Jesus said, “…and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
- St. John 12:32
There has never been such a decisive event in the history of the world, as when our Lord Jesus Christ was brutally nailed to the cross, and then hoisted up for all the world to see. This “lifting up” has left its print upon even the most secular understanding of history. It has changed the course of human activity. It is a fact which cannot be escaped.
In being lifted up, Christ shows a love so profound that we can do nothing but be in wonder before a mercy which is so far-reaching, eternal, and deep. And there is nothing left for us to do but to drop to our knees before our Lord, lifted up upon His cross, and cry out to Him, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Christ was born for the cross, and we were born to kneel before it. He hangs upon the cross to procure and to proclaim our forgiveness, and we live beneath the cross so that we may be forgiven.
As we receive the forgiveness and the wholeness which comes from Christ’s atoning work, so we have a responsibility to continue to lift Christ up in our own lives, by being dedicated to His truth, by giving ourselves to works of charity, and by showing ourselves to be His faithful servants.
As He is lifted up, so He draws all men to Himself – and that is our vocation: to lift Him up in our own lives.
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Image: "Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John"
by Francesco di Vannuccio, c.1387