Numbers 21:4-9 / Phil 2:6-11 / John 3:13-17
Death by crucifixion, to say the least, is barbaric. It is indeed a cruel death.
And we don't deny the fact that Jesus died the cruel death of crucifixion.
But for St. Paul, and also for us, the death of Jesus on the cross, is the essence of our hope.
The cross is the sign of divine love, the sign of how much God loves the world that He gave away His only Son.
But the cross as the sign of hope and love is a paradox, a contradiction.
Because a cruel death seems to exclude any kind of hope or love.
Yet in Jesus, the symbol of death has become the symbol of life and love.
When we see Jesus stretched out on the cross, we do not just think about the pain that He suffered; we also must think about the love that He showed as He stretched out His arms on the cross.
So what the cross was meant to do, is no longer as important as what Jesus now meant it to symbolize and to show.
The cross that belonged to evil and death has now become the cross of life and love because of Jesus.
In the cross, Jesus showed how much God loved the world as He emptied His life on the cross.
In the cross, we also now know that God sent His only Son into the world not to condemn the world, but rather through Him, we and the world might be saved.
So let us look at the cross, let us embrace the cross, and let us carry the cross as we follow Jesus in the triumph of the cross.