The Holy Cross is a Symbol of God’s Salvation!

September 14, 2025 Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Daily Readings: Numbers 21:4b-9; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17

“There is no food, no water, and the food available is miserable!" This could easily sound like the voice of children in a hostel, yet it is in fact the cry of the chosen people of God nearly three thousand years ago. On their journey to the Promised Land, the Israelites grew weary and impatient. They longed for instant gratification, unable to endure the wilderness and the uncertainty of God’s timing. Impatience, as we know, breeds irritation, frustration, dissatisfaction, arrogance, and finally, disobedience. The people murmured against God and against Moses, questioning their leadership and detesting the hardships of the journey.

To teach them a lesson, the Lord allowed poisonous serpents to come among them. Many died from the deadly bites, and the people, realizing their sin, begged Moses to intercede on their behalf. The Lord, in His mercy, instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and raise it on a pole. Anyone bitten by the serpents was to look at the bronze serpent and be healed. This striking image not only became a lasting symbol in medical science but also, for believers, a prototype of the Holy Cross. In Scripture, serpents often signify evil and temptation, but here the bronze serpent also becomes a sign of judgment and deliveredance-pointing forward to the Cross of Christ.

St. Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, sings a hymn of praise to Christ, one of the most profound Christological hymns in the New Testament. It celebrates both the incarnation and the humility of Jesus. Paul affirms that though Jesus was truly God, He did not cling to His divine status. Instead, in obedience to the Father’s plan, He emptied Himself (kenosis), took the form of a servant, and was born in human likeness. Unlike the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness, Jesus remained obedient to the Father, even to the point of death on a cross. The cross, in those days, was a punishment reserved for criminals, despised and shameful. Yet Jesus embraced it willingly out of love.

Because of this obedience, God the Father exalted Him and gave Him “the name that is above every name.” At the name of Jesus, every knee must bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father. This hymn teaches us a countercultural lesson: true greatness lies not in clinging to privilege or power but in self-giving love and humility. In our self-centred, privilege-driven world, Jesus shows us the way of kenotic spirituality, laying aside one’s own advantage for the sake of others. This is the mindset of Christ, which every believer is called to embrace.

The Gospel of John deepens this mystery by linking the bronze serpent of the wilderness to the crucifixion of Jesus. “And 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” (Jn 3:14–15). The lifting up of Jesus on the cross is not a defeat but a moment of salvation. Faith is the key: those who believe in Him will live.

The heart of the Gospel is captured in the verse that follows, John 3:16, one of the most beloved and quoted lines in all of Scripture: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” In these few words lies the entire summary of Christian faith. The Cross is not a sign of condemnation but of salvation, for God’s love is revealed most perfectly in the giving of His Son.

St. Paul, perhaps more than any other New Testament writer, understood the scandal and paradox of the Cross. To human eyes, it appeared foolish, a symbol of weakness and failure. Yet Paul proclaims: “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). Without the Cross and the One who was lifted up upon it, the entire history of salvation would be an empty and meaningless story.

Today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we are invited not simply to venerate a symbol but to enter into its mystery. The Cross is both judgment and mercy, suffering and victory, death and life. It calls us to humility, obedience, and patient endurance. It teaches us that true exaltation comes through self-emptying love. Most of all, it reveals the immeasurable love of God, who so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

To exalt the Cross, then, is to exalt Christ Himself, the obedient Servant, the crucified Lord, and the risen Savior who has been lifted up for our salvation. May we, like Paul, learn to glory in nothing except the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to us, and we to the world.

Call to Action: Many may doubt the resurrection of Jesus, though none deny the crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Yet for believers, the Cross and Resurrection are inseparable, one proclamation of faith, one victory of love.