Holy Cross

Holy Cross Day—September 14
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. John 12:20–33
Lift high the cross
The Love of Christ proclaim
Till all the world
Adore His sacred name

Oh the glorious things that those around Jesus saw over the course of his lifetime! The angels of heaven singing at his birth! The calming of the seas and the healing of the sick! The feeding of the multitudes and even the raising of the dead! Any one of these moments and events a sufficient testimony to the Good News that the God of glory and might had chosen to take on human flesh and make his dwelling with man!
And yet it is a very different kind of moment and event that Jesus himself identifies as revealing the glory of God—it is his death on the cross. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” he said referring to the sacrifice he was about to make. “It is for this purpose that I have come to this hour.”
Knowing just a bit about the horrors and indignities of death by crucifixion, our old sinful man recoils at the very idea that it is there—in a bleeding, dying man held upon a cross by nails—that the glory of God is revealed. But it is—and thank God that it is so!
Jesus’ miracles reveal the might of God—but it is only his death on the cross that reveals the true glory of God which is his love for a world full of sinners—for you and me. It is only there at the cross that we can know—beyond any shadow of a doubt—what God’s attitude is towards us: that he loves us and has sacrificed what is most precious for us—so that we might be his own.
The glory of God in the Man of the cross is what inspired the Apostle Paul to write to the Corinthians that he desired to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified and it is what inspired the hymn-writer to say:
In the cross of Christ I glory
Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.

Let us pray:
Merciful God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, was lifted high upon the cross that He might bear the sins of the world and draw all people to Himself. Grant that we who glory in His death for our redemption may faithfully heed His call to bear the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.