Homily for 14 September 2020, Monday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time, Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, Jn 3:13–17 (Chrism Mass with the Clergy, Religious Partners, and Mission Chaplains of the Diocese of Kalookan)
Jesus died as a criminal.
He was sentenced to death by crucifixion for a crime. What was the crime? Obviously, as Christians we all believe he did not deserve to die; he was innocent. Wait. Not too quickly. Yes it may be so for us, but not for those who condemned him to death. Maybe they were really convinced that he had to die. They regarded him as an undesirable element in society, like a pest that had to be gotten rid of. Orherwise he might infect others. He was dangerous. So, what was his crime?
Pilate himself had to investigate. The only crime that merited death for him was sedition, rebellion, insurrection against the colonial government of Rome. In short, a political crime. That is what INRI meant: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, KING OF THE JEWS.
Judah was supposed to be a province of the Roman empire whose king was the Caesar or Roman emperor. Was he out to depose the Roman government? Pilate was not convinced. He knew the kind of people who incited people to rebellion. They were the activist type. This one did not fit the typical activist or rebel who operated underground or clandestinely. This one was not even hiding. He was doing all his activities in the open. He was called a son of David; was he planning on restoring his ancestor’s falllen kingdom? But he was talking about something else; a different kind of kingdom.
For Pilate Jesus represented an advocacy that sounded religious, not political. Was he really claiming to be the Son of God? But he was teaching everyone to call God Father, so it wasn’t just about him. He spoke of an otherworldly kingdom. Well, Pilate said to himself, maybe I can appease his detractors by having him flogged as a lunatic. But he had made up his mind; this man was not a political criminal.
But the clamor was strong. And his detractors had a point, “Why separate religion from politics? His religion is a threat to politics! He is not only claiming to be Messiah; he is claiming to be a Son of God. He forgives sins!That’s as good as claiming to be God! He comments on Scriptures by his own authority. He thinks he is above the Law; he violates Sabbath, he claims authority over unclean spirits. He questions the authority of the priests in the temple. How dare him!
Pilate gives in: WELL IF YOU SAY SO. You want him dead? Suit yourselves. I have nothing to do with it. And so he was punished like a political offender. His offense was written above his head: He claimed to be “King of the Jews”.
Christians would later change that into ICHTHUS–Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. What was his true crime? LOVE. He loved us to the very end. He loved us and denounced our sinfulness, our evil deeds, our cruelty to one another, our hypocrisy, our violent ways. The crime was his love, his unflinching, unconditional, unmerited, forgiving love.
Warning: LOVE is a dangerous thing. It is viewed as a crime by some people. Love is the only thing that identifies us with God. John says GOD IS LOVE. Greater love no one has than than to lay down his life for his friends. Love one another as I have loved you. They will know that you are Christians by your love. For God so loved the world, he gave us his only Son…
Love expressed in mercy and compassion, makes us GODLIKE. The devil does not like that. He wants to keep us in a state of delusion. For us to aspire for Godlikeness in POWER, PRESTIGE & WEALTH.
Jesus’ path to Godlikeness is humility, self-emptying, forgiving, total self-giving. All of that is a crime for Satan and his cohorts. But it is power for Christ. And it is summed up in the cross: the power and wisdom of God.
That is why the day during which Jesus was crucified is called Good Friday. It is the day when God wrote his life story on the cross through the death of his Son whom the world has condemned as a criminal. His only crime was LOVE.
It is with this crime of love that I wish to associate the traditional blessing of the Chrism for holy anointing which, for the first time we are doing, not on Holy Thursday but on this day, Monday, the 14th of September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
It was the pandemic that has caused us to postpone this important event in our life and ministry as a Church. Maybe God really meant it that way, maybe he really wanted us to celebrate our anointing as participants in the life and mission of Christ on the day when we also celebrate the triumph of the cross.
The book of Numbers tells us Moses had commanded Israel to mount the fiery serpent on a pole and lift it up so that those who had been bitten might look at it and be healed. He rubs it in: he wanted them to look at the very thing that had made them suffer and die so that they could be healed; he wanted them to look at it straight in the eye, not run away from it, so that they could find life.
Today we will also be blessing the Command Center of CSR, which means a lot of things: Cofradia ni San Roque, Covid Special Response, Church’s Social Responsibility. In partnership with the LGU, we have been mobilizing health care volunteers to do online monitoring and virtual accompaniment of those infected by COVID19. Like Moses did, we will nail COVID19 like a fiery serpent, not on a pole but on the Cross. Instead of running away from its victims, we will help in looking after those afflicted by it, armed only with the love of him who has anointed us and has vaccinated us with his precious blood.
Today the Lord shares with us his holy anointing because he sends us to bring hope to those who are despairing, comfort to those who are grieving. He invites us to feed the hungry and strengthen the weary. To give light to those in darkness, to bring God’s healing love to those who are sick, alone, and feeling abandoned, forsaken or forgotten. It is the selfless love of Christ nailed by human cruelty on the cross that impels us today to renew our priestly vows. It is his love that impels us to rise above our fears and take part in his work of redemption in this time of pandemic.
