Holy Cross Day Homily - September 14, 2019 - The Rev. Patricia Matthews Guest Preaching

The Exaltation of the Holy Cross Icon

Holy Cross Day, Saturday, September 14, 2019
Trinity Episcopal Church, Searcy
The Rev. Patricia Matthews

When I was in fourth grade, I lived about three blocks away from my elementary school. Every morning, I would ride my bike down the road, all by myself. I felt pretty big. But one morning, as I pulled onto the school grounds, I hit the curb, fell off my bike, and landed on a sharp rock.

I looked at my knees; both were skinned up and covered in dirt. Then I saw my left hand. It had a huge cut in it. I was scared. I was shaking all over.

Now, if this had happened the year before, when I was just a little 3rd grader, I might have reacted differently – might have stayed on the ground, crying, hoping some adult would come help me. But I was a 4th grader, and even 40 years later, I distinctly remember the moment that I made the decision to stand up, dust off my knees, grab my bike, and start walking across the school yard. Blood was running down my arm, but I walked tall and straight, all the way to the nurse’s office. Pretty tough, heh?

I still have the scar from that day – a small triangle on my left hand. I love this scar because when I look at it, it all floods back, and I remember that moment of transformation when something shifted, and I realized the immense strength that was inside of me.

And that’s what scars are good for, right? Remembering. If you want to get folks talking, just ask them about their scars. I bet we all have some. And for many of us, we love them, because they can help us remember those moments of transformation in our lives – even if those moments began in pain.

On this Holy Cross Day, we remember a painful but transformative moment in the life of the world - when Jesus died on the cross. Today is similar to Good Friday in that way, but instead of having a somber tone, Holy Cross Day is actually a celebration and has been since the year 335, when Constantine and his mother Helena dedicated a church that housed what they believed to be the remnants of Jesus’ cross. And for the last 1,684 years, people all across Christendom have celebrated. So thank you, Trinity, for holding this feast for us today.

There is a little problem, though. If we think too hard about this celebration, the whole concept may sound a little strange. After all, why would anyone celebrate an instrument of execution? We would find it odd to honor an electric chair or a firing squad. But that’s what we are doing – we are celebrating the cross, an instrument of death. But there is a good reason, and once we dig in and explore this feast together, we will realize it is actually quite beautiful.

So here’s an idea: One way into understanding this as a celebration is to see the cross as we see our scars. Remember: scars can serve as reminders of moments of transformation - so, defined that way, the cross could be a scar. When we look at it, it can be a reminder of a moment of transformation for the whole world in relationship to God – even though it began in pain.

But to get to that moment of transformation, we have to go back a little bit, well, a long bit - all the way back to the beginning. Back to creation. Our stories tell us that from the beginning, God has been reaching out to humanity. Genesis says that God would come to the garden, in the cool shade of the evening, just to talk with Adam and Eve – to be together. God loved their company.
And throughout the entire scope of the Bible, God’s longing for us never ceases. In many stories, dealing with individuals and with groups of people, we hear that God reaches out again and again, trying to show humanity how much God loves us. That is the nature of God as revealed through our holy scriptures.

But what else is revealed is that we humans are a little dense. Again and again, we turn away from God – in fear, shame, guilt, and defiance. And no matter how many times God reaches out to us, we just cannot seem to let it fully sink in that we really are God’s own beloved. No matter how far we have strayed or how much we have messed up, God still longs for us.

So, since we can’t seem to truly get this – God finally says, okay, okay. I’ll just come tell you, face-to-face, how much I love you. And this is when Jesus enters, to show us how God’s love works, to tell us plainly that not only does God love us when things are good, but also, that God loves us when we are sad. God loves us when we are sick. When we are blind. When we can’t walk. God loves us when our brother has died, or when our daughter is ill. God even loves us when we spend all of our family’s money on partying, and return because the pigs are eating better than we are. 

Are we getting this? Jesus tells us that there is no place, no person, no action, that is beyond God’s love.

But God doesn’t stop there. God says, hey humans, what is the very worst thing you can imagine doing? What is it? Mock me? Beat me? Hang me on a cross to die? Give it to me! Just see what I do! And so we did. We killed Jesus on to the cross. And look how God responds. God does not get angry or respond with wrath or terror. God does not curse humanity.

No – The cross is the moment where God takes all of that horror into God’s own self and returns only love. After his death, Jesus comes to the upper room and says, “Peace.”

And so, the cross becomes a scar – a reminder of this transformative moment, that began in pain, where God showed us what was inside the true nature of God – and all the world saw was love.

Thank goodness the story did not stop before the cross – otherwise, we might be able to say that surely there are some things in us beyond forgiveness and love. But the cross says that there is nothing that is beyond God’s love. Nothing. That is something to celebrate!

And it is why it is vital to have days like today, where we look at the cross carefully and remember what it showed us. In the scar of the cross, we find strength and grace for our own lives. And not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

You see, Jesus does not offer this enormous gift to us – just for our own individual good. Jesus also longs for us to follow the way of the cross – this way of dealing with all the horror the world has to offer. This does not mean we stay in abusive relationships or in harm’s way. But holding onto the cross does mean that the next time we fall off our bikes and hit a rock – the next time the world throws hatred or anger or injustice or fear our way – with God’s help, we will do our very best stand up tall, dust off our knees, and return only love.