| The
Shame and Glory of the Cross
September
13-14,2003
Fr. George Smiga
John
3:13-17
If
you or I were starting our own religion, if we were outlining a new path to lead
people to God, we would never choose the cross as our symbol. Because religion
and spirituality are orientated towards eternal happiness, towards union with
God, towards lasting joy. But the cross is a sign of suffering and death.
Historically
the cross was invented by the Persians as in instrument for execution. It was
then adopted by the Romans who inflicted it upon Jesus along with hundreds of
thousands of other men and women who ran afoul of Roman power. Crucifixion was
saved for the worst offenders because of its brutality and shamefulness. This
made the cross a real stumbling block for the early church. As the early apostles
went out to proclaim the good news, many drawn to Christianity were turned off
when they heard that Jesus was crucified. Those early inquirers saw immediately
what we often overlook: the cross is a form of capital punishment, a shameful
method of execution. Before
we domesticated the cross by including it into peaceful religious images and forming
it into jewelry which we wear around our necks, the cross had the power to shock
and offend. To catch some semblance of what this must have been like, imagine
coming into a church and seeing in the sanctuary an image of Christ strapped into
an electric chair or hanging from a noose. The cross was a sign of violence, brutality
and death. So
how is it that today we are gathered together to celebrate the feast of the Triumph
of the Cross? How has this symbol of death become our symbol? How has it become
for us a sign of life? It's not an easy question to answer. But let me point to
two pieces of good news, two messages of life that come from our belief in the
cross. The first
is this: The cross tells us that suffering is not punishment. When bad things
happen to us, when we need to face sickness or loss, one of our most immediate
reactions is, "Why is this happening to me? Why is God punishing me?"
The cross, however, tells us is that Jesus, who was perfectly innocent and without
guilt was nevertheless crucified. Therefore, the easy equation between suffering
and punishment, suffering and guilt is rendered invalid by the cross. We do not
know why there is so much violence and evil in the world. We cannot explain why
so many people have to suffer. But we do know that the simple assumption that
pain is the result of my sin or punishment is a false conclusion in the light
of the cross. The cross of Jesus tells us that suffering does not mean punishment. The
second piece of good news that comes from the cross is that suffering does not
negate love. All through Jesus' suffering, even as he died on the cross, God continued
to love him. Indeed somehow the death of Jesus is completely circumscribed by
love. Our gospel today says "God so loved the world that he sent his only
son." If God continued to love Jesus in the midst of suffering and death,
then the cross of Christ tells us that when we suffer we can experience God's
love as well. The presence of the cross is not the absence of love. Somehow
God is present to us in our darkest hours. That makes the cross of Christ a sign
of hope. Our heaviest burdens, our deepest pain, our most significant loss will
not separate us from God's love. Think of the person that has hurt you the most,
the person that you find the hardest to love. Remember the heaviest burden you
carry, the deepest evil you have to face, the hardest pain you need to bear. None
of these indicate that God has stopped loving you. None of these evils separate
you from the love of God. If we can claim God's love even in our deepest pain,
then there is always reason for hope and always the possibility of life. The
cross which was a symbol of death has become for us a symbol of life. The cross
which was an instrument of torture has become for us a proclamation of good news.
For the cross tells us that our suffering does not mean that we are punished,
because one who was innocent, suffered as well. The cross tell us that our deepest
pain cannot separate us from God's love and promise of life. So let us today claim
the cross for what it is: our sign of hope, our message of good news. No matter
how deep our pain is, no matter how deep our loss is, the love of God is deeper
still.
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