Exultation of the Holy Cross
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross reminds us that what was once an instrument of shame and death has been transformed by Christ into the tree of life and source of salvation. Marked with the Cross at baptism, we carry it as the core of our Christian identity, a sign of hope, service, and strength in suffering. Each time we make the Sign of the Cross, we proclaim that through Jesus’ love, death is conquered and life is given.
Alemamenos Graffiti
Listen to homily here:
What was the first thing you did when you entered the church this evening? Maybe the first thing you did after you took a bulletin? We often come into the church and mark ourselves with the Sign of the Cross using the holy water. The Sign of the Cross is something we do so frequently, in many different contexts. I’m always amazed when I watch soccer and see the players after they score a goal—oftentimes, they make a quick Sign of the Cross. We do this time and time again.
This evening, we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. This feast is an incredible opportunity for us to remind ourselves of why we exult in the Cross, why it is that we celebrate the Cross of Jesus. The feast we celebrate today has a long history in the Church. Immediately after Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus was buried, became places of Christian devotion. Christians would come to pray there, to remember how he gave his life to save us.
As time went on, unrest broke out in Jerusalem. The Jewish population rose up against the Romans, and there were major interventions—one in 70 AD, and another finally in 130 AD. At that time, the emperor Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a Roman colony called Aelia Capitolina. In doing so, he wanted to prevent both Jews and Christians from accessing their holy sites. He covered the ruins of the Temple with a great platform, and at Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre he built a pagan temple. For almost 200 years Christians were prevented from worshiping at the very place of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Then in the fourth century, around 325, Christianity was spreading widely. Constantine’s mother, Helena, became a Christian and traveled to Jerusalem to find the holy places. With the help of the local Christians she discovered Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. Excavations revealed the site and, according to tradition, the remains of the true Cross. Helena convinced her son Constantine to build what is today the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That church, although modified over the centuries, still stands. It was dedicated on September 14, around 330 AD. This is why we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross today: it recalls the dedication of that church and the veneration of the Cross.
For us, it may seem obvious that the Cross is something to celebrate. But in the early days of Christianity it seemed strange, even foolish, to exalt in the Cross. The earliest representation we have of the crucified Christ is not Christian art but pagan mockery. It is the Alexamenos graffiti, found on the Palatine Hill in Rome and dating to around 200 AD. It shows a man raising his hand in worship before a crucified figure with the head of a donkey. Underneath is the mocking inscription: “Alexamenos worships his god.” For pagans, worshiping someone who died on a cross was absurd. The cross was an instrument of shame and defeat. Why would anyone exalt in it?
We Christians exult in the Cross because Jesus took this instrument of death and, through his love, transformed it into the source of eternal life. About 200 years after the Alexamenos graffiti, around 425, we find the first Christian depiction of Christ on the cross. On the wooden doors of Santa Sabina in Rome there is a carved panel showing the crucifixion. By that time crucifixion was being outlawed in the Roman Empire, and Christianity had been legalized. For Christians, the Cross had become not a symbol of defeat but of veneration.
As the Gospel of John tells us, God gave his only Son to die so that we might have life. Just as the Israelites in the desert found healing by looking at the bronze serpent lifted up by Moses, so Christ lifted up on the Cross becomes the source of healing and salvation. Early Christians had a saying: “Behold, how the Cross stands revealed as the tree of life.” In Eden, Adam and Eve were barred from the tree of life through disobedience. But in the obedience of Christ, the Cross becomes the new tree of life, granting salvation and eternal life.
This is why we exult in the Cross. At baptism, each of us was marked with the Sign of the Cross. The priest or deacon traced the Cross on our forehead and said, “I claim you for Christ our Savior.” It is almost like a branding ritual: we belong to Christ. The Cross defines our identity.
Whenever we make the Sign of the Cross, we remind ourselves of this truth. We remind ourselves of our baptismal call. We remind ourselves that our sufferings can have purpose when united with Christ, that they can bring life. We remind ourselves of our call to humility and service. And finally, we remind ourselves of our hope, that because of Jesus’ death on the Cross, death itself has been conquered and eternal life given.
The Cross is the central mystery of our faith. We have been marked with it, and it defines who we are. So the next time we make the Sign of the Cross, let us do so with renewed awareness of what it means: a reminder of our baptism, a source of strength in suffering, a call to humility and service, and above all, a sign of our hope in the victory of Christ.
