First Reading: Numbers 21:4–9
Psalm: (Psalm 102)
Response: O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Alleluia:
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live forever.
Gospel: (John 8:21–30)
Have you ever tried to give proof of something about which you spoke and others did not believe you? You gave details, you gave facts, and you gave proofs, but there was one last one that, even if everybody decided not to believe, that proof was the ultimate one, the last stroke that broke the camel’s back.
This is exactly what happened in today’s gospel passage.
Let us analyze and put meaning into this statement made by Jesus: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.” John 8:28.
If someone were to ask you to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, point to the cross. That is the ultimate proof.
Jesus had shown himself to the people as the Messiah. He proved it by his words of preaching and by the miracles that he worked. Yet even at that, some people refused to believe in him. Severally, they asked him, “What sign can you show us that you are the Christ and that you are from above?” (Matthew 12:38–40; John 6:30).
Even the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Are you the Christ, or should we wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3).
Some others, after seeing his works and hearing him preach, said, “No one has ever spoken like this man. Could he be the Christ?” (John 7:41–42).
And even when he narrated to the woman at the well her past life, the woman ran and told the people, “I have seen someone who told me everything that I did. Could he be the Christ that we are waiting for?” (John 4:29).
Jesus himself asked his own apostles, “Who do the people say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered correctly, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13–16).
But the question remains: despite all of these proofs, why did the people keep doubting and not believing in his messiahship?
If they would not believe him nor his works, the final proof is what he tells them in the gospel passage of today. The cross will be the final proof of his messiahship.
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he.”
You will look up to him whom you have pierced. You will know that I am he. For when the Son of Man will be lifted up, he will draw all men to himself (John 12:32).
You will know that I am he. That is to say, you will know that I am the Messiah. You will know that I am the chosen one, the anointed.
How was the cross the final proof of his messiahship? By the great signs that accompanied his hanging on the cross, we have identified six.
The first: the testimony of the soldier, the Roman centurion, when he saw how Jesus died. What was his testimony? “Truly this man was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47).
Second: the supernatural darkness that covered the area from noon till 3:00 PM when he died. The sun was darkened (Luke 23:45).
Third: the blood and water that gushed out from his side (John 19:34).
Fourth: his promising heaven or paradise to the good thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” How can you promise to give what you do not have, or take a person to a place where you do not know nor have the keys to lead to that place?
Fifth: the cross being the symbol of our victory. We look up to Jesus. They will look on him whom they have pierced (John 19:37), in reference to the first reading of today. As Moses lifted up the bronze serpent, whoever was bitten and looked up to that bronze serpent lived, so too Jesus, lifted upon the wood of the cross, is our Savior, our healer. He is our healing, our blessing, our salvation. Until we look up to the cross, we shall never be saved.
Friends, salvation comes through the cross.
Therefore, all those who preach a prosperity gospel void of the cross, be careful. There is no salvation without the cross. It is through that cross, when we look up to him who has been pierced and lifted up upon the wood of the cross, that we shall be saved.
Sixth: it did not only end at death. Jesus conquered death. If it had ended on the wood of the cross, they would not be talking about him over two millennials. Look at the other thieves who ended on the cross. Jesus was not a common criminal like the others. He was nailed to the cross, he died, yet he conquered death. He did not end in death. He defeated the cross.
No one has ever risen from the dead.
So even for those who did not believe he was the Messiah, the cross, and all that happened while Jesus hung on it, and after he was taken down from it, especially the resurrection, all of these point to the fact that truly he was the Messiah.
Indeed, we have come to know that it is truly he.
This is what he said: “When you would have lifted me up upon the wood of the cross, then you will know that I am he.”
Truly, after looking at him on the wood of the cross, we have come to believe, from all the signs that happened, from the resurrection, we have come to believe that truly Jesus is the Savior and the Messiah.
Now, it is left for us to believe in him, not just to see it, but to express that belief by doing the things that he has asked of us, by showing our faith, and by knowing that there is no Christianity without the cross.
We are not ashamed of the cross. We are not defeated by the cross, because we know that after that cross comes the crown. After that Good Friday comes an Easter Sunday. After that pain comes gain.
Therefore, we are not afraid of the cross. We are not afraid of suffering, because we know that after that suffering, we shall conquer.
Indeed, Jesus is he, the Messiah, the Savior, the Christ, and he has proven it by what happened on the wood of the cross.
Amen.
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