Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross – a feast that calls us to see God’s glory hidden in what looks like shame and defeat. Imagine going viral for the worst thing you’ve ever done. People dream of fame, but what if you became known for the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done? We’ve seen how public sin or failure can be broadcast to the whole world – reminders that even humiliation can become a moment of grace. Jesus was sinless. He died on the cross to save us from our sins. Yet so often when the apostles and other followers of Jesus preached the Gospel, people would think first of the shame that Jesus had died on a cross. This can be hard for us to understand.
Distance from the time of Jesus
Our distance in time from the death of Jesus on the cross makes it is hard for us to pick up on the humiliation suffered. It is common for us to wear crosses around our necks and use crucifixes to decorate our living rooms and kitchens. We fail to see the horrifying aspect of the cross because we are so used to it. However, for the early Christians, perhaps one of the greatest obstacles to preaching the Gospel was the fact that Christ died in the worst way imaginable. Who wants to follow someone who was executed in the most degrading way possible? Veneration for the cross took time to enter into Christian piety.
Centuries later, devotion deepened when St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, sought to honor this very cross. On pilgrimage in Jerusalem, she discovered three wooden crosses. To determine the true cross, she brought in a leper who was cured by touching one of them. They determined that this must be the true cross of Christ. We commemorate the anniversary of this event and churches around the world are called “Holy Cross” because of this devotion. Yet long before that, Christians faced mockery for following a crucified Savior.
Graffiti about God
The earliest artistic depiction we have of Jesus is a mockery. The Alaxamenos Graffito portrays a man with the head of a donkey being crucified. This crude graffiti mocked Christians for worshiping a crucified man. The inscription reads, “Alaxamenos worships his god” to mock a Christian named Alaxamenos for his beliefs. The image dates back to the late 2nd or early 3rd century and gives us context about what it meant for the early Christians to follow a man who had been crucified.
We often get caught up in our image, hesitant to share our faith for fear of embarrassment. It is important to come to grips with what it means to follow Christ. We can look to the example of the first Christians.
Witness of the First Christians
They faced martyrdom to give witness to their faith. They knew that what seemed like shame was in fact the path to salvation. St. Paul captured this in his letter to the Philippians.
Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. 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 (Philippians 2:5-11).
This Christological hymn invites us to enter the mystery of the Passion and Death of Jesus, recognizing the tremendous power it possesses. The cross has even the power to turn our sinful past into a holy future.
Jesus reminds us of God’s great love for us in his conversation with Nicodemus.
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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (Jn. 3:16-17).
Jesus embraced the cross out of love for you. Will you embrace the cross for him?
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