The
Holy Cross is the Road Sign for our Lives
Homily
for the Sunday after the Holy Cross (20 September 2015)
Galatians
2:16-21 Mark 8:34-9:1
On the Sunday after the
Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross, the readings once again remind us of
the importance of the Holy Cross in our lives.
The Cross is not merely the symbol that identifies Christians—no, we have to carry the Cross and follow Jesus. The Cross is not merely the instrument of the
death of the Son of God—no, we must
also be crucified; we also must die
on the Cross.
Why? Because, as Jesus the Messiah says, “What
does it profit us to gain the whole world but lose our life?” And, remember, that’s our eternal life that He’s talking
about. As St Paul says, “The life I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.”
If we don’t have faith in
God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—life is meaningless. If we don’t believe in Jesus Christ—the
only-begotten Son of God, who gave his life on the Cross for our salvation—our
life is meaningless. If we have all the
success and power and money and pleasure and comforts in the world, but we don’t
have faith, we really have no life, because we have no future and we don’t know
where we’re going.
The Holy Cross is like a
road sign or traffic signal for our life.
It stands tall, pointing to Heaven.
The arms reach out, embracing the world and each one of us. The arms also point outward, showing that we
can also move away from Christ, if we choose to do something so stupid.
But the lowest bar on the
Cross—the piece of wood where Jesus rested his feet—shows us the consequences
of our choices in the world. On the
right side, this bar points to the Good Thief crucified at Jesus’s right hand,
the one who defended Him and said, “Remember me when You come into your
kingdom.” This bar points up, as Jesus
told him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” If we also acknowledge Jesus as Lord, we will
live eternally with Him in paradise.
On the other side, the
lowest bar on the Cross points to the other thief crucified with Jesus, the one
who mocked Him by saying, “If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us.” Here the bar points down, to show the
condemnation and punishment that waits for those who refuse to believe.
At the top of the Cross is
the sign clearly identifying Jesus as the King.
St John tells us it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek—the
principal languages of the Roman Empire, the whole of what was then considered
the civilized world. This shows us that
everyone can know about Jesus, no matter where they are from.
So we have the Cross as
the most important sign on the highway of our lives. Everyone can read this sign. Everyone can see where it points. Everyone can choose to obey it or not, and
everyone can see what will happen as the result of their decisions.
We need to believe the
sign that Jesus is our King—our Lord, God, and Savior. We need to step into the outstretched arms of
His loving embrace. We need to follow
the route to Heaven shown by the Good Thief and turn away from the road to Hell
shown by the Bad Thief. And in all
things we need to deny our sinful pride and carry our crosses and follow Jesus,
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and unto the ages of
ages. Amen.
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