Exaltation of the Holy Cross
This weekend marks the beginning of a new stage in your journey of formation. We are resuming the climb after a bit of a switchback on the mountain road where we slowed for the turn and to admire the view.
From here, there are two dangers and one joy that I want you to keep in sight.
How are you doing? Have you caught yourself complaining about something that you once recognized as a gift, like the Children of Israel complained about Manna in the desert?
You will.
You will, because this is our human nature.
We forget the works of the Lord.
We begin to complain against the Lord and against his servants.
We fail to humble ourselves, and become obedient, as Christ was obedient.
This is the first danger. Be on guard against it. Check yourself, before you wreck yourself, as they say. Do not allow the gifts of God to become loathsome to you.
The story of the seraph serpents has sparked debate for thousands of years now. Seraph can mean fiery, or dancing, perhaps as a flame or a sword dance. Perhaps they were not flying at all, but simply moved quickly, like a sword. Perhaps they were some sort of leaping cobra. Perhaps they were simply copper-colored venomous snakes. There is even some compelling evidence they may have been actual mini-dragons, bioluminescent pteranodons.
The story is odd, isn’t it? Moses made a brass or bronze image of a serpent, mounted it on a pole, and this image of death became a sign of salvation and life, a foreshadowing of Christ lifted up on the cross. The serpent, cursed to eat dust, would be the symbol of the punishment for complaining about manna, sweet to the taste.
But do you know what happened to the bronze serpent on a pole?
It became an idol.
Over time, the people lost sight of the meaning of the symbol as a reminder to look to God for salvation. They began to worship the thing itself. King Hezekiah destroyed it in 600BC, but they burned incense to that idol for 800 years.
And this is the second danger.
Is our trust in God? Is it God in whom we hope?
Elizabeth Scalia has a little book called Strange Gods. I encourage you to consider checking it out. In Strange Gods, she discusses ten or so different types of idols we worship. It is easy for us to dismiss idolatry as a sin for “primitive” cultures, but idols are not just ugly statues. An idol is anything that takes the place in our life that God has reserved for Himself.
As pleasure becomes our clay god, we are consumed even as we consume. Pleasure is an incessantly hungry god. The more we feed him, the hungrier he gets, and more is never enough. Without realizing that our hand-fed beast intends to devour us, we feed ourselves to him one hour at a time and wait in vain to be filled.
Idols of gold and silver destroy our souls more subtly. Worthwhile endeavors like work, service, and our childrens’ baseball games edge God out of our life. Driven by duty, guilt, and even love, these are idols that we polish and display proudly. We become a “Martha”, so busy doing that we neglect to be with the lover of our soul. Our golden idols crush the life from us with their inexorably increasing pressure.
Idols demand our all and give nothing in return. There is no time for Work when we worship Pleasure, and no time for family when we worship at the altar of Work. When we place God first, we are filled to overflowing instead of consumed by our desires. We have time and energy enough for love, for work, and for pleasure. He pulls us out of the mire and sets our feet upon a rock. We have life, and we have it abundantly.
Beware of idols.
Finally, a joyful promise.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Cross you have redeemed the world.
Our God loves us, and God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn you, but that you might be saved.
This is his message for everyone, and the hope that we bring when we proclaim the word of God.
And in the end, Jesus wins.
Every knee will bend.
Every tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
