this or just admire it from a distance. We
are called to be part of it.
After Jesus had told his disciples what was going to happen to him
-- rejection, suffering, death on a cross and resurrection -- he
went on immediately to challenge them, saying that anyone who
wished to be his disciple would have to take up their own cross and
follow after him.
We too must be driven by the same love for people that God and
Jesus have. We too must be ready to empty ourselves as much as we
can, putting aside concerns about position, status, material
wealth, and even good reputation in order to be at the service of
our brothers and sisters in their need.
A MOVING EXAMPLE
Mother Teresa was a wonderful example of someone who emptied
herself and gave her whole life to taking care of the most pitiful,
the most miserable, the most uncared for people. She used to say,
"You must love until it hurts." Most of us want to love without
being hurt. How many of those who gave money, even millions, to
Mother Teresa experienced even a small diminution of their
lifestyle?
There is a story told that soon after she took over the house
beside a Hindu temple in Calcutta where she cared for the destitute
and dying, some people complained, accusing her of using the place
to make converts to Catholicism. They wanted her evicted and
appealed to the police.
When a senior police inspector went to the house to see the
situation he was both overwhelmed and appalled. Overwhelmed by the
loving care that was being given to the most wretched of people and
appalled by the terrible stench of disease and death. He went back
to the critics and said he would evict Mother Teresa if they would
be willing to take over the work. No more criticisms were heard.
They were not prepared to empty themselves as she was.
If we want to join Jesus in being lifted up, we too have to do some
self-emptying. We need to get more actively involved somehow in the
sufferings of our world and our society. Giving not just money or
gifts but something of ourselves, a "hands on" approach. Loving
till it hurts, not just physically but perhaps financially and
socially, where we run the risk of rejection or ridicule.
We can only do this if we can see the glory of the cross and learn
to identify with the love that is behind it and some day to share
in the exaltation of our Lord.