Exalt you Own Crosses

The Exaltation of the Cross

1 Cor 1:18-24

John 19:6-11; 13-20; 25-28; 30-35 

It is said that the Chinese have a curse, “May you live in interesting times”.  It’s meant as an insult, of course, but the Fourth Century really was interesting times.  It began with the Domitian Persecution, the worst persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire. 

But that period soon ended.  In 312, right before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, the Emperor Constantine had a vision.  He saw a cross in the sky, with the words, “In hoc signo vinces” – in this sign, you will conquer.  After winning the battle, Constantine did indeed adopt the Cross as his symbol.  He issued the Edict of Milan, legalizing Christianity.  And, in 325, realizing that the Church had to be one in belief, he called the First Council of Nicea, the 1700^th anniversary we celebrate this year.  From it came the first half of the creed that we’ll recite in a few minutes.

Saint Helena, Constantine’s mother, was already a Christian.  Once he made the faith legal, she set about discovering physical evidence of Christ. She went to Jerusalem, hoping to find the True Cross.  She found an old Jewish man named Judah, who told her that the Cross was buried under the Temple of Venus, which the Emperor Hadrian had built on Golgotha. She had the temple destroyed and had the area excavated. They found three crosses. 

At that time, a funeral procession was passing by.  To determine which, if any, of the three crosses was the True Cross, they touched the first cross to the dead body.  Nothing. Then, they touched the second cross to the body. Again, nothing.  Then, the last cross was touched to the body, and the person was restored to life!  Then, to be sure, they touched the Cross to a sick woman, and she was cured!!!  The patriarch lifted up the Cross for all to see, and the people cried, “Lord have mercy”!

I want you to think about that situation. To the typical Roman, the word Cross would not have had a positive meaning.  The cross was an instrument of torture. The cross was an instrument of execution. Death on the cross was reserved for the lowest of criminals. In fact, Paul says in the Epistle, “The message of the Cross is foolishness for those who are perishing”.

And here were Christians venerating a cross.  And that cross, that instrument of torture, of death, had restored a dead woman to life and healed a second woman!

Yes, the Cross is an instrument of torture, of execution, but it’s also an instrument of healing, of salvation.  Our Gospel today tells us how it became just that.  Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree’”.  Jesus received that curse so that we might be blessed!

In our lives, we sometimes have to endure crosses that we would not choose, crosses that are at the time a curse, but God turns them into great blessings.

As often happens, in my late teens I started going my own way spiritually.  I began considering other religions, other philosophies.  It began during my senior year in high school, and within a few years, I pretty much was doing and thinking whatever I wanted to. 

About a month before my 20^th birthday, when I was in music school in Boston, I received three free tickets to a concert.  I asked two friends, one black, one white, to go. As it happens, we got off the subway one stop too early, in the heart of a rough neighborhood. Within a few blocks, we were being chased by white kids who hated blacks.  The result was that my black friend ran fastest and was able to get away.  My white friend was pretty badly beaten, and I was hit atop my head with a baseball bat. Fortunately, we were helped by people driving past.

When I eventually returned to the dorm, I was shaken up; I suffered a mild case of PTSD for close to 20 years. As I calmed down, I realized that the attack was a message from God, that He was trying to bring me back home to Him.  It took a while, but I did get involved in a church back here a few years later.  And that started a chain of events that brought me to here this morning.

A very painful event of my life. A cross that I would never have chosen. A cross that God turned into blessings.  But, I exalt the cross given to me that He has used for His glory.

Have you ever been a caretaker for an elderly parent? Sometimes, in their weakness, they become cranky, demanding. Taking care of them can be difficult. It can be a cross.

What about you? Do you have terrible experiences in your past, things you wish you’d never have experienced? Did God bring good out of it?

Paul wrote to the Romans, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”. YOU ARE called according to his purpose.

Think back over your life.  Think about how God has allowed all things to work for your good.  And exalt those crosses. Use it to bring glory to God.  And thank Him for it all.