Terrorism and the Exaltation of the Cross
September 11, 2001 is a day that never will be forgotten. Most of us can remember exactly where we were when we heard the news. An airliner had crashed into one of New York’s twin towers. When a second plane took out the second tower, we knew it was no accident. We wondered about how many more planes had been turned into flying bombs and where they would strike next. Shock and Awe. Horror and Terror. That’s the brutal and arrogant goal of terrorism. Let’s exalt ourselves and our cause by humiliating and stunning our enemy.
So we declared war on it. Made new laws against it. Opened new government agencies to combat this new threat.
But wait. Terrorism is actually nothing new. It’s probably as old as the human race.
In fact the cradle of civilization, now Iraq, was the home of the most infamous terrorists of antiquity, the Assyrians. Their goal was to conquer their neighbors in a way that would minimize initial resistance and subsequent rebellion. To do this, they knew fear would be their greatest weapon. Simple threat of death for those who resisted was not enough because many would prefer death to slavery. So the Assyrians developed the technology to produce the maximum amount of pain for the longest amount of time prior to death. It was called crucifixion. This ingenious procedure proved to be a very effective terror tactic.
It was the policy of the Roman Empire to adopt from conquered peoples whatever appeared useful. They found crucifixion an excellent tool of intimidation. The humiliation of being stripped naked to die in a public spectacle was particularly loathsome to Jews for whom public nudity was an abomination. Incidentally, crucifixion was deemed so horrible that Roman law strictly prohibited it from being carried out on a Roman citizen, even a traitor. It was reserved for slaves and conquered peoples alone.
Non-Christians have often asked a very good question–why do Christians adorn their churches, homes, and necks with a symbol of abasement, terror, and torture?
Three days after September 11th, the Catholic Church observes the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This day provides the answer.
St. Anselm (12th century) explained it this way. Our first parents’ sin was all about pride, disobedience, and self-love. Deceived by the serpent, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in defiance of God because they wanted to exalt themselves as His equal. The results were catastrophic–loss of communion with God, each other, and the created universe. This led to a snowball effect of sin and violence starting with Cain’s murder of Abel and escalating from there. The history of the human race has been a story in which each one of us, weakened by the impact of this sin have followed its pattern, proudly refusing to obey God and love our neighbor.
Anselm pointed out that sin constitutes an infinite offense against the goodness and honor of God. Having been created free and responsible, bound by the law of justice, our race is obliged to offer acts of love, humility and obedience to God which are powerful enough to cancel out the long legacy of disobedience, pride and selfishness and restore our friendship with him.
The problem is, our wounded race could not begin to attempt such a task. So the Father sent His Eternal Word to become man and accomplish the task in our place, to substitute for us. For the immortal, infinite God to empty himself and unite himself to a limited, vulnerable human nature was already a feat of unimaginable love and humility. But for redemption to be complete, the hero would have to withstand the greatest fury that hell and fallen humanity could hurl against him–the terror of the cross.
Surely, after the crowds he had healed and fed cried “Crucify him!” and his own apostles fled, Jesus would realize it wasn’t worth it. Surely he would curse the ingrates and use his divine power to free himself as many suggested in their taunts. But no. His was love to the end, love to the max (John 13:1). His death was the clear and undeniable manifestation of the triumph of obedience over disobedience, love over selfishness, humility over pride, self-giving over terrorism.
Good Friday was the D-Day of the human race. Since then, the power of Christ’s obedient, humble, unstoppable love has been made available to all who are willing to share it, producing martyrs and saints who have triumphed over terrorism in every generation, down to the Maximilian Kolbe’s and Blessed John Paul II of our own era.
Nations should take legal and military measures to combat terrorism. But such measures will never fully defeat it. Only total love can overthrow it and turn its very acts back upon its ugly head. And that is exactly what the Lord accomplished on Good Friday and shared with us on Pentecost.