Is there a way one can explain or understand Christ without the cross? Is there a way one can be a Christian without talking about the Cross of Christ and contemplating its mystery? Surely not. The Cross, Christ and the Christian are inseparable. At the center of the Christian faith is this soteriological mystery through which God earned salvation for humanity. It is at the Cross that God’s love for humanity is fully manifested. It is still at the Cross that the greatest lesson of love has been taught. Love which is not afraid to die. Love, which is not afraid to sacrifice. Love, which is not afraid to lose and give all.
As Christians, when we are seeking for a way of loving perfectly, we should and must think about the Cross. Although our love may not be as perfect as this, we look up to the Virgin Mary for the sake of this great and incredible love of God for us. She remained at the foot of the Cross, watching her son helplessly in his agony, never abandoning him. Just as the Cross is the perfect example of God’s love for humanity, the virgin Mary is the perfect example of human love for God. Mary is also inseparable from the Cross. She follows Jesus standing with him in his moment of abandonment.
The Cross is a symbol of Christ’s victory over death whose finality is the resurrection. Considered by Saint Paul as a symbol of folly to the pagans, a sign of victory to those who believe, (1 Corinthians 1:23) the Cross calls for the prerequisite of faith. The suffering, the agony, the pain of Christ does not make sense to the pagans, it is like a mockery to them. To those who believe, it is Christ’s battle and victory over death for the sake of humanity. Symbolically, the Cross is present in the Holy Scripture right from the time of exodus when Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert and whoever was beaten by the fierce serpents got healed by mere looking at it. The son of God, Christ brings healing and forgiveness of sins to humanity through the wood of the tree on which he hung. Our worship of Christ and veneration of the Cross is relevant because we have been redeemed by the Cross.
Saint Daniel Comboni once said that a missionary must keep his eyes fixed on Jesus the crucified, loving him tenderly in order to understand the mystery of a God who died upon the Cross. Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori on the other hand notes that “All saints have learned the art of loving God from the study of the crucifix” and according to Saint Methodius of Olympus, “the cross if you wish to define is the confirmation of victory, the way by which God descended to man, the trophy against material spirits, the repulsion of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day and the ladder for those who hurry to enjoy the light that is there.”
Contemplation of the Cross makes real God’s love for us. Also, the mission we participate in has its origin at the Cross in which we are challenged to give our all for others.
In the gospel, (Mathew 16: 24-26) Christ says that if anyone wants to be a follower, let him renounce himself, take up his Cross and follow him. This is an invitation to a life of sacrifice, a life of total donation, a life of bearing pain and troubles for the good of others. When one understands the Cross, they begin to understand love and begin to love genuinely. This is how important the Cross is. It is the origin and motivation of what we do, the tree from which life flows to us. Newness of life stems from this great mystery of love.
By Fr. Nicholas Onyait MCCJ
