Douglas Hickey
“He reconciled them both [Jews and Gentiles] as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God.” —Ephesians 2:16, CEB
Brothers and Sisters,
The miraculous recovery of that which seemed to be forever lost sits at the heart of Christianity.
On the one hand, this is God’s recovery of His people from captivity to sin and death. And on the other, it is our recovery, by God’s grace, of Paradise–the restoration of our true home, life in communion with each other and with God. Paul reminds us that this recovery, the end of all enmity, is only effected through the cross of Jesus.
Tomorrow is Holy Cross Day, the feast where, with Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, we commemorate the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena in the 4th century, and later, its restoration to Jerusalem in the 7th century by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. Perhaps fittingly, it is an observance the Episcopal Church has only recently recovered herself (the 1979 BCP being the first American prayer book to include Holy Cross Day).
Must the christian believe that some nondescript hunks of wood conveniently recovered hundreds of years after the crucifixion by a Roman Emperor bent on consolidating political power are in fact the one True Cross of Christ? Certainly not. And yet this claim, however implausible, is surely less so than the cornerstone of Christian faith, that a subliterate itinerant exorcist executed inauspiciously in a Roman backwater was (is!) in fact God’s only begotten Son, the One through whom all things were made.
God chose the foolish things of this world.
Too clever for church, I left Christianity in my 20s because it seemed bound to things I despised. Now, years later, I find myself gathered into God’s Church again, living in communion with other believers. By His grace, I am slowly (sometimes painfully) recovering the markers of the faith I was raised in. Things I once thought foolish don’t seem quite so shameful anymore. And if that story is hardly unique, I take comfort knowing that our God is well-versed in the art of recovery.
So on the Eve of Holy Cross Day, as we, who are prone to despise what seems foolish, prepare to contemplate the eternal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, let us recall that True God found no part of human frailty beneath Him. Not even death on a cross.
In Christ,
—Douglas
Douglas,
I disagree with your description of Jesus as "a subliterate itinerant exorcist." Jesus read from the Torah scroll in the Temple (Luke 2:41-51). He may or may not have been able to write, however. His "writing" in the dirt while the accusers of the woman caught in adultery left the scene, may or may not have been actual words. Some believe he was writing out the sins of the accusers. Even at a young age, Jesus had such excellent understanding of Jewish scripture that he amazed the Rabbis in the Temple when his parents accidentally left him behind in Jerusalem. He had to have gotten education in Torah from somewhere. In addition, Jesus was bilingual – he spoke and read both Hebrew and Aramaic. He may even have been conversant enough in Greek or Latin because he spoke with Pilate before his crucifixion. Both those languages were used in government administration. I would also not diminish his ministry to exorcism only, either. Jesus healed, restored to wholeness and community, members who were shunned because of illness, malady, mental illness, and bleeding. It was a much fuller ministry than exorcism alone.
I do agree that the true cross discovery is suspect and was used to amalgamate power under one ruler.
Dcn Brigid