THE CROSS! 

REDUNDANT 

 INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Cross! Redundant.”

I was surprised when that word “redundant” showed up in my brain. The word, “Cross” no. It’s Good Friday. But redundant? Where did that come from?

I checked the dictionary – to check out - just what “redundant” means.

Yes “redundant” fits and works. It can mean abundant, excess, or repetition. Checking carefully, in wanting to get to - what I want to get to - this evening, the word “reduplication” might be more exact or even the word “redux” – never used that word – it means “brought back” – yet, still again, I want to stick with the word that hit me in the first place: “redundant”.

IT CAME TO ME LAST NIGHT

The title of my homily – with the word “redundant” came to me last night.

I was sitting over there [Point down to the benches on my left] – at last night’s Holy Thursday Liturgy here at St. John Neumann. I looked straight ahead and saw that gigantic empty cross. [Point to the right at the cross.]  It’s been up there for the whole of Lent. The cross – the sign of the cross – it was pressed into our foreheads with ashes as we began Lent. This cross I was looking at had a big purple stole on it till Palm Sunday – then out came the red stole – just this last Sunday

.

Next, I spotted the regular big, big crucifix that fills the wall of our sanctuary. [Point] It stayed as is – all Lent  - all year long – for years now.

Then I said to myself, “Why two crosses?”

Answer: I assume it’s sort of in the books to have for Lent a big empty cross like the one you see here in the sanctuary.

But why not put the big purple cloth, the stole up on this one – and then a  red one when it comes to Palm Sunday – and skip this other cross?

Then – it was then – that I thought to myself, “It’s redundant!”  That’s when that word showed up.

Then I said to myself, “We’re going to have a third cross in this Good Friday service – the one that Deacon David will lead down the main aisle – after the Good Friday prayers or Intercessions – after this homily. That third cross we’ll all venerate tonight with a kiss or a touch of our hand.

Three crosses. Now that’s redundant.

MANY CROSSES

Then the obvious hit me.

The cross…. Of course, the cross is redundant.

It’s the Christian symbol – our marker.

If you’ve ever driven on Route 404 – off Route 50 East – after the Bay Bridge - on the way to Ocean City – you’ve seen lots of crosses – marking a spot where someone was killed in a traffic accident.

If you’ve ever walked into the cemeteries on both sides of West Street – after Taylor Circle – you’ve seen lots of crosses.

If you watch athletes, you’ve seen them make the sign of the cross before and after a play – but especially if someone is hurt.

If you watch people come into church, you see them making the sign of the cross.

Because today is Good Friday – because today I made two sick calls – I also realized the cross is everywhere and in and on everyone.

I saw two people today in their homes walking with aluminum walkers. So sometimes the cross is made of aluminum – in the shape of a walker or a cane or a crutch or even a new leg with those new metals.

The cross is made of cancer and psoriasis. The cross is made of broken marriages and broken people. 

The cross is made of drugs and drink and eating problems.

Talk about redundant ….

Is it any wonder why the Cross became the Christian symbol?

The Jewish people have the Star of David. The Muslim people have the star and the crescent moon. The Christian people could have chosen light – Jesus did say that he was the light of the world. The Christian people could have chosen bread or water or a door or a Good Shepherd – all ways Jesus talked about himself.

However, in time the Cross became our main symbol – surely because suffering is often part of our lives – as we travel down the roads of life. Pain…. Suffering …. The Cross…. They are redundant.  The cross keeps happening.

Christians at those times look to – hold onto – the cross – because they believe, they know, that Jesus is with us when we are on our cross – or carrying our cross – or when we fall because of the weight of the cross – three times or a seventy times seven times.

GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday is the day this is reflected upon - preached about – thought about - to remind us – to help us realize Christ is central to our lives 365 days a year – year after year after year.

MOVING TOWARDS A CONCLUSION  

Let me move towards my conclusion this way.

I don’t know music – especially classical music – but I spotted the following in last week’s copy of The Tablet – a Catholic Magazine out of England that Father Joe Krastel and I like to read.

In an interesting article, entitled, “Out Of The Flames” – by Rick Jones I read the following:  Yesterday and today in London, England, Good Friday, April 18, 2014, the BBC singers and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra are going to perform St. John’s Passion – that’s the one we heard and played out tonight. The one in England takes about an hour in song and music.

What would it be like to be there today – rather than to be here?

Now what I found fascinating was the following.

This particular performance of a St. John Passion was by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach – the son of the famous Johan Sebastian Bach.

The conductor of this performance is Kirill Karabits – a Ukrainian conductor.

He said he discovered this piece in the Kiev State Archive in 1999 – when he was a student. But it’s taken him 15 years to finally present it in music. He adds if this piece he discovered was by Carl Philip Emanuel Bach’s father, it would have been history – and made headlines around the world – and certainly played much sooner.

Kirill Karabits, today’s conductor, says that Bach’s son was known in his day as being one of the best composers in Germany – but always overshadowed by his father – Johan Sebastian Bach.

Kirill Karabits, today’s conductor, then told the writer of the article, that there was in Berlin an entire library of music founded in the 1790’s by a pupil of Bach’s son. When Berlin was being bombed – the whole library was boxed and sent to Silesia for safety.

The train carrying the boxes was bombed. While burning,  Russian soldiers rescued the boxes and took the entire archive containing 5000 items to Russia. That’s how they got into the Kiev State Archives.

The article writer asked Kirill Karabits to compare the son’s Passions – there are 21 of them – with his father’s.

His answer grabbed me. He said, “I think it is not the case of comparing the two composers’ Passions.” He said they lived in different times, different cities, and composed each passion for different reasons.

Eureka! In the gospels we have 4 Passion Accounts: Mathew, Mark, Luke and the one we heard tonight – John’s

Each was put together for a different community.

Down through the centuries there have been millions of retellings of the story of Jesus’ passion and death – in churches, in music, in plays – till our day.

Tonight, each Good Friday, each time we ponder the story of Jesus’ death on the cross – it enters into our story – and into our way of hearing, and praying, and reunderstanding Jesus’ story.

In doing this we make that story redundant and abundant in our life. Amen.