Holy Cross Day

Preached at 10.00am Eucharist at St Helen’s Church, Solihull.
Sunday 14th September 2008, Holy Cross Day.
A shorter version was also preached at 8am at St. Helen's.

Readings Numbers 21: 4-9 Philippians 2:6-11 John 3: 13-17

I am sure that you have heard the phrase “Touch Wood” many times. I often hear it when I go visiting. People say something like, “Well the doctor has told me that I should be OK now, so I am really grateful for that, touch wood!” and then they look around for something wooden to touch, and they usually find something and touch it. And then they might say something like, “Well, I’m sorry…I shouldn’t be doing these supposititious things in front of you, should I?” Sometimes it seems that people have no problem with being superstitious, so long as they are not superstitious in front of the vicar (or curate)!
I spent a few minutes yesterday searching the internet for the origins of the phrase “touch wood” and I have to say I did not find anything very enlightening. However there are some intriguing references to an extraordinary series of events which happen around 325 AD. This was a very exciting period in the life of the Church. After three centuries of often brutal persecution by the Roman Empire, suddenly Rome had a Christian emperor, Constantine. Suddenly, far from being persecuted, the Church was in great favour with the state. At this time, the emperor’s mother, Helena, who we now call St Helena, went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When she went to see the place where Jesus had died and had been buried she was disappointed to find nothing but a pagan Roman temple on the site. You will recall that, as punishment for the Jewish rebelion, the Romans had completely destroyed Jerusalem and sent the Jews away in 70AD. The Roman temple was built to remind people who was in charge.
Helena ordered that the temple be demolished an excavations started to see what, if anything, remained from the time of the death of Jesus. As they dug, they found what they soon came to believe to be the tomb of Jesus and nearby they found buried three wooden crosses, including the inscription plate from Jesus’ crucifixion. This was of course very exciting. It was clear to the people involved that the three crosses were those of Jesus and the two thieves, but it was not clear which cross was which. This was resolved by bringing in a very sick lady, who in an atmosphere of intense prayer, was touched by the wood of each of the three crosses in turn. As soon as she was touched by the third cross, she was miraculously healed. This was taken as conclusive proof that the third cross was indeed the “True Cross”, the cross on which Jesus died. The True Cross quickly became one of the most important relics in Christianity, known for its healing qualities, and many legends and myths grew up around it. Constantine built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the whole site. It was completed in 335 AD, and it was dedicated over a two day festival on 13th and 14th September. People would come to venerate the cross on which Jesus died, and to this day we reserve 14th September as Holy Cross Day, a day for the veneration and remembrance of the cross of Jesus. The idea of healing by "touching wood" still resonates down the ages.
Now in this parish we often have some form of veneration of the cross on Good Friday. I don’t know what your practice is here, but at St Alphege we have a wooden Crucifix and one by one we come up before it. Some people kiss it, some bow reverently before it, some pray quietly. But whatever we do outwardly with our bodies and with a material wooden cross only has really value if it corresponds to what we are doing spiritually and inwardly in our relationship with Jesus dying on the cross.
The cross is absolutely central to our faith. Only two weeks ago in our gospel reading we heard Jesus say to us, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matt 16: 24). In our gospel reading today Jesus was clear that, as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole, so Jesus must be lifted up, in order to bring eternal life to those who believe in him (c.f. John 3:14). And the reason that the cross is so important to Christianity is because the death of Jesus is so very closely linked to his resurrection. The new life, joy and fulfilment of the resurrection come about precisely because Jesus died on the cross.
As Christians we are always called to grow in our love for Jesus. We might find it very easy to love the baby Jesus born at Christmas time, or Jesus the wise and merciful teacher who drew great crowds. But we are also called to love Jesus on the cross; Jesus treated as a criminal, Jesus humiliated and dying, who feels himself forsaken even by God.
And I would like to suggest that we have an opportunity to do this every time any kind of suffering crosses our path. Every time we suffer a disappointment, every time someone is rude to us, every time we encounter pain, every time we become aware of faults in ourselves or in others, these are moments when we need to love Jesus dying on the cross. In each of these sufferings we can, through prayer, find a link to Christ, suffering on the cross and we can try to love him.
And this is not easy. We are usually more keen to avoid suffering, than to see and love the suffering Christ in sufferings. But Jesus did not avoid suffering. Even though he was God, he was humble enough let go of his equality with God, to become human and to walk willingly into a most horrifying human death (c.f. Phil 2:6-8). In the face of suffering Jesus did not run away, but rather he loved. He continued to love throughout his passion, even forgiving his executors.
So when encounter suffer, in ourselves or in others, let’s first of all try to find a link to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. Then let’s try love the suffering Christ in that situation. Sometimes love will show us things we can do to alleviate the sufferings. Sometimes, like Mary watching Jesus die on the cross, we can do nothing but just stand there. Either way, the important thing is to love.
And in this way our hearts grow. Our relationship with Jesus grows. As we share more with Jesus at his death, so we share more with him at this resurrection and we experience his reconciliation and new life in our lives. Loving Jesus in all our sufferings; this is the true way to venerate the cross.