A Sermon on Numbers 21:4-9 for Holy Cross Day. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.

One of the things that the internet is great for is seeing perspectives that you never would have seen otherwise. Of course, usually, that’s not a good thing, and people abuse that to make people who disagree with them mad. One of the mockeries of Christians that I’ve seen time and time again has to do with the cross. People will pose the sarcastic question, “If Jesus had been hung, would Christians wear little gold nooses around their necks?” Or “If Jesus had been executed in an electric chair, would Christians have little emblems of that everywhere?”

Now, this is meant as a mockery, but there’s actually a lot of truth to it and it makes a pretty profound point. The cross, which we have everywhere, is a tool of execution! But has it lost that cultural meaning to the point where now it’s an empty sign? The symbol of the cross has lost its edge.

But as we consider the cross, today on Holy Cross Day, we see that it is a rather strange sign of salvation. But this is nothing new in Scripture, and the cross and what it means is the very heart of our faith.

I. The Serpent

To talk about the cross, we’re going to turn first to the Old Testament to look at a strange sign of salvation there, as Jesus Himself will make these parallels.

The account of the bronze serpent follows a pretty familiar Old Testament pattern: the people complain, get punished, and then repent. And there’s a lot that can be said about that process, but for today I just want to focus on the bronze serpent as the means of healing.

Because, in Scripture, snakes aren’t good things, right? In this account, it’s serpents that are biting people and killing them with their fiery venom. And snakes being bad news goes all the way back to the beginning with the fall into sin. Adam and Eve are poisoned by the venom of the devil, “Did God really say?” And that venom of sin would lead to the curse of death.

All of mankind was bitten by the venomous serpent in paradise. And we, the children of Adam, inherit that poison. Never mind all the sins that we do on our own, original sin, our sinful condition, leads to inevitable death. We have all drunk the venom of that great serpent.

But God provided a cure for the Israelites: the bronze serpent. Consider the irony! The cure for a snake bite is to look at a statue of a snake! But the means of healing that God has provided for the snake bite which Adam received is just as outlandish.

Jesus says in John 3:14, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” And in the Gospel this morning, He said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” And John explains, “This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”

The fulfillment of the bronze serpent is Christ crucified. This is how God provides the ultimate healing. The bronze serpent looked just like the other snakes, it looked like part of the problem, but that statue did not have the fiery venom of the other snakes. So too Jesus took on sinful flesh, the flesh of Adam. He looks like any other man, destined for death, but He is without sin, that venom is not coursing through His veins.

The serpent was set on a pole, lifted up for all to see, as a sign. Jesus was placed on the pole of the cross and lifted up for all to see. And the command, “Look and live.” All those who looked at the bronze serpent were healed. All those who look at Jesus, through faith, as He is lifted up on the cross are healed. The Israelites looked to a serpent to be healed from a snake bite. We look to a dying man to be cured from death. Jesus has provided the antidote for sin in His precious blood. By His death on the cross, He has given the cure for death. Look and live!

II. The Cross

That’s the point of Holy Cross Day. To look at the cross of Christ for healing and salvation. But the actual history of this feast is admittedly a little more complicated. September 14, 335, was the day when the supposed “true cross” was publicly displayed for veneration in the newly dedicated Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. So this feast day in particular has some unhealthy baggage, given the unscriptural practice of venerating relics and the multitude of shady legends surrounding this event. But many early Lutherans continued to observe this day as a way to preach against those bad things and properly emphasize the cross.

So today we need to talk about how we view the cross. First, theologically, it is the most important thing. Paul says to the Corinthians, “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor  2:2). Luther would put it this way, “Crux sola est nostra Theologia.” The cross alone is our theology.

So how should we view the cross as a symbol? Well, when I look at the cross, I want to see Jesus on it. I’ve heard from very well-intentioned people that they prefer an empty cross because Jesus didn’t stay on the cross. And that’s true. But on Easter Sunday, there were three empty crosses. That’s nothing special. But there was only one empty tomb. If you’re looking for a meaningful emptiness, go to the tomb. But it’s good for Jesus to be on the cross, because that is the very act of our salvation, because Christ and Him crucified is the heart of our faith.

Images and depictions of the crucifixion are a good thing. There are some sections of Christianity that say that we shouldn’t have physical representations of Jesus because that would be breaking the commandment against graven images. But the point of the commandment was against idolatry, not images in general. Moses made the image of the serpent and there were plenty of other images in Old Testament worship. And Jesus was made flesh, a human being that you could see. Paul says in Galatians 3:1 that “Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified.” That “clearly portrayed” means visually, graphically. We can have pictures of Jesus and, most importantly, crucifixes.

And there are ways that they can be used to really highlight the parallels that Jesus himself touches on. Maybe at a special worship service in a different church, you’ve seen a crucifix carried on a pole, leading a procession, and everyone stands and turns to look at it. What a beautiful fulfillment of the bronze serpent, placed on a pole, lifted up high for all to see. Look and live.

Now, of course, images can be used incorrectly. This happened with the bronze serpent. During the time of King Hezekiah, he had it destroyed because it had become an idol, people were worshiping it instead of God (2 Kings 18:4). And you see this same attitude with alleged relics of the cross, even in the Roman church today.

So properly, a cross or a crucifix is a reminder of the Gospel, of what Christ has done for us. And we can bow to a cross or kneel and pray before a crucifix, being very clear that we’re not worshiping the object. We’re worshiping Christ “in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:23), and that true worship overflows and manifests itself in these physical ways.

But it’s important to understand and emphasize how we go to the cross. Not through devotional time travel to the event itself, not by venerating a relic, but that Christ brings the cross and its benefits to us.

Paul says, “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1:23). In God’s Word and the preaching of the Gospel, the cross is brought to us. Elsewhere he says that in Baptism, “our old man was crucified with Him” (Rom 6:6). Through Baptism and Holy Absolution, we are washed in the water which flowed from Christ’s side and given that blood-bought forgiveness. And if you want to see and experience the crucifixion most intimately, receive Holy Communion.

Paul says, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” (1 Cor 11:26). There the bread is the very Body which hung on the cross and the wine is the Blood which stained its beams. In the Supper, Christ crucified is present, and He gives you the benefit of the cross, the fruit of that wood and iron, the antidote for sin and death, the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. May we never “loathe this worthless bread” as the Israelites grumbled about the manna, but always hunger and thirst for Christ’s Body and Blood and receive it as often as we can.

That’s what Holy Cross Day is all about. Not worshiping relics or retelling legends, but focusing on Christ and Him crucified and how He gives Himself to us in the means of grace. Certainly this is something we can never talk about too much. Just as the Israelites trusted in God’s promise and looked to the bronze serpent for healing, so too, we, through faith, look at the cross and live. The cross is a foolish sign and the things God has given us to receive its benefits are similarly nonsensical. But through His death, we have life. “We preach Christ crucified,” the heart of our faith, and through the Sacraments also we“proclaim the Lord’s death.” The cross of Christ is our theology, our glory, and our joy. Amen.

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