Upcoming Sunday Gospel
Readings
Patronal
Feast of
The Exultation
of the Holy Cross
Sunday 17 September
2017
Transferred
from 14 September
John
12:31-36a
Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of
this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will
draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was
to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah
remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is
this Son of Man?” Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little
longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake
you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While
you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of
light.”
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When
Jesus speaks of being “lifted up from the earth,” he is foretelling again that
the cross stands before him, and will be the death that he will endure. This calls to mind that moment in the
wilderness where Moses was directed to make a serpent, and place it on a pole,
with the assurance that those who look to it would be healed. Jesus speaks of his being lifted up as the
means by which he will draw the whole world to himself. This is of significance, for in celebrating
the cross, it is not just any cross that we lift high in our midst. Countless crosses have stood in human
history. Countless persons have been put
to death on this instrument of death.
But there is only one cross and one crucified one who is lifted high in
our midst and which is the cause of our celebration on this feast day. We proclaim Christ and him crucified. We find in him healing that begins in this
life and extends beyond death to the lift to come. He is the light of the world by which we walk
and live. This cross gives us strength
to endure all things, knowing that as Jesus was raised to life eternal, so also
shall we be raised, for Christ is alive in our midst and in us!
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Father Timothy
Alleman
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