Brothers and Sisters, today we have come to the Cross or, rather, Christ has come to us on the Cross. The initiative is his.
Three times in the Gospel of John, well before his Passion, Jesus speaks of being “lifted up”. And our three-part liturgy today seems to echo this. Three times he is “lifted up” and three times we respond.
In John Ch. 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “The Son of man must be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15). In today’s Liturgy, Jesus is first “lifted up” before us in the readings, and the first response to those readings, to the Word, is precisely that of believing.
Later in Ch 8 of the Gospel, Jesus tells the people that when they have lifted him up, that is crucified him, “then you will know that I am he” (Jn 8:28). “I am he” is the divine Name”. Jesus is saying that through his Cross, his divine Sonship will shine out. In the second part of our Liturgy today, the Cross is brought in, being unveiled step by step, and we are called to “come and adore” – the proper response to the revelation of God. We will come forward to kneel, to kiss the Cross, to kiss him, to adore, to confess his divinity.
Finally, in Ch 12, again in Jerusalem, Jesus tells the people, “And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself” (Jn 12:32). And in the third part of our Liturgy, Christ comes to us in Holy Communion. The priest lifts up the Host and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, behold him who takes the away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb” And we are drawn to him. We come forward again – to receive Holy Communion or a blessing. We are drawn into union with him and unity with one another.
Three times today, then, the Lord is lifted up over us: in Scripture, in an image (the Crucifix), in the Sacrament. And we believe, we adore, we are drawn. And we will go out at the end, knowing he has come to us, he has touched us, our ears and eyes, our imaginations and hearts, our bodies and souls. Today his presence in our lives is renewed. The force of his love makes itself felt.
Today can be a day of remarkable grace.
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Let’s reflect on the Gospel now. Last Sunday, we heard the Passion according to Luke. We “saw” the innocence, the holiness of Jesus. Today we hear the Passion according to John, and what we sense is his majesty, his kingship, his sovereignty. At one level, yes, he is the object of others’ aggression, he is a victim, he undergoes what Isaiah foresaw. In the Passion the fulness of human suffering fell upon him. But St John wants us to see something else. The Lord is more than victim. He’s the leading protagonist. He is regal throughout. Step by step, he is fulfilling Scripture. He is actively doing the will of his Father. Take the scene of his arrest. Jesus goes out to his captors and betrayer. They recoil before his majestic, “I am he”. He ensures the safety of his disciples. Or take the trial before Pilate. Who’s judging who? Who’s the Truth? Then he goes to Golgotha carrying his own Cross – there’s no mention of Simon of Cyrene, and the Cross itself is less a torture than a throne. Even the two men crucified with him all but become the cherubs that flanked the presence of God “enthroned” above the Ark of the Covenant. And at the Cross, the evangelist sets a series of scenes, each of them real and credible simply as facts, but each of them dense with deeper meaning. His crucifixion would seem to be an end, in fact it’s a beginning. On the Cross, with outstretched arms, horizontal and vertical, Jesus is King and Priest and Lord. And what’s really happening, St John suggests, is a new world beginning to be born, a new kingdom, a new Temple, a new creation. A new family is formed, with Mary as mother and disciples as brothers and sisters. A way is opened to God’s heart by the thrust of a lance and the Church is born from his wounded side. There’s an untorn tunic for us to wear, there’s water to wash in and blood to nourish us. And when he bows his head, ceasing to breathe, he gives his breath, his Spirit, over to us. At the very moment, when sin and death appear to end our hopes, goodness is born again, a new world, a new worship, a new life. And the Resurrection will endorse it.
And so, thanks to the One lifted up on the Cross, under the most contrary and unexpected of circumstances, we are reconciled with God, and a space is thrown open for our restless, refugee, wandering spirits. We are gathered, washed and fed. We are blessed with the Spirit. We are family, and Bride and Church. “And I when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”
In a moment we will open our hearts in prayer for everyone – that that drawing will go on, so that we in turn can share Christ’s work.
Today does impact on us. We are not the same when we leave the church. Christ comes to us – in word, image and sacrament. He comes to be believed, to be adored, to be adhered to. The Cross has all the power of love.
And born from it, brothers and sisters, our Catholic Church here in Aberdeen can rediscover her vocation. She is living it already, praise God, and we are called to live it even more. “After the Passion, there is only compassion”, it’s said. This call, this vocation, it seems to me, is to welcome the stranger and to receive the seeker for truth, to welcome the many from elsewhere and the spiritually homeless too. It is to be the Cross-born home to others, to show the motherhood of Mary, to be a place where the One lifted up – in word, image, sacrament and most of all in the love of our hearts – is at work drawing all people to himself.
St Mary’s Cathedral Aberdeen, 18 April 2025
