Some distortions are so bizarre it is difficult to understand their existence. This Sunday’s feast day of the Exaltation of the Cross is one such bizarre distortion. Would Christians consider celebrating a feast day named The Extolling of the Electric Chair or The Acclaim of the AK 47? Would Christians wear one of those instruments of death around their neck as a piece of jewelry if it were the weapon the state used to kill Jesus? While the normalizing and sanctifying of the additional weapons seems bizarre each is no less bizarre than the Exaltation of the Cross.
The exaltation of any deadly weapon, certainly the cross, is in direct proportion to the distortion of Jesus’ life witness. It’s also a specific distortion of Jesus’ teachings about the cross. Jesus repeatedly identified the cross as an instrument of torture in the arsenal of those intent upon killing him. He also told followers to take up their cross. Jesus was thus encouraging disciples not to fix weapons upon others but rather bear and transform, as he did, the people and weapons fixed upon us. Jesus witness to an unarmed life was probably most distorted by the Roman Emperor Constantine. He is responsible for starting the cult of the cross and its exaltation within institutional christianity. He practiced the religion of Militarism which includes an exaltation of weapons. Constantine then convinced colluding religious hierarchs that the cross was the sign of his salvation when he won an important military victory. Together they exalted the cross over all their subjects. They thus failed to exalt the unarmed peacemaker Jesus who was murdered on the cross by dominating rulers and their weapons. Subsequent warriors and compliant religious hierarchs have spent centuries convincing people the cross is their salvation. They have spent the same centuries convincing people each and every weapon of their era is also their salvation. So it has been that self-titled Christians have exalted the sword, the crossbow, the gun, the tank, the A-bomb, the drone, and every other possible weapon.
It is because U.S. public life has been subjected to a distortion of Jesus and his peacemaking witness that a self titled Christian named Pat Robertson, with millions of followers, could exalt the weapons of this era and encourage their use. This past week he heartily encouraged open carry for ‘Christian’ congregants. He wanted his followers to carry weapons in society and also in their churches. Robertson, is a modern day Judas who actually said, “Blessed are the fully Armed for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Institutional Christianity in general and Pat Robertson in particular do horrendous violence to Jesus’ unarmed life witness by their exaltation of weapons.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, I hold true to your loving witness.
Question: What are the consequences of institutional christianity being diverted toward the cross and away from Jesus’ life witness?
September 14, 2014 Gospel John 3:13-17 Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross