Good Friday 2018 - The Wood of the Cross on which hung the salvation of the world

In a few minutes, the cross will be processed up the aisle of the Church. It will be held aloft and the priest will chant, “Behold the Wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world.” To which each of us will respond “Come let us adore.”

There is an ancient Christian legend, concerning the wood of the cross,
dating all the way back to the 3rd century, the Legend of the Holy Rood: that when Adam fell sick, he sent his son Seth to the gates of the Garden of Eden to entreat God for an elixir from the Tree of Life to restore immortality to Adam, lost through Original Sin. Seth easily found his way to the garden, as no grass had grown over the footprints of Adam and Eve since their expulsion.

While Seth prayed at the gate, the Archangel Michael appeared to him, refusing Seth access to Eden and to the Tree of Life. However, Michael gave Seth a seed from the Tree of Knowledge from which Adam and Eve had eaten. On his return, Seth found his father dead, but placed the seed under Adam’s tongue and buried him.

From that seed sprang a tree, which had absorbed the blood of Adam. Generations later, Noah dug up this tree by the roots along with the body of Adam and took them onto the Ark to save them from the flood. And after the waters subsided, he buried the skull of Adam on what became Mount Calvary, or Golgatha, the place of the skulls. He planted the tree on the summit of Mount Lebanon. Centuries later, King Solomon cut down the tree, and cut it into a cross beam for his temple, but it wasn’t the right size. So Solomon cast aside the beam and buried it, and from the place where it was buried there bubbled forth a spring of water, which came to be known as the pool of Bethesda. To it the sick came to be healed.

Centuries later, that cross-beam floated to the surface of the pool. It was used as a bridge over which Jesus crossed into Jerusalem, and was finally used to fashion the cross upon which the Son of Man was crucified.

Is the legend of the Holy Rood true? Perhaps!

What is certainly true is that death came from a tree, and death was destroyed on a tree. From a tree, all the suffering of man can be traced. And from a tree, the suffering Son of Man, would redeem us. From a tree, division between God and man was wrought. And by a tree, God bridged the gap, he filled the chasm, he fashioned a bridge for Him and man to be reconciled.

Through God’s providence, the work of the evil one is undone by turning his own weapons against him. Suffering and death, which entered the world as a consequence of sin, were to become the very means by which sin was vanquished.

And yet, today, we are here not to worship a dead piece of wood, we worship the One who saved us through it. Though by venerating the cross, we honor the suffering of Christ. We approach the cross we such reverence, that we may revere the one who died for us. That his suffering may be imprinted upon us, that it may mark our lives, and mark us for salvation.

We bring to the cross today all the needs of the world and the church, all the needs of our families, all of our sufferings, all unbelievers, and all who suffer for the faith. That through the cross, we may experience the salvation Christ won for us, the defeat of sin and death, the healing of our deepest wounds, the fulfillment of all justice, the overflowing mercy of God

We turn our eyes to the cross, that we may one day see the one who suffered upon it face to face. We touch the cross, that we may feel his gentle caress when we are called to face our own, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.