Homily Three on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
"The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18)
The message of the Cross or the message about the Cross, what is it? It is a message about the salvation of the world perishing in sins through the sufferings and death of the Only Begotten Son of God. It is a message about the infinite love of God for the world, "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). It is a message about the infinite truth of God, which demanded an infinite sacrifice for the countless and grave sins of the world and for the infinitely insulted holiness of the Deity by creatures created in the image and likeness of God, for the desecrated most holy laws of God; for the corruption by sin of the animated tabernacles of God, the souls and bodies of men. The message about the Cross, further, is a message about the granting of eternal life to all believers for the sake of Christ who suffered, died, and rose again; a message about the crucifixion of the flesh with its passions and lusts; a message about the mutual love of people for each other; about self-denial for the sake of love for God and neighbor; a message about the patience of sorrows, illnesses, reproaches, slander, persecution, torment for the sake of Christ. This is what the message of the Cross means.
How can such a message be madness for perishing people and the power of God for those being saved (see 1 Cor. 1:18)? - We will talk about this now in honor of the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of Christ. Lord, bless this message, and may it be a source of strength for my salvation and for all who listen to me.
Who are these perishing, for whom the message about the Cross of Christ is foolishness? – The Holy Apostle calls perishing those who did not believe in his preaching, the Jews and pagans, who were tempted by the teaching about the crucified God, the Messiah and the new Christian teaching, which condemned all human sins and lawlessness, all carnal passions and demanded true repentance, correction and complete renewal of life of all who believed in Christ: "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Eph. 4:23); "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Cor. 5:17), says the Apostle.
Why then was the message about the Cross foolishness or madness for them? – Because they were devoted with all their heart and all their being to sin, sinful habits, passions, customs, a perverse mind, they loved iniquity and despised the righteousness of God, "exchanging the truth of God for a lie" (Rom. 1:25); and faith in Christ crucified, which demanded a holy life contrary to their passions, which had received in them the force of habit and the law of sin, condemned all this and went completely against their desires, their whole life, and the message about the cross did not fit into their concepts, since it contradicted the whole structure of their life and customs.
How could God endure such suffering and such a death, they said? – Why this suffering and death? Why was the Cross, this shameful means of execution of slaves, endured by Christ? Could not the salvation of mankind be accomplished otherwise than by such a shameful death? Such and similar questions turned in their hearts and heads, they could not solve them in their darkness from passions, and so the teaching about the crucified Christ was a temptation and madness for them, and with fierce hatred they persecuted all the followers of Christ, as harmful dreamers, as those subjected to a dangerous error, as stubborn enemies of the state and pagan gods, as opposed to them in their different way of life, and instead of being saved by faith in the crucified Christ, they perished in their unbelief and in their hatred for the crucified Christ and for His followers, remaining in sins, adding sins to sins and not having, through unbelief, a Deliverer and Savior.
Now another question: how is the message about the Cross for us, who are being saved, the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18)? – For us, who have experienced and are constantly experiencing the saving power of the Cross of Christ, the solution to this question is very easy.
Who suffered on the cross? – The Son of God, "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24).
For whom did He suffer, die and be buried? – For us, so that our passions, which killed us, would be killed by the Cross, so that the devil, who had trampled us, would be trampled upon, and hades, which held men, would be destroyed, so that by His death He would kill our death, so that we, the enemies of God, would be reconciled with God and sinners would be made righteous, and by His resurrection He would grant eternal life to all who believe in Him. For this reason, the Almighty God underwent infirmities and sufferings and even death in the flesh, in order to heal our infirmities, "for by His stripes we are all healed" (Is. 53:5; 1 Pet. 2:24), in order to give us, who believe in Him, invincible strength in the struggle with sins, with demons, with temptations, in persecutions, in torments, in order to turn our death into a restful sleep.
And behold, what was the power of the Cross of Christ in the Apostles, in the martyrs, in the Christian ascetics? - With the sign of the cross they drove away demons, healed diseases, took away the power of poison, smashed idols, tamed beasts, transformed fire into cool dew; with the sign of the Cross they disarmed and conquered enemies, tamed the movements of the passions. The Cross was the power of God in all the mysteries, as it still serves as a seal and miraculous power in all the mysteries; the Cross is the sanctification of air, water, earth, all the elements of the earth; our homes, fields, meadows, fruits of the earth are sanctified by it; the Cross begins or pre-sanctifies both the battle with the enemies of the faith and the fatherland; by the Cross invisible and visible enemies were defeated; the Cross delivered from mortal danger; the Cross resurrected the dead. When the Cross of Christ was found by the Holy Empress Helen and placed on a woman who was sick at death's door, she suddenly became healthy, and when it was placed on a dead man, he came to life. And now all true Christian believers, who use the sign of the cross with faith and reverence, very often experience its saving power; they are healed from sorrows, passions, and illnesses by it.
Ask all sincere believers about the power of the Cross, which they experience every day. They will tell you that the Cross of Christ is for them a constant triumph, a constant victory, a joy; that faith in the Crucified One is their life, deliverance from all the troubles of life, justification, sanctification, correction of life, that the thought of the Crucified is inseparable from their breathing, since it is always life-giving, joyful, consoling for them.
Let us try to delve deeper into the mystery of the Cross, into the mystery of God’s infinite love for us, and to love God and our neighbor with all our hearts; let us learn selflessness in practice and mortify our carnal passions – and then we will all experience that for us, too, the Cross is God’s power and God’s wisdom. Amen.
Source. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
