The Cross

If you walk into your Parish Church this week, or attended Mass this weekend, you may have noticed (if your Parish does this tradition) that all the statues and the crucifix were covered in cloth. As we near the end of our Lenten journey the Church calls us to a new kind of fasting: to fast from the symbolism around us in our space of worship. Why would the Church want us to do that? For the same reason we fast in other ways: to recognize the true thing for which we hunger! As we enter into Holy Week next week, the rich symbolism that will surround us will have even deeper meaning, having denied ourselves even the most basic symbols over the course of this last week. I can’t help but think, that in some ways this experience unites us more deeply with the very early Church of the first century.

Obviously in the first days of the Church they did not have statues of the Saints: most Saints hadn’t lived yet. They didn’t have crosses on display at all, because the cross was not at all a symbol of triumph and victory for those first Christians. In fact, it was a sign of brutality and terror. It was the instrument of death used by their oppressors to govern with a mighty hand of violence and fear. In fact this is where the word “excruciating” comes from: the Latin, ex crucia…which means, “from the cross.”

Now the entire Christian faith turns on the axis of the cross. What changed?

In time, as the faithful came to understand Jesus, and what he did for us by his coming, they came to understand the full meaning of the cross. They came to recognize that all of human dysfunction was conquered by the events of Calvary, and that it was by that cross that we have life. In time we would come to understand that by our Baptism we are baptized into his cross precisely so that we can have a share in his resurrection. That which the Romans raised as a symbol of fear and control, Christ transformed into a symbol of hope and freedom.

The cross became the first Gospel, and ironically Pilate becomes the first evangelist. At the top of the cross is nailed a sign on which is written “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Little did Pilate realize how right he was! Jesus is king indeed! The king who rules with power and might from the throne of the cross! In the Gospel this weekend Jesus said, “Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” Such powerful words, spoken by the only one who could fulfill them! The cross is raised from the earth, the king upon his throne; and all the rulers of the earth are struck powerless as the king of all eternity claims his kingdom!

The cross became the sign to all people of the simple and yet powerful words of Saint Paul that we will hear this weekend on Palm Sunday, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” We may not think much of this phrase that so easily rolls off of our lips, but think about the context in which they were written! It’s taken from the Letter to the Philippians, which scholars identify as being written somewhere between 60-65 AD: a time when the world still believed that Ceasar was Lord! Paul is saying, absolutely not! Jesus Christ is Lord! It is Jesus Christ who went to the cross, and when it was raised from the earth, he drew all people to himself. He conquered sin and death…he conquered the world...he conquered Ceasar himself!

Eventually these realities sank in, and the Christian people began to identify the cross not only as the symbol of their faith but as the hallmark of their very lives. They eventually articulated that the covenant of the cross solidified their willingness to go to their own crosses: to be beheaded, scourged, and face all the other forms of martyrdom that would come their way. There was nothing that Rome could do to them that would ever result in true defeat, because they belonged to Jesus. They were sealed into his cross, and granted a share in his resurrection. They did not yet display the cross: they lived the cross.

This week, however, the cross is covered. This powerful symbol reminds us that like the early Christians we too must live the cross. It is not merely a piece of jewelry for us to wear around our neck, or a beautiful piece of art for display in Churches and museums. We too have been sealed into his cross, and invited into a share in his resurrection: and we are called to proclaim this truth with our daily lives! We are called to live the words of Pilate that Jesus of Nazareth is the king: the king of creation, the king of our homes, the king of our hearts!

We are reminded as we look upon the covered cross that we are called to live all the things that it represents, and all the things that happened there! We are to live those words that he spoke in his final moments: words of forgiveness and mercy, and words of compassion and salvation. We are to live his words by taking Mary into our home, as he instructed the beloved disciple. We are to live his words by recognizing that just as he declared, “I thirst”, we too thirst: for him! Just as he would announce, “into your hands I commend my spirit,” we too must entrust to the father every single thing that we hold as our own right down to our very spirit!

This week the symbol of the cross has been covered, and we are reminded that a symbol has no meaning unless it points to a reality; and the reality of the cross can only be lived in our day by our lives.

We adore you O Christ, and we praise you; because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world!