The Tree of Life: Why We Glory in the Cross
Ahead of the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, Fr. Nicholas Frazer preaches on why the cross stands at the very centre of the Orthodox faith. Drawing on Christ's words to Nicodemus and on Ss. John Chrysostom, Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria, he traces the pattern of salvation history: death came through a tree in paradise, and life comes through the tree of the cross. The cross is shown as the revelation of God's love, the throne of the King and the defeat of death — and each of us is called to take it up daily in forgiveness, humility and repentance.
Transcript
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hello, brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we approach the great feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, holy Church places before us readings that direct our hearts to the very centre of our faith. In the epistle, St. Paul proclaims, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." In the gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." These readings prepare us for the feast that is soon before us. They teach us not only what happened on Golgotha, but why it happened, what it accomplished, and what it means for our own lives.
The cross stands at the centre of Orthodox Christianity. Every service is marked by it. Every sacrament is sealed by it. We wear it upon our bodies. We trace it upon ourselves in prayer. Yet because it is so familiar, there is a danger that we cease to marvel at it. The cross is not merely a symbol. The cross is the revelation of God's love. The cross is the victory of Christ over death. The cross is the throne of the King. The cross is the tree of life planted in the midst of a fallen world.
The Church's hymnography teaches us to see the cross in precisely this way. At the end of the Divine Liturgy we shall sing the troparion of the feast: "O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance. Grant victories to Orthodox Christians over their adversaries, and by the virtue of your cross preserve your habitation." The Church is not speaking primarily of earthly victories. The greatest enemies we face are sin, death, the devil, and the passions that wage war against us. Through his cross, Christ conquers every power that seeks to separate us from God. The cross is therefore not merely a reminder of salvation; it is the sign of God's victory and the manifestation of his saving power in the life of the Church.
In today's gospel, Christ directs Nicodemus back to the Old Testament. The Israelites had sinned in the wilderness. Venomous serpents came among them and many died. The people cried out in repentance, and God instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and lift it up upon a pole. Whoever looked upon it with faith was healed.
At first this seems strange. Why should the image of a serpent become an instrument of healing? The Fathers saw here a profound prophecy of Christ. St. John Chrysostom teaches that just as the image of the serpent destroyed the effects of the serpent's venom, so Christ, taking upon himself our mortal human nature, destroys the poison of sin and death. The serpent in the wilderness was not the cause of healing; God was the healer. Likewise, the wood of the cross does not save us by itself. Christ saves us through the cross.
The cross reveals a great pattern that runs throughout salvation history. Death came through a tree in paradise; life comes through the tree of the cross. Adam stretched out his hand in disobedience; Christ stretches out his hands in perfect obedience. Through one tree, mankind was exiled; through another tree, paradise is opened once more. This is why the Church often calls the cross the new tree of life. What appeared to be an instrument of shame becomes the instrument of glory. What appeared to be defeat becomes victory. What appeared to be death becomes the source of life.
Our Lord says something very important: the Son of Man must be lifted up. Why must he? Not because he is helpless before evil. Not because events have spiralled beyond his control. Not because the Father delights in suffering. The Son of Man must be lifted up because divine love wills the salvation of humanity. The cross is not an accident. The cross is not a tragedy. The cross is the revelation of the eternal love of God.
From the moment Adam fell, God began his work of restoration. The prophets spoke of it. The sacrifices pointed toward it. The covenant prepared for it. And everything moves toward Christ; everything moves toward the cross. St. Athanasius teaches that humanity had fallen into corruption and death. Having separated itself from the source of life, mankind could not heal itself. No philosopher could save us. No prophet could save us. No earthly king could save us. Only God could save us. Wherefore the Word became flesh. The Creator entered his creation. The Immortal One entered mortality. The Sinless One entered a world enslaved to sin. The Author of life entered the realm of death, and by entering death he destroyed it from within.
Then we hear the words that summarise the entire gospel: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son." Notice carefully what Christ says. God loved the world. Not merely the righteous, not merely the saints, not merely those who obeyed him. He loved the world — the fallen world, the broken world, the sinful world, the world that rejected him, the world that crucified him. Yet he loved it.
This is the mystery of divine love. God does not wait for us to become worthy before he loves us. He loves us first. His mercy precedes our repentance. His grace precedes our response. His love seeks us even when we are far from him. The entire Christian life begins with this realisation: we are loved by God, and the cross is the proof of that love. Whenever we are tempted to doubt God's love, we must look at the cross. Whenever suffering causes us to question God's care, we must look at the cross. Whenever we feel abandoned, we must look at the cross. The cross is God's answer. The cross says, "I have not abandoned you. I have entered your suffering. I have come to save you."
The cross reveals not only God's love, but also Christ's identity. Who is the one hanging upon the cross? He is the eternal Son of God. The one who thirsts is the one who created the oceans. The one whose hands are pierced is the one who fashioned the stars. The one who hangs upon the tree is the one who created every tree. The one who dies is the life of the world.
This is the great mystery proclaimed by the Fathers: the cross is not simply the death of a righteous man; it is the self-offering of God incarnate. St. Cyril of Alexandria teaches that because the one who suffers in the flesh is truly the divine Son, his death becomes life-giving. Death can hold ordinary men; death cannot hold God. The devil imagined that he had achieved a victory. Instead, the cross became his defeat. Christ entered death and shattered its gates. He descended into Hades and broke its power. He entered darkness and filled it with divine light.
This is why Pascha begins at the cross. Without the cross there is no resurrection. Without Golgotha there is no empty tomb. Without the crucifixion there is no victory over death. This is why the Church sings during the feast: "Before your cross we bow down in worship, O Master, and your holy resurrection we glorify." Notice the wisdom of the Church. We bow down before the cross, but we glorify the resurrection. The cross and the resurrection can never be separated. The cross without the resurrection would be an instrument of execution. The resurrection without the cross would leave sin and death unconquered. Together they reveal the fullness of God's saving work. As the Church sings throughout the year, through the cross joy has come into all the world. The world sees suffering and defeat; the Church sees the beginning of victory. The world sees death; the Church sees the destruction of death by death.
This is why St. Paul can say, "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." What a strange statement. People boast about success. People boast about wealth. People boast about education. They boast about power. Paul boasts in the cross. Why? Because the cross destroys pride. At the foot of the cross, every human achievement is placed in its proper perspective. The rich and the poor stand together. The educated and the uneducated stand together. The powerful and the weak stand together. All stand in need of mercy. The cross reminds us that salvation is not something we accomplish; it is something we receive. The Christian life begins when pride dies and gratitude is born. The cross teaches us humility, because it reveals the greatness of God's mercy.
The cross is not merely something Christ carried for us. It is also something we are called to carry with him. The Lord says, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Every Christian has a cross. For some it is illness. For some it is grief. For some it is loneliness. For others it is disappointment. For some it is family struggles. For others it is temptations that seem never to disappear. The world sees these things as meaningless burdens. The Christian sees them differently. When united to Christ, suffering becomes a place of encounter with God. The cross teaches us patience. The cross teaches us humility. The cross teaches us trust. The cross teaches us love. The saints did not become saints because life was easy. They became saints because they united their sufferings to Christ. They learned to say with St. Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
Most of us will never be called to martyrdom, but every one of us is called to daily crucifixion. Every time we forgive instead of seeking revenge, we take up the cross. Every time we choose humility over pride, we take up the cross. Every time we speak kindly when anger urges us to wound another, we take up the cross. Every time we repent rather than justify ourselves, we take up the cross. Every time we pray when we do not feel like praying, we take up the cross. The Christian life is a continual dying to the old self so that Christ may live within us.
This is why the Fathers speak of repentance not as punishment but as healing. Christ does not ask us to crucify ourselves; he asks us to crucify the passions that keep us from life. He asks us to surrender pride, resentment, hatred, greed and self-will — not because he wishes to diminish us, but because he wishes to transform us. The goal of the Christian life is not simply moral improvement. The goal is union with God. The Fathers call this theosis: God became man so that man might become God by grace. Christ shares our humanity so that we may share his life. The cross is therefore not merely the end of something; it is the beginning of something. The old man dies, the new one is born. Sin dies, holiness grows. Selfishness dies, love grows. The cross becomes the pathway to transformation, the pathway to sanctification, the pathway to communion with God.
The kontakion of the feast calls the cross Christ's invincible trophy and his weapon of peace. How different this is from the victories of the world. Earthly rulers triumph by defeating their enemies; Christ triumphs by defeating enmity itself. Earthly kingdoms are built upon force; the kingdom of God is established through sacrificial love. Christ conquers not by taking life but by giving his own life. His throne is the cross. His crown is woven of thorns. His victory is revealed in humility. This becomes the pattern of our salvation. We do not overcome anger with greater anger, nor hatred with hatred. We overcome evil through repentance, humility, forgiveness and love. The cross becomes not only the means of our redemption, but also the pattern of our sanctification.
The Israelites were told to look upon the bronze serpent and live. The Church gives us the same command today: look upon Christ and live. When you are burdened by sin, look upon Christ. When you are discouraged, look upon Christ. When you are afraid, look upon Christ. When you are grieving, look upon Christ. When you cannot understand God's providence, look upon Christ. The cross proclaims that God has not abandoned us. The cross proclaims that forgiveness is possible. The cross proclaims that repentance is possible. The cross proclaims that death is not the end. The cross proclaims that resurrection is coming.
Beloved brothers and sisters, at the end of the Divine Liturgy the cross will be brought into the midst of the church, adorned with flowers and greenery. The faithful come forward to venerate it while singing, "Before your cross we bow down in worship, O Master, and your holy resurrection we glorify." Why do we surround the cross with flowers? Because the Church sees in the cross the flowering of eternal life. The barren wood of execution has become the tree of life. The instrument of death has become the source of immortality. The cross stands in the centre of the church as a proclamation that Christ has transformed suffering into glory, death into life, and the grave into the gateway of the kingdom.
The entrance hymn of the feast summons us with the words, "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool, for he is holy." The Fathers understand this footstool as a reference to the holy cross. Therefore, when we bow before the cross, we are not worshipping wood. We are worshipping Christ, who was crucified upon it for our salvation. The honour given to the cross passes to him who hung upon it, the crucified and risen Lord of glory.
Beloved brothers and sisters, when we bow before the precious cross today, let us remember that we are truly venerating the love of God. We are venerating the victory of Christ. We are venerating the tree of life. We are venerating the instrument by which death was destroyed and paradise reopened. Let us therefore make the words of St. Paul our own: "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." For the cross is our hope. The cross is our protection. The cross is our weapon against the passions. The cross is our path to holiness. The cross is the doorway to paradise. And the one whom we behold upon the cross is the same Lord whom we shall behold in glory when he comes again in his kingdom. To him, together with his eternal Father and his all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, be all glory, honour and worship, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
