A Homily for the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17
Audio Recording
Today, we celebrate something that may sound strange to human ears: the Exultation of the Cross. In the first century, the Cross was not a piece of jewelry or a church decoration. It was the most brutal form of execution the Roman world knew. To exalt such a thing seems almost offensive. And yet, precisely because of what Christ did, the Cross has become our greatest sign of hope and salvation.
We have to begin by remembering how horrifying crucifixion really was. In the Roman world, it was used not only to kill but to terrorize. Victims were stripped, nailed, and left to die slowly in public view. It was shameful, degrading, and intended to send a message: “This is what happens if you oppose us.”
This is why the earliest Christians shocked their world. To say that God’s chosen one had died on a cross was, to many, absurd or even blasphemous. It was like saying today that our Savior died in an electric chair. For polite society, it was madness. Yet the Christians did not hide this fact — they proclaimed it. What the world despised, they lifted high as the place where God revealed his love.
Our first reading from Numbers prepares us for this mystery. The Israelites, weary in the desert, complained against God and Moses. Their rebellion brought punishment in the form of deadly serpents. Yet God, in His mercy, told Moses to make a bronze serpent and raise it on a pole. Anyone bitten who looked upon it in faith was healed.
The point was clear: they had to look directly at the image of what afflicted them in order to be saved. That paradox foreshadows the Cross. Christ took on the poison of our sin and lifted it up on the wood of Calvary. When we look to him crucified, we see both the reality of sin’s horror and the greater mercy of God who heals us through it.
Our second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians is believed by many scholars to be a hymn of the early Church that Paul was quoting. Regardless, it provides a vision of Christ’s humility, death, and exaltation that was central to early Christian belief and worship.
Though Jesus was divine, he emptied himself, became one of us, and humbled himself to the point of death — even death on a cross. What looked like humiliation in human eyes was, in fact, the greatest act of obedience and love.
Because of this, the Father exalted him and gave him the name above every other name. What appeared to be the lowest place became the place of glory. The Cross is where Christ reigns as king — not from a jeweled throne, but from the wood of sacrifice.
In the Gospel today, Jesus tells Nicodemus that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And then he gives us the heart of the Gospel: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, not to condemn but to save.
On the Cross, we see two things at once: the full horror of human sin, and the greater mercy of divine love. The crucifix is like an open book. Christ’s arms, stretched wide, show how far God is willing to go for love of us.
At first glance, the Cross looked like utter defeat. To Roman eyes, it was one more rebel crushed. To the devil, it looked like a triumph over God’s plan. Yet in reality, the Cross was the weapon by which death itself was destroyed. What appeared to be Rome’s and the Jewish leaders’ victory was in fact God’s total victory over sin and death.
Fr. John Riccardo explains what took place on the Cross with the image of an ambush predator. In nature, an ambush predator hides itself, waiting for prey to draw near before striking. On the Cross, Jesus did not appear strong or threatening — he looked weak, humiliated, and defeated. So Evil rushed in, thinking it had finally conquered the Son of God. But in that very moment, Christ revealed his strength. From the hidden power of the Cross, he struck, crushing sin and death.
In His dying, Jesus destroyed death. By allowing sin to do its worst, he drained it of its power. Death was no match for the Creator of the universe and it was totally defeated. Even though it has been allowed to continue to reign on earth for a short while, death’s reign will soon be obliterated for all eternity! The Cross, then, is not simply a tragedy we mourn but a victory we proclaim. This is our Christian faith, our sure hope.
So what does all this mean for us? It means the Cross we carry is never pointless. It is part of the same triumph Christ has already won. When we unite our struggles to his, we share in that conquest.
It means that the Cross is not just part of history. It is the pattern of Christian life. Jesus told us to take up our crosses daily and follow him. That doesn’t mean we seek out suffering. But when suffering comes — whether illness, loneliness, loss, or hardship — we do not run from it. We unite it to Christ’s Cross, and in him it becomes redemptive.
For seniors especially, the Cross may come in the form of physical decline, the absence of loved ones, or the burden of limitations. Yet the hope of the Cross is that no suffering is wasted. Every tear offered in faith, every act of patience or forgiveness, participates in the victory of Calvary.
This is why we mark ourselves with the sign of the Cross. It is not just a ritual gesture. It is a declaration: that we belong to Christ, that his victory is ours, and that sin and death do not have the final word.
So why do we exalt the Cross? Because it reveals both the horror of sin and the majesty of God’s love. It shows that humiliation can be turned to glory, that suffering can be turned to salvation, and that death can be turned to life.
What was once the world’s greatest symbol of shame is now the Church’s greatest symbol of hope. The Cross is radiant, powerful, and enduring for all ages to come.
So today, let us not take the Cross lightly. Let us exalt it in our churches, in our homes, and above all, in our lives. Let us make the Sign of the Cross with reverence, remembering that it is the sign of our salvation. And let us say with all our hearts: we adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
God bless you.