The most recognized sign

I recall a converstion I once had with a parishioner who had done some consulting work with the Nike corporation. We all know about the famous "swoosh" shape we immediately recognize on their shoes and other sports apparel. It is a simple sign without words, everyone knows that it means a Nike product. Often the most simple, direct sign is the best. It says everything as a silent witness.

Then he told me that in one conversation with Nike executives they admitted it was their goal, "To make the Nike symbol as recognizable in the world as the Christian cross." That's quite a statement but brillant nonetheless. Everywhere we go we see the sign of the cross on buildings and we know immediately it is a Christian Church or Christian sponsored institution. We see it hung on walls, around peoples neck, on t-shirts,and witness athletes who sign themselves before the game (what team is God on?). As Catholics we traditionally have not only the cross but the body of Christ upon that cross and the "stations" of the cross on the interior walls of our worship spaces. Why? So we will never forget the price that was paid. We have obviously sanitized that image for if we depicted Jesus' body as it truly appeared, hanging in torture, the image would be so repulsive that it would have the opposite affect on us - we would turn away in disgust rather than be drawn to it. Yet, the Spanish, Mexican, Philippino, and Italian cultures tend to bloody the image up more than we Americans would be comfortable with. We would rather deny suffering in any form since we pop pills for the slightest ailmnents.

In the book of Numbers, our first reading from a book whose title sounds like an Old Testament phone book, chapter 21: 4-9, Moses finds himself confronted with a rebellious people. In fact, the anger has risen to a level on the part of the Hebrew tribe that Moses actually fears an outright mutiny! "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!" Where's the McDonalds and the cheeseburgers? In response to this ungrateful cry, God sends ". . . saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. . ." I'd change my mind very quickly and would choose my next words with caution. The image is downright chilling and I recall that scene in the Indiana Jones movie - yeech!

Then, a sign of mercy is recommended by God to Moses. The people admit their sin as they've whined and complained against God so he offers relief: "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live." The next time you visit your doctor or see something from a professional health care institution you may notice this same sign -a snake twisted on a pole has become a sign of the healing community. (Not sure what the new sign will be now that we have the mother of all health care plans.) Sorry about the political commentary. Anyway, the cause of death has now become the sign of life.

The cross upon which Our Lord gave his life is for all of us and for the world the ultimate sign of healing. Mercy, forgiveness, self-sacrifice and eternal hope will until the end of time be there in that simple cross. I think Christianity has made more of an impact over the last 2,000 years than Nike ever will. Despite their quality product, we'll see what the population in the year 4010 are wearing. We may have to read about it in the celestial news room.

Today's Gospel has a clear illusion to the cross as well. In John 8:21-30 we hear Jesus say to the angry crowd of Pharisees, who seem to be always ragging about something, ". . . When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM . . ." Jesus has once again slapped them in the face with the greatest of all truth's; that he is the I AM thereby making himself equal to God. In the ears of his listeners it was boldfaced blasphemy. To us, it is a sign of confirmation - that Jesus is indeed Lord and savior. He has left us an eternal promise that through a simple form, we will never forget the price paid - the cross or crucifix is that sign.

However, this image of torture, all too familiar in the early days of Christianity, was not popular among those first believers. In fact, they did not make a public display of the cross as we do; it was more of a secret sign, a way to recognize who your brothers and sisters in "the way" really were. But, Emperor Constantine changed all that 300 plus years later when the sign of a cross appeared in the sky to him during a noted battle. With that cross in the sky he saw written, "In this sign you will conquer." Constantine saw the sign of the Christian God and the Christians themselves as a force to conquer his enemies and Christianity became the religion of the Roman Emire. Buildings and land were given to Church authorities and the free exercise of the Christian religion flowered. The rest is a colorful history to say the least.

The next time you make the sign of the cross, which sometimes we do so casually, rapidly, or without thought that it appears we're just swatting flies, think of these passages. Our product is not sports wear, shoes, or a flashy marketing program but the silent, eternal witness of God's merciful love for the world.