The Raising and the Lowering
Glorifying the Cross: 14th September, 2016
Num 21: 4-9; Phil 2: 6-11; Jn 3:13-17
The readings today are filled with the terms regarding raising and lowering - being raised by God, being raised by people, self-lowering...everything points to the element of making God the priority and making God's will the absolute criterion. God has a design and that design is the original and the absolute good that is in creation. When we tamper with it, there is a mighty big ruin that we cause.
We know it is important for the cocoon to break itself open and the creature to squeeze itself out - only then will there be a creature so beautiful and subtle to fly around. We know it is important for the seed to bury itself in the ground, get suffocated under mud and force itself out of the ground to yield multi-fold.
At times in spite of all the love that we have for God and despite all the goodness we possess, we find it so difficult to accept pain - pains of different kinds - psychological, physical or spiritual. The moment we are able to subject ourselves to pain with serenity, the moment we are ready to go through a bit of the darkness of the unknown, the moment we are prepared to grope a bit in the shady parts of our life...all these with complete trust that the Lord is certainly around, I begin to rise! When I rise, people will look at me and give glory to the Lord, the Lord of the Cross!