29th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 20 October 2024 Saved by the Cross
Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? My servant justified many …
Why could he not have just come from heaven and wish us a happy time and work a few miracles with a bit of advice?
He took a very different course. He did spread some sunshine with his many miracles, but there was a much darker element involved as well.
Why was that necessary? It was part of the age-old battle between good and evil.
Satan is a malignant and powerful foe requiring much shifting on our part. Saving a person, or saving the human race needs a lot of interior work – that is, work on the hearts and minds of people in terms of what they love, what is most important to them.
Just having goodwill is not enough. Something was needed beyond the normal or average response.
A new order of power had to be found because the grip of sin and death had become too strong for mere human resistance. Drastic measures were needed.
The measure that God adopted was to send His Son to become Man, and as Man, to make a sacrificial offering to the Father, which offering is renewed in every Mass.
When the Father sees the Son He looks with approval, and also looks on those whom the Son brings with Him. The Father will accept whomever His Son brings. Your friends are My friends, so to speak.
When we take part in Mass we are asking Jesus to take us with Him as He goes to the Father; our sins already forgiven we travel in humility and thanksgiving.
God does not force salvation so when we say humanity is reconciled with God that is ‘in potential’. Every person has an opportunity to be saved in this way, being identified with the Son.
We cannot overcome past evil by being good from now on, though that will help. What really works for us is simply being sorry for past sins.
The good deeds will help put us into the right mood to receive mercy.
We are grateful that we can get in the door, and we promise sincerely that we will be on our best behaviour from now on.
Meanwhile I will change what I can to be free of sin, to be full of good deeds generosity and humility etc.
The good that we do will help by keeping us in the right framework of seeking to please God.
It will not be enough in itself to save us but will make
salvation more likely as we are constantly reminded of our dependence on God.
Unless I am humble I will not value what Christ has done for me and therefore not benefit. If I am humble that is the key that unlocks the door to Heaven.
Whenever we see a Cross we are reminded of how it all works, and we are invited to renew our desire to be fully reconciled with God.
Then we really can do business – when we admit to being nothing without Him.
This is why Christ was crucified and why the mysterious ‘servant’ from Isaiah had to suffer.
We might think something simpler would have done it, but God knows what is necessary. It has to be something good enough to counteract the evil which has been committed, thus the necessity of the Cross.
Salvation is not only for when we die, but should express itself in the way we organize our societies, where justice and peace etc should prevail.
We need to keep the Cross in view, and what it means, and what it requires from us.
Then we share in the glory of the servant: His soul’s anguish over he shall see the light and be content. First reading, Is 53,10-11)
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