Reflection
Today is Saturday, September 14th. It is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Our story is weaved throughout the tapestry of the readings, responsorial psalm, and Gospel for today. It is a story of our sinfulness and God’s plan of salvation. The First Reading from the Old Testament and, specifically, the Book of Numbers takes us back to the Book of Genesis and points us forward to the New Testament and the Gospel of John.
In the First Reading, the Israelites have been freed from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, but are traveling across the desert in search of the promised land. We, and all of the baptized, have been freed from the shackles of original sin and are journeying across the desert of this earthly life on pilgrimage to our heavenly home. We, like the Israelites in the desert, risk being bitten by temptation and poisoned by sin. The bite of Satan was foretold in Genesis 3, when the Lord says this to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike at his heel.” Even today, humanity feels the bite of the sins nipping at it’s heals. It may seem odd that salvation comes by looking at a bronze serpent mounted on a pole and held up high. However, that may be the first step in the plan of salvation – to see our sin, to raise it up, to look at it and acknowledge it.
The Second Reading alludes to an antidote to our sinfulness; an antidote for the bite of Satan. That seems to be the recognition that God is God and we are not. The Second Reading proclaims that Christ Jesus, while fully divine, in His humanity “did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.” Jesus shows us that the remedy for sin is the emptying of oneself; the remedy includes humility and obedience.
Finally, in the Gospel from Mark, the fullness of God’s plan of salvation is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ is the perfect anti-toxin to sin. Our Savior was not forced onto that cross on calvary, rather he freely allowed himself to be placed there. The Son of Man allowed himself to be lifted up, much like Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert. The question many ask is – Why? John 3:16 answers that for us – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” It was out of love that Jesus entered into our humanity and even deeper love that He willingly entered into His passion.
What did that self-sacrificial act of Jesus achieve for humanity? Sin was nailed to that Cross; evil was defeated. More importantly, full union with God was achieved and eternal life became a possibility again.
What is required of us; how do we respond? The answer lies with the Gospel passage – “Believe in Him.”