The Paradox of the Cross

When we let go of ourselves, our egos, our presuppositions and presumptions, we are then able to see with the eyes of God and look beyond the obvious and the worldly. This was the nature of the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus during those evening visits. It is interesting that this encounter between this “teacher of Israel” and the Lord takes place at night. There, in the outward darkness, Jesus shows forth the light of His Truth. It is a paradox – a set of contrasts that reveals the deeper meaning of life to someone who though he had it all figured out.

Thank God for Nicodemus’ willingness to open himself to this dialogue and thus come to a better understanding of Truth! We have much to yet learn in this regard.

Today we observe the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This is in itself a paradox. The Cross – an instrument of horror, torture, and death – is celebrated by those who follow Christ – the One who died on that Cross. For people of Nicodemus and Jesus’ time, crosses were something to be avoided. It was so gruesome and ignominious that not even the Romans spoke much about crucifixion. The cross was seen as evil, cruel. Yet here we are celebrating the “Holy Cross.”

The mystery of the Cross is our invitation to let go of our human, earthly way of seeing and presuming and to allow the perspective of Christ to become ours. Without that perspective, we would never expect to find healing in the Cross – like the Israelites looking to the bronze serpent – an image of the source of their suffering – for the healing they need. That is the mystery that we live here: the mystery of the Cross, the source of healing for those of us who live under the penalty of sin and death. The Cross is at the same time an expression of the justice of God and His mercy.

True justice must lead to healing, not just punishment. This is what Jesus means when He tells Nicodemus, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” And that salvation comes through the death of Christ; we participate in it when we unite our suffering to His.

The paradox of the Cross brings us into contact with who we really are as Christians. Like Nicodemus, Jesus tells you and me that we must be “born again” to enter the kingdom of God. To be a part of the glorious enterprise that is what Jesus came to establish, we cannot continue thinking as the world tells us to think. We cannot allow our human frailty to dictate how we treat one another, how we see the world and its difficulties, or how we respond to hurts. If we want to know how to do that, we are instructed to look to the Cross. It is there that God’s will is revealed most fully; it is there that God’s justice is fully displayed; and, paradoxically, it is there that God’s mercy is revealed once and for all.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perishbut might have eternal life.”

The horror of the Cross is not constrained to that hill of Calvary, two thousand years ago. The horror of the Cross is shown time and again when the innocent suffer, when the persecuted cry out, when the vulnerable are wounded. We have no shortage of examples of this Cross in our world now; we have no shortage of that Cross in our own lives. So, what can we do?

When they experienced the hardships of their lives, the Israelites complained and even conspired against Moses. We can do this too. However, this response to suffering leads only to more suffering and even death. It is only when we embrace our vulnerability – our shared human vulnerability – that we are led to the healing that God wants for us. Jesus is lifted up on the Cross, not to drive us away, but rather just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Elsewhere, Jesus will tell us that when He is lifted up, He will draw all people to Himself.

“All people.”  That’s you and I, and everyone – even those I do not like or love. The paradox of the Cross is that it embraces everyone, because everyone has suffering in their lives. However, through that suffering we find healing; in death we find life. I recall St. Francis of Assisi’s famous prayer that also expresses this paradox of the Cross. It is how we can embrace the Cross and find real freedom.

“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”