The simple yet profound lyrics of the song of praise Thanks for The Cross, ably written by Mark Altrogge, have always touched my heart. The author thanks the Lord for the Cross because on it “God himself should die for such as us”, sinners.

Human logic has it that it was we who should have died on the Cross.

However, God’s merciful love thought it otherwise. As the prophet Isaiah prophesised in his fourth song on the suffering servant: “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa 53: 5). Similarly, Saint Paul in his Letter to the Philippians praises Christ because “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2: 6-8).

The liturgical feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross or the Triumph of the Cross, precisely announces the magnificent news that God turns things upside down for his own glory. By dying on the Cross, the Son of God totally obliterated the Old Testament idea which considered the cross as a sign of curse. In fact, the book of Deuteronomy says: “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance” (Deut 21:22-23).

God became a curse on the Cross in order that we experience, in the words of Thomas à Kempis, “life, … protection, … heavenly sweetness, … strength of mind, … joy of spirit, excellence of virtue… [and] … perfection of holiness”. What makes the Cross special is Jesus’ forgiveness of his enemies. He powerfully intercedes in front of his Father for his executioners, thus putting into practice what he exhorted us to do in the Sermon on the Mount.

“But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). To those who interiorized by freely giving such forgiveness he promised them: “Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish” (Luke 6:35).

This is also the challenging and life-giving itinerary the disciples of Jesus Christ should urgently undertake and faithfully carry out. Forgiveness of one’s enemies is the fundamental convincing witness to the unquestionable and transforming power of the Cross. It is the only logic that defeats and discredits contemporary false ideologies that promise heaven on earth but what really offer complete void and despair.

The Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community, writes: “Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. ‘The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared’ (Luther).”

Do I believe that when I forgive my enemies the Cross becomes mighty in and through me?

Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap

SAN GWANN