A lot of things are broken in our world. It seems like every week there is a new tragedy where more people have lost their lives in senseless acts of violence. That’s not even including the wars around the world and the religious persecutions and genocides that are actively happening in Africa. It seems, to me at least, like it is getting worse every day. It can seem like evil is on the verge of victory.
The Feast of the Exultation of the Cross, which we celebrate this Sunday, reminds us that this is not true. Evil might think it has triumphed, but it will always lose. Because Jesus, our King, has conquered it.
When we look upon the Cross, we look upon the worst thing that humanity has ever done: tortured God to death. And yet, this is not an image we are called to fear. We are called to find hope in it and to proclaim it to all the world, because there is something greater on the Cross than humanity’s failure. God’s love is on the Cross too.
St. John tells us that God so loved the world–he so loved us–that he sent his Son to save us. Make no mistake, the Son was completely willing to fulfill this mission. The Father did not send the Son to die like some blood-thirsty deity who desires blood sacrifice. The Son desires to come into the world and save the world, so that the world might return to the Father. The love of the Son for us and for the Father is made manifest on the Cross, where Jesus bore all the sins of humanity. In his suffering and death, he destroyed the power of sin and death over humanity. No longer are we slaves to evil, but we are children of the light. This is what the Cross won for us.
On the Cross, it looked like evil had won. But it was exactly the opposite. Because evil did not recognize the power of the love of God.
With the world around us turning away from the Church and Christianity in general and falling more into the barbaric practices of the past every day, we have a choice ahead of us. Will we follow the Cross? Or not?
To follow the Cross is not easy. That is why so many turn away from it. They desire pleasure, fame, power, or even, it seems, anarchy and violence. They cannot see that these are passing things. They cannot see that one day all these things will end, that those who have made them their gods will be judged and found wanting. Their conducts shows that they do not desire God, so he will not force them into his presence. They will get what they have asked for: separation from the source of life, peace, and joy.
To follow the Cross is to love our enemy and to do good to those who hurt us. It is to live an upright and holy life and to turn away from sin. It is to be a light to all the nations and to proclaim the Good News: God has saved us and has invited us to join him in his kingdom of peace. If we follow the Cross, we will be forced to put aside our own desires and to die to ourselves so that God may live more fully through us. But it is all worth it because our true home, our true citizenship, is in Heaven. (Phil 3:20)
God told Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid of [the people I send you to], for I am with you to deliver you.” (Jer 1:8) We must not fear the Cross, for our God has already delivered us, and he continues to walk with us every day of our lives.