Around the year 312, as Constantine fought his rival Maxentius for control of the Roman Empire, legend has it that he looked up into the sky and saw a cross with the words “In Hoc Signo Vinces,” meaning “in this sign you will conquer.” Constantine, emboldened by this miraculous vision, then took his sword, and holding it by the blade so that the handle resembled the cross, he led his army to victory and became the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
His mother, Helena, was a devout Christian and Constantine had been exposed to the teachings of Jesus from his youth. As Emperor he ended the persecution of Christians and legitimized the Church, ushering in the Christian era of the Roman Empire.
The Feast of the Holy Cross that we celebrate today actually commemorates the dedication of the Basilica of the Resurrection in Jerusalem in 335 AD. The Basilica is built on Golgotha, where it is believed the crucifixion of Jesus took place.
The cross was an amazing symbol of contradiction. That it became the most recognized religious symbol in the world, a symbol of God’s love, forgiveness and redemption, is a miracle itself. In the ancient Roman world, it was the symbol of degradation, suffering and death. To put it in today’s perspective, imagine a religion whose symbol is the electric chair or a hangman’s noose. Death by crucifixion was so brutal that it was reserved only for conquered peoples and slaves. A Roman citizen was never crucified. This debate about the cross would have been ongoing at the time of Constantine since the Romans were still crucifying slaves and conquered peoples, so the miracle of his seeing that this would be the sign of his victory must have shook him up, as well as his advisors.
And so we have this contradiction, even to this day. For example we see various interpretations of the cross in our churches, from the dying Jesus as this one depicts, to the ones with Jesus risen and reigning in glory. The readings this weekend point out the healing power of the cross, drawing an analogy to the staff with the bronze serpent that Moses raised above the Israelites to heal them from the ills sent upon them for their disobedience to God. The caduceus, the symbol of the medical profession even today, is the representation of this staff.
Personally I am perfectly willing to let Jesus go to His cross and suffer and die for me. After all, that’s why He came. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,” the gospel of John tells us. This salvation is a great and wonderful gift from God. But in choosing to accept this gift, this salvation from a loving God, we also choose to follow the example of His Son. Like the apostles, we are perfectly willing to follow Jesus when the going is easy, when the miracles are happening, when the birds are singing and love is in the air. And then comes the flood.
When the apostles were challenged to follow Jesus to the cross, they fled like sheep, as Isaiah prophesied they would. But the Spirit of the Risen Christ would continue to call them back and they would respond to that call and build a Church, which stands even today.
My brothers and sisters, make no mistake about it, you and I are the successors to Peter and James and Matthew. We are the followers of Jesus who are alive in 2003. And each one of us is being called to follow Jesus, not only into the presence of God, but also to the cross. Because every one of us is being nailed to a particular cross: a cross of betrayal, a cross of unrequited love, a cross of serious illness of ourselves or those we love, a cross of loneliness following the death of a loved one. All around us is the pain and sorrow of crucifixion, not always of physical death, but always of suffering and degradation.
In this life, we cannot avoid crucifixion anymore than Jesus could. But to followers of the Risen Christ, the crucifixion is never the end. The crosses that we find ourselves nailed to will not last forever. The Resurrection that follows crucifixion is about a new and glorious life. The cross moves from being a symbol of suffering, degradation and death to a symbol of the doorway that leads to celebration, rejoicing and new life.
And so the choice is left to us. Is the Jesus we follow a dead prophet hanging by his nailed wrists to a cross of wood? Or is He the Son of God, the first born of the newly risen to eternal life with God, who sits at the Father’s right hand and waits only for us to come to Him with our lives – to be made whole by Him, to be healed by Him, to be raised from the dead, physically, emotionally, spiritually, by Him.
The second reading tells us of the choice St. Paul made. In writing so passionately to the people of Philippi he acknowledges that this Jesus, obedient in all things to the Father, is the Lord, the One sent by God to accomplish what all of us, trying our best, could not do – to bring God’s creation to the glory that the Father has created it for.
Of the Sign of the Cross, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, writing at the time of Constantine, wrote: “Let us not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ. Even if another hide it, wear it openly on your head, that the demons seeing this royal sign may flee far away. Make this sign when eating and drinking, when sitting, lying down, rising, speaking or walking; in a word, on every occasion. For He who was crucified is in heaven above.”
In this sign we will conquer. Jesus is alive. He is risen. He loves us and wants us to be healed of every crucifixion we have endured, and He especially wants us with Him in His Father’s presence, forever.