This morning, we are celebrating Holy Cross Day - it's actually tomorrow, but the message of this feast is so important it's worth moving. The message is this:
“LOOK TO THE CROSS!”
Sounds lovely - and ideal. But... not always easy to put into practice. Because looking to the cross brings us to the edge of our comfort zones. Nudges us, really. Forces us - and just to be clear, I mean it takes us OUTside the edge of our comfort zone.
And the scriptures remind us of this.
The reading from Numbers, for example, shows how easily that comfort zone can shift. For Moses has been spending time with his people, doing their thing, being totally cared for. And yet... despite having enough - enough food, enough shelter, enough socializing... they want more. Yesterday's miraculous manna has become kinda BLAH. The company is getting tiresome, the accommodations aren't nice enough anymore...
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? The weariness of it all... when the inconvenience of change, even when we logically know it's for our own good, becomes just Too Much. When we seek personal convenience and comfort. I don't WANNA wear a mask anymore... I shouldn't HAVE to social distance... when are we going to SING?
Yup. We're all there, friends. It's hard. It's awkward, it feels weird and unusual. And we're all getting weary of it.
So, imagine if we prayed to God to just make it all go away? Wouldn't that be lovely?
Before we leap into THAT, I'm going to invite us to think about what happens with the Israelites when they do that.
"Moses - talk to God about those serpents. We don't like them anymore! They're killing us!"
Now, I have to be honest, given my personal feelings about snakes - I'm okay with that request.
BUT - God hears their request, and yet... the snakes remain. Pain and suffering remains.
For us, COVID remains as the serpent damaging our communities - for when part of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer.
Yet God does not leave these people - regardless of their faithlessness - without a means, in the midst of their suffering to bring healing. And it seems strange at first... because God uses a serpent, the thing which caused them pain and suffering and death - to provide faith and life, when they look at it through the eyes of faith.
The very thing that causes pain needs to be given attention - it needs to be truly seen and understood, in order to help alleviate the pain. With a serpent, truly looking at it will increase knowledge of avoiding it, or minimising the threat, or treating the symptoms, or better understanding the conditions that support it.
Or with COVID, we need to look deeply - and understand how to avoid it - and minimise the threat, and treat the symptoms, and better understand the conditions that support.
We could apply this practice here to anything that hurts us - be they viruses or snakes, or miscommunications, or damaged relationships or... anything hurtful, really.
Not to say that looking deeply at what hurts us is going to be easy - quite the opposite, usually - but if we don't, we can't find healing. We can't find grace. We can't find health.
Paul's letter confirms this, when he tells the church in Corinth that death will in fact bring life. It is not something to be feared, or chased down - don't try to be crucified, he says, that's foolish; but be faithful, and know why you are doing what you are doing.
Look to the Cross - that earthly symbol of pain and suffering, that shows a deeper healing to the faithful - where it becomes the symbol of eternal life with those we love.
This is the illogical invitation Paul extends to proclaim Christ Crucified - that God - GOD! would experience this dehumanising experience. Shouldn't we avoid that part though? Many people may not want to hear it?
Again - we - as is normal here on earth - do what we can to avoid pain and suffering. How often do we deeply acknowledge, with the intention of addressing, the difficulties of this life, the challenges of being people of faith? Do we truly proclaim them in all we say and do? Or do we try to avoid that part of it?
Do we actually look to the source of pain as the redemption of pain - or are we too busy looking for the easy answers. the pain-free route.
Most of us, I think would prefer the easy road... the magic make-it-all-better pill... the quick fix... whatever snake oil (we're back to snakes), that means we don't actually have to do the hard work of healing. Even when we know that this is unlikely to work, or to endure. Or be faithful.
For we know, as people of faith, that the easy road is not the way of the Cross.
For the way of the Cross - as Jesus himself reminds his friends - is a journey through discomfort - through pain - through tears. It's a temporary wilderness that leads to an eternal benefit. It's an earthly acknowledgement to face what is causing the pain - and knowing that it will not overcome.
It's terrible - it's not an invitation to seek out suffering - but an opportunity to take the journey of faith... and not be discouraged when sometimes the journey is a little rocky.
So: God is inviting us on the journey - a journey of faith. And reminding us to look at the cross:
When it isn't what we want anymore, like manna from heaven - for God will remind us to be thankful for what we have.
When it feels uncomfortable - for then God is reminding us that we have something to learn.
When it is inconvenient, as the Corinthians found it to be - for then God will remind us not to take the spiritual journey for granted.
When it feels like condemnation, before we can receive the salvation - a healing salve - that Jesus promises.
For God so loved the world. For God so loved all of the world. For God so loves all of us - that his own son would bear the burden of a rough wooden cross, and remind us of the power of God's forgiveness, redemption, salvation, and healing love.
For God so loves the world - that God is with us when we look upon the cross: to lay our burdens down, to re-focus our lives, to ask for help - and to receive the great gifts being offered.
For God so loves the world - that we are gifted the cross to gaze upon, throughout our journeys: a constant reminder that this is so much more than an historic symbol of faith: it is a constant assurance of a present truth.
Look to the Cross: beloved: and believe.
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