We all know how kind words can really lift someone up. Listening to a favorite song can really lift up our spirits. My heart was lifted up the other day when my niece called from her home in Greece just to talk.
In our gospel today, however, ‘being lifted up’ meant something entirely different for Jesus. As the conversation went, the Pharisees in our gospel asked Jesus who he was, and he answered, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM”. For Jesus, ‘lifting up’ meant being nailed to a cross and elevated in agony, humiliation, and suffering. It was his certain death.
Jesus endured all this for no other reason than to show us how much he and His Father loved us. His selfless act is fundamental to our faith. Jesus’s death on the cross was voluntary, sacrificial, reconciling, and lifegiving for us.
Dwelling on the suffering Jesus endured on the cross out of love for us is still horrific to ponder. And yet, this cross is prominent throughout our entire life in Christ.
- We are gathered in this sacred space in the shadow of the cross.
- We begin our Christian lives at baptism by being marked with the sign of the cross.
- We hang crosses reverently in our homes to remind us that we are sanctified by the cross.
- We begin and end Mass with this powerful, mysterious, lifegiving sign.
- And, for the last time, at the end of our earthly lives our graves will be marked with the sign of the cross.
As Holy Week approaches, it would be well to reflect on the cross, this sign to us of God’s mercy and healing.
- Think of Jesus abandoned by his friends, humiliated and scorned by officials, beaten and stripped by ruthless guards,
- Picture the rocky path and his barren feet that had to walk it bearing a heavy cross,
- Hear the pounding of the nails and the jeering of the people,
- Hear Jesus struggle to say: “I thirst”, “Behold your mother”, “Father, forgive them”, “It is finished.”
- Reflect on how he finished his death…with love, forgiveness, hope, and grace.
As we make the sign of the cross on ourselves, may we do so with renewed reverence and deep gratitude for the suffering and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ who was lifted up for us.
