It doesn't take much observation to see that
we are celebrating, commemorating the cross,
the crucifixion of our Lord today. We're at the
midpoint of Lent, and so the Church, in her wisdom,
offers us the chance to venerate the cross, not
just to think about it or to talk about it, the
blessing by kissing it and venerating it and
contemplating the words that you just heard.
Let me put this gospel in context because Jesus
isn't just, as usual, just talking about religious
things out of the blue. He didn't just have a
religious thought and he wanted to offer it to
people. The Gospel of Mark is short. This reading
today comes in the exact middle, just like what
we're celebrating, the middle of Lent. Three
weeks we're going to be celebrating Lazarus Saturday.
It's an important connection here, which I'll
make, I hope, in just a moment. This wall painting
is now completed. It's magnificent, and I thank
Anton for his work. This gospel takes place in
the middle of the gospel of Mark. The gospel
of Mark is short. If you want to read the gospels,
go to Mark first. It begins with the baptism,
and then immediately Christ is casting out demons.
He's healing people, paralyzed man, deaf people,
people with demons. and blind people. And just
before the account you heard, Christ heals a
blind man. And you see that he's giving sight
to the blind, spiritual vision, understanding
of who he is, the Son of God. But those that
say they can see are getting blinder and blinder,
more and more blind. They can't see, and they
harden themselves against the message. They oppose
it. And Jesus gathers his apostles together.
And he says, who do people here say that I am?
And, you know, he hears answers. Some say John
the Baptist. You're John the Baptist, risen from
the dead. Some say you're Elijah the prophet
because Elijah must come again, we understand.
And he was taken up in a chariot of fire. He
didn't die. And Jesus says to them, the group,
but whom say ye, all of you, that I am? And Peter,
of course, steps up to answer for the group.
Thou art the Christ, the Messiah. And Jesus says,
don't tell anyone. Why? Because people's idea
of the Messiah is that he's going to come in
on a big horse like the Maccabees with power
and military might and attack the Romans and
take the land back. Don't tell anyone. In fact,
he began to teach them. Exactly the opposite
of power. What does he say to them? The son of
man, that's himself, that's how he calls himself,
must suffer many things and be rejected by his
own people, by the elders, by the scribes, the
chief priests, and be killed. And after three
days, rise again. Of course, they don't hear
that last part. Be killed. And Peter takes him
aside. Master, this is not a good PR message.
You're going to lose people with this kind of
talk. Let's be more positive in our approach
to the message you have. Be seeker friendly.
And Jesus... rebuked him. He called him Satan.
Get behind me. You speak of the things of man,
not of the things of God. And then Jesus immediately
calls people together, not just the apostles,
but all the people around him. And he says, these
hard words, whoever will come after me, let that
person Deny himself. Pick up the cross. What
do they hear? The cross. The cross is an instrument
of horrible, horrible suffering, pain, shame,
and death. And power by the military might. Let
him pick up his cross and follow me. For whoever
will save his life shall lose it. Whoever will
lose his life for my sake and the gospels shall
save it. Because what will the profit a person?
You gain the entire world, riches, power, everything
you want, all the pleasures of life. And lose
your soul. What will a man give in exchange for
his soul? Pretty much nothing. If it satisfies
the yearnings that are limited to the ground.
Who will be ashamed of me and my words in this
adulterous and sinful generation? Do those words
strike you oddly? This adulterous and sinful
generation? You think things have gotten better
since then? Of him also the Son of Man shall
be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his
Father with the holy angels. The central event
that is recorded by St. Mark is this. The central
event in the life of Jesus Christ is the cross,
which leads to the resurrection. The central,
most important thing And the life of a disciple
of Jesus Christ must be taking this message clearly
and seriously and every day. I've read numerous
sermons, incredible sermons about the Holy Cross.
I can't tell you those things that those saints
can tell you. But what I can tell you is this.
The cross of Christ. represents three things
for us. The first thing it represents is the
rejection of God. The world reveals its evil,
its violence. All the Auschwitzes, all the abortions,
all the hatreds, all the rape. You name the horrible
persecution and violence. That's what the cross
shows. It shows us all that is evil and opposed
to God. Otherwise, Jesus would not be led to
the cross, but he willingly goes to reveal all
that for what it is. Opposition to God. But it
also reveals the second thing. The incredible
love of God and his forgiveness. Because he goes.
to destroy death, and the choir just sang those
magnificent words. Return again to paradise.
That's what the cross gives us because we are
united to Jesus Christ when we pick up our cross
and we oppose in ourselves all those things which
are seeds in us of the horrible tragedies and
sins that we see in the world. We have that within
us, brothers and sisters, those seeds. When we
oppose hatred and anger and resentment, when
we fast, we say no to ourself, and our willpower
muscle gets a little stronger, as I tell the
catechumens, that we might not yell at the guy
in the car next to us because we fasted a little
bit. then we might not fall into temptation of
those things that are continually hounding us,
that we become addicted to, the impulses and
convulsions. The cross reveals the love of God,
and we enter into that love, not by strength,
but by weakness, which is why we fast. That's
how we deny ourself, literally deny. And the
cross reveals one other thing. When we kiss it,
when we cross ourself with it, we receive the
power from on high, the grace of God, the love
of God, the forgiveness of God, all the blessings
of the cross. And then we can look at that fresco
up there, which most of you can't see. It shows
Martha coming to Jesus. said, Lord, if you had
been here, my brother wouldn't have died. It's
what St. John Chrysostom said in a sermon. God,
why don't you do something? What could he do,
St. John Chrysostom asks, except that he was
born of a virgin. He suffered. He healed the
blind. He healed the paralyzed. He fed the hungry.
He forgave the sinners. He opened the doors of
paradise. He went to the cross. And the most
eloquent words of the Lord are silent. The word
himself on the cross, dead. God has done everything
for us. And so he asks Martha, do you believe?
And that's what we are asked to do today. When
we stand and then kneel before the cross, those
words of the gospel about picking up our cross,
do we believe that we shall be changed? We spend
so much time asking ourselves how we feel about
ourselves that we've forgotten to ask, what shall
we become? We are mirror images of God. Totally
broken, each one of us. but we shall become like
him as he is. I am the resurrection and the life,
he says. Do you believe? Let us not just say
with our lips, but with all our life, making
the central fact of our life, like any disciple,
the holy and precious cross. Amen.