Today we celebrate the power of the Cross. It is Mid-Lent, and the Church reminds us of our Saviour’s call to deny ourselves and follow Him.

In today’s Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard the following (Hebrews 4:14–16):

“Since then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

And again, in today’s Gospel, we heard our Lord Jesus calling out to the crowd (Mark 8:34–35):

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

To come to Him, we are called to lose our lives for His sake, just as He lost — or rather, gave up — His life for our sakes. Which one of us wants to die? And yet this is the calling. For Jesus understands our weaknesses and our fears.

This losing of our life is, in reality, the gaining of eternal life.

The Cross, of course, in itself was a source of death, torture, and destruction. But Jesus turned it into the source of our salvation and of immense and intense joy. The Cross has now become the living symbol of victory over death — the death and defeat of death itself.

Through the Cross, joy has come into the world. The Cross has brought salvation, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, and victory over evil. We see clearly how Jesus our Lord demonstrates His love for us.

The key title of today’s feast is the Adoration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. It is a celebration of the life-giving power of the Resurrection. This life-giving power of the Resurrection we find in all the sacraments in which we partake — in Baptism, Chrismation, and in all the “seven sacraments,” as well as in the sacramentals of the Church.

By actively partaking in the Mysteries of the Church, in particular by receiving the Most Pure Body and Precious Blood of Christ, we become temples of the living God.

We sign ourselves with the Cross. We bless food or people with it. We make the sign of the Cross when we ask for protection from evil influences.

The Cross is more than a piece of wood. What gives it power for us is that Jesus our Lord is both fully man and fully God — 100% man and 100% God. It is He who was nailed to the Cross, which was a symbol of shame and terror and would never have been spoken of in polite society. The Cross was a punishment for the despised — outcasts, rebels, and criminals who had committed heinous crimes.

For Christians who wear crucifixes or hang them on their walls, they are the sign and reality of God’s demonstrable love for us. Yet it is too easy to see the Cross as merely a beautiful piece of jewellery.

The Cross is the bridge and the central still point of human history.

While the Cross stands at the centre, the world revolves with changing fads, opinions, philosophies, passions, turmoils, earthly shadows, and continuous change. Yet the Cross of Christ remains upright, powerful, and steadfast.

Without the Cross, there is no Resurrection. The Cross is like a key that gives us access to the Most Holy Trinity. As I have already mentioned, the Cross of Christ has given us salvation, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, and victory over evil. We see clearly how Jesus our Lord demonstrates His love for us.

But He has also given us freedom, a new identity, a life of joy and hope, meaning and purpose. Each of these words is packed with meaning and power, and it is so easy to let them roll off the tongue and turn them into pleasant concepts — mere coinage for comfortable theologising. For each word, sermons, poems, and whole books have been written, so one cannot do justice to them in a single Sunday sermon. Yet these words are life-giving.

A key must be used. We have a part to play in our salvation, together with others in the Church. A key must be turned to unlock a door, a casket, or a treasure chest. The Cross is the key — but we are the ones who must turn it through confession and repentance.

By the power of the Resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit to the Church, we are enabled through our Baptism and Chrismation to receive the wonderful gift of our Saviour’s Most Pure Body and Precious Blood.

Through confession and repentance — and I do not mean primarily the Sacrament of Confession, though it is the sacrament of healing — but the daily possibility of confessing our sins to our Lord Jesus whenever and wherever we can. The Jesus Prayer, and our prayer life in general, enable us to turn and turn again back to our wonderful Lord who, as Scripture tells us — and I repeat (Hebrews 4:14–16):

“We have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God; let us hold fast our confession… Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

It is through the Cross that we find the healing power of repentance. As Scripture tells us (1 John 1:9): “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

When we repent — and repentance means “to turn” — we are embracing the Cross and turning away from the desires of the “old self.” In doing so, we deny ourselves in order to follow Him. This turning is a wonderful gift, for by God’s grace we are given the freedom of the Holy Spirit rather than the enslavement of our own desires and the illusion of self-control.

How can we not receive this wonderful gift of self-surrender to the One Who Is — the One who is steadfast and full of loving-kindness — and place our lives in His hands?

The Cross of Christ, which we venerate, reminds us that through prayer we can remember Him throughout our daily lives. We can remember and celebrate with thanksgiving and praise the gift of what we might call “routine mercies.” These are the little things we forget or take for granted — unearned gifts renewed every morning: our life and breath, food, shelter, sunlight, and untold mercies, both visible and invisible, known and unknown.

The Cross tells us: Do not think God does not want to know you because of your sins or your faithlessness. Do not let illness, depression, low self-esteem, or the feeling that you are “beyond the pale,” or any other thought or feeling, keep you from Him.

The Lord is pursuing you. He is running after us. He ran with joy to the Cross.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews we hear (Hebrews 12:2):

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This is the Lord’s gift to us.

Saint Simeon the New Theologian wrote:

“God can be known to us in the same way as a man can see an endless ocean by standing at the shore at night with a dimly lit candle. Do you think he can see much? Not much, almost nothing. And nevertheless, he sees the water well. He knows that there is an ocean in front of him, that this ocean is huge and that he cannot see it all at once.”

We may not see much, for too often, as Saint Simeon says, we are like those who “search for God with their bodily eyes and find Him nowhere, for He is invisible. But for those who ponder in the Spirit, He is present everywhere. He is in all, yet beyond all.”

May God, the Most Holy Trinity, bless each one of us.

May our Saviour reveal to each one of us the precious gift of the Cross, and may we celebrate it as a great and wonderful plus sign.

Amen.

Given by Father Seraphim