Hearing Yahweh and celebrating the Cross
There’s a serpent on the cross that comes with promised hope. Cold morning dew dripping down its bronze tail. It hangs on a cross erected in a camp at the foot of the unforgiving Sinai
Would help come from a mere serpent made of bronze? …it has panacea that suffocates our snake bite wounds with anti-venom. It saves our wailing women and dying children.
…A dark cloud occasionally descends from the mountain, shaking the earth with his undeniable presence. Lights that crawl on perpetual fog escort the rumbling voice . He frightens, he frightens, and yes he frightens, yet we in our hearts know he is our only hope to the land of honey. (From iamwess.wordpress.com)
A little further on in the text we read: “Condemned by Romans, son of Joseph is nailed on the cross. His blood, it is said, will sanctify the sins of humanity. It will clear the iniquities. If and only if you look up to the cross for that help.”
In this poetic version we read of the serpent on the cross which saved all those bitten by the poisonous snakes. (Numbers 21:8). Later centuries reflect our further search to understand the power of the Cross. St Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mother, devoted her life to finding this power.
In AD 326 Helena ordered the destruction of the temple to Venus that had been built on Mount Calvary. In the excavations they discovered three wooden crosses. Not sure which was the Cross of Christ, a dying woman touched each cross in turn. When she touched the third cross she was immediately healed.
A basilica was built on the site to celebrate that the instrument of torture that killed the Son of God brings forgiveness of sin and strength on our journey to heaven. So many miraculous events relate to the Cross of Christ.
Miraculous events concerning the Cross of Christ continue. One of the most celebrated is the Miraculous Crucifix of Limpias, Spain. In 1914 a workman fixing an electric light above the alter supporting his ladder began cleaning the crucifix. The eyes of the corpus closed and opened. He fell from the ladder but recovered normally
.
Many others witnessed movement from the figure on the cross, including the struggle for the final breath of Christ as he expired. Eye movements are the most frequently observed by the devout and pious as well as non-believers.
The wind blows in the fields. The flowers and grasses whisper as they fade. Are we listening?
God chose Abram (Genesis 12:1) to go to “a land that I will show you.” So Abram went. God made a covenant with him to bless him and bless others through him; to watch over him, guide him and lead him throughout his life.
We are Abram. God has chosen us, loves us, guides us, has blessed us, and leads us through life inspired by his Holy Spirit. Have we lost sight of the faith we first enjoyed at our mother’s knee, on our mother’s lap?
In God our ancestors trusted; in love they endured; in Faith they persisted. Then we came along, on an easier trail. Distracted, even confused, but too intelligent to ignore God’s calling, we still lose our way.
(544 words)
