The Crucifix

‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you realize that I AM.’  (John 8)

The idea of homeopathic medicine is that one can use a small amount of a pathogen to fight off what, in full strength, would make you ill. 

In mainstream medicine too, a similar idea lies behind immunizations.

In both cases, the very thing that can cause disease becomes the means of healing. 

The bronze serpent that Moses crafted to cure his people if they looked at it, as well as Jesus’ vision of himself lifted up on the Cross and drawing all people to himself, evoke the same idea.  The very instrument of bitterness and death, through grace, becomes the source of life.

As we continue in this fifth week of Lent, we would do well to spend some time simply gazing upon the crucifix – not to dwell on the agony of Jesus, but upon the wondrous love and healing that the sign of the Cross has become, knowing that it is through Jesus’ Cross that we are now able to journey ever closer to the Father’s Kingdom of true and lasting peace.