FROM THE SERVANT GENERAL
THE WAY FORWARD IN CHRIST
(Part 210)
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
September 14, 2021
Today’s readings:
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 78:1-2,34-38
Philippians 2:6-11
John 3:13-17
God loves the world and does not want anyone to perish (Jn 3:16). God sent Jesus to save us and not to condemn us (Jn 3:17). Unfortunately, due to human rebellion, God often has to punish us in order to save us.
This happened to God’s chosen people in the wilderness, where, despite all God has done for them, they complained against Him (Nm 21:4-5). What did God do? “So the Lord sent among the people seraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of the Israelites died.” (Nm 21:6). Rebellion against God brings death! When the people recognized their sin, God instructed Moses to make a seraph mounted on a pole, and everyone bitten who looked on it recovered (Nm 21:8-9).
Still, through the years, God’s people continued to rebel, to disobey, to look to other gods. “Their hearts were not constant toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.” (Ps 78:37). They could not just obey God, look to His will, walk in His ways. They always needed to be chastised before they would realize their folly and turn back to God. “When he slew them, they began to seek him; they again looked for God.” (Ps 78:34).
But sinful humanity persisted. And so God made the ultimate punishment, that of His own Son, that of the spotless Lamb, to atone for the sins of all. Jesus emptied himself and “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:8). In this way God gave us our salvation. Such is the power of the cross of Christ.
Today, humanity still persists in sin and evil. And the cycle of chastisement and returning to God and then going back to worldly ways continues. When 9/11 happened to the USA, the churches were packed. Today, just 20 years later, churches were emptying (even before lockdowns) and many of the American people, including Catholic laity and clerics, are steeped in the perversity and abomination of abortion and LGBT. Today we have the COVID pandemic, wreaking havoc throughout the world. This is a chastisement of God, due to the apostasy in the Church and the tsunami of evil in the world. But so far, except in some pockets, the fallen world is not listening, and continue with their destructive ways.
God remains to be the same loving, compassionate, merciful and patient God, as He does not change. But He knows that oftentimes the best way to get His wayward people back on track is to chastise them, at times severely. So God forgives and does not utterly destroy, turns back His anger, “unwilling to unleash all his rage.” (Ps 78:38). Unwilling, for now. But the time of God’s harsh judgment is coming.
Let us be prepared. Let us be like the repentant Israelites, as “they remembered that God was their rock, God Most High, their redeemer.” (Ps 78:35). Let us be like them as they looked to the seraph serpent mounted on a pole and were healed. We for our part look at Jesus crucified, and exalt the cross of our salvation.
May the world heed God’s chastisement, and turn to Jesus in repentance and faith, so “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:10-11). Amen.
