God’s love is stronger than suffering and death
by Sister Sally Ann Brickner
When watching the parade with my grandnephew on Labor Day, he asked why the passing ambulance had a pole with a serpent wound around it. I explained that it was a medical symbol, actually called the Star of Life. This moment was not the time nor was a village street the place to provide him with the depth of meaning in the symbol. It may be found in the Scriptural passages chosen for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross that we celebrate on Sunday.
In the passage from Numbers 21, the Israelites complain against God and Moses in the desert. When serpents arise and bite many of them resulting in death, they turn to Moses and plead that he pray to have the serpents removed. At God’s command, Moses makes a bronze serpent that those who had been bitten can gaze upon and be healed. How appropriate, then, that a serpent on a pole represents the power of physical healing by our medical profession.
The Gospel passage from John references Numbers 21. As Moses raised up the bronze serpent, so the Son of Man must be lifted up on the Cross. Then follows the most famous verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). Thus, the Cross represents for Christians the glorious symbol of salvation. We gaze upon the crucifix and see God’s love poured out for us through his Son’s obedience even to death on the Cross. Through our belief in Him we are gifted with everlasting life. Dan Schutte offers a beautiful hymn that captures the significance of this feast: “Let us ever glory in the Cross of Christ, our salvation and our hope. Let us bow in homage to the Lord of Life who was broken to make us whole.”
I hope that someday the opportunity presents itself to unravel for my grandnephew not just the meaning behind the Star of Life but also the power of the Cross upon which the Lord of Life died that we might live forever.
To remind us of God’s great love, we pray the Sign of the Cross: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”