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PART II
6. THE CROSS, THE BASKET, THE
SHEPHERDS CROSIER, THE
"With these bright and beautiful virtues you will
dispose yourselves to approach that blessed crib, and with your burning
affections you will give warmth to the little trembling Infant, who willingly
shivers with cold that He may light the fire of love in your hearts."
(
One of the favorite images of
When they had departed, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child
and his mother, flee to
When Herod realized that he had been
deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the
boys in
The king of
Pharaoh then commanded all his people,
"Throw into the
Moses was spared the
slaughter, like Jesus in
Now a man of the house of Levi married a
Levite woman, and the woman conceived and bore a son. Seeing what a fine child
he was, she hid him for three months.
But when she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket, daubed
it with bitumen and pitch, and putting the child in it, placed it among the
reeds on the bank of the
Then Pharaoh's daughter came down to
bathe at the Nile, while her attendants walked along the bank of the
Now, as biblists
remind us, Matthew in his gospel is presenting Jesus as the New Moses. We are
reminded that his gospel is being addressed to the Israelites. Luke, on the other hand, will present Jesus as the
New David. In fact,
Matthew, in his gospel,
indirectly connects Jesus leaving
When Moses flees
Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of
his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to
the
Moses' wooden shepherd's staff
will accompany him and be used to perform the powerful works of the Lord, like
triggering the plagues, parting the Red Sea, and bringing out water from the rock in the dessert, which foreshadows
the saving blood and water coming
out of Jesus' side on the Cross,
from which the Church is born, represented by Jesus’ faithful followers with
Mary, at the foot of the Cross.
Mary is the role model of a
true disciple and therefore the New Mother
of a transformed humanity, replacing the old "Woman" Eve. (cfr. Genesis 2:23) This is The Woman, New Mother of humanity, the exemplar and perfect educator of her
adopted children. When Jesus says to Mary from the Cross:
"Woman, behold your son" (cfr. John 19:26), it was not a sign of disrespect
but one of bestowing on her a title of deep meaning as just mentioned. Just as
Eve, poetically speaking, with deep meaning, was formed from a rib from the
side of Adam
(cfr. Genesis 2: 21-22), so Mary with the Church, is
formed from the love of Jesus' open side where his heart was pierced.
And as Moses leads the people
of
(Exodus 24:3-8).
In the same way, Jesus, the
Lamb of God, who frees us from the deadly
plague of sin as he sheds his blood on
the Cross, will be led by the Spirit
into the desert after his baptism in
the
It happened in those days that Jesus
came from
The blood and water coming out of the side of Jesus, reminds us of the waters of the Red Sea which for us prefigure our own baptism, when we are freed
not from slavery of
Are you unaware that we who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through
baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
For if we
have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be
united with him in the resurrection.
We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful
body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to
sin. For a dead person has been absolved
from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him. We know that Christ,
raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for
all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of
yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:
3-11)
We must be aware though, that
baptism puts us on a lifelong journey of struggle, of gradually dying to the
old self, and moving more and more into our Life in Christ. This is our Passover, which is present at each
moment of our life, until we pass over
into eternity at the end of our life on earth. In fact, the journey of the
Israelites through the desert highlights this struggle in life, where they are put to the test, in order to overcome
their weaknesses, as a way of being prepared as a purified people, to enter the Promised Land. The falling into
idolatry at Sinai, the grumbling over the manna and the lack of water, are all
examples of the Israelites needing to be purified and made mature in their
faith. But the indirect symbol of the wood
of the Cross expressed in the shepherd’s
crosier, in the middle of these trials, is mentioned in all these
situations. For instance, when the Israelites complained about the food, they
are attacked by serpents. When people repent of their sinful attitude, they
turn to Moses, who then places a brass serpent
on a wooden pole, so that those who
gaze on it will be saved. This would be another link to the Cross of Jesus, which he himself makes
connection with, as mentioned previously. (John 3:14-15)
From
So the Lord sent among the people seraph
serpents, which bit the people so that many of the Israelites died. Then the
people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord
and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for
the people, and the Lord said to Moses: Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and
recover. Accordingly, Moses made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and
whenever the serpent bit someone, the person looked at the bronze serpent and
recovered."
(Numbers 21: 4-9)
The gospel of John links this
event with Jesus being 'lifted up'
on the Cross, though with a sense of
victory. In the gospel of John, Jesus is in total control. (cfr. John 3:14-15)
Moses' vocation as a leader
in
"I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse
those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in
you." ( Genesis 12: 2-3)
God makes a covenant with
Noah, as he leaves the wooden arc after
the flood waters recede. God also
makes a covenant with Abraham, who
also is a shepherd, and who is
called to sacrifice his son Isaac. Isaac carries the wood for the sacrifice on his back as they
So Abraham took the wood for the
burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, while he himself carried the fire
and the knife. As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham.
“Father!” he said. “Here I am,” he replied. Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep
for the burnt offering?” “My son,”
Abraham answered, “God will provide the sheep for the burnt offering.”
Then the two walked on together.
When they came to the place of which God
had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.
Next he bound his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on
the altar. Then Abraham reached out and
took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he answered. “Do not lay
your hand on the boy,” said the angel. “Do not do the least thing to him. For
now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold from me your son,
your only one.” Abraham looked up
and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So
Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in
place of his son. (Genesis 22:6-14a)
There is another event, during
which
From the wilderness of Sin the whole
Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the Lord directed, and encamped at Rephidim.
But there was no water for the
people to drink, and so they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water
to drink." Moses replied to them, "Why do you quarrel with me?
Why do you put the Lord to a test?" Here, then, in their thirst for water,
the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "Why then did you bring us up
out of
Once again we can link the
moment with the open side of Jesus on the Cross,
who is the Rock of Salvation.
Biblists also mention how the gospel of John unites the blood and water that pours out from the
open side of Christ, with the water and
wine at the marriage in
Another example of the combination
of the symbols of wood and stone is
when the future King David, a youngster, comes up with his shepherd's staff to confront the giant Goliath, who trusts only in
his physical power and armor. The giant mocks David, who comes confronting him
in all humility in the name of God, with his shepherd’s staff, and David defeats the giant with a stone slung from his sling.
The Philistine said to David, “Am I a
dog that you come against me with a staff?” Then the Philistine cursed David by
his gods, and said to him, “Come here to me, and I will feed your flesh to the
birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” David answered him: “You come
against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the
name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of
As we see over and over
again, ultimately, it is the humble that defeat the powerful. As Mary acclaims:
"He has shown might with his arm,
dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from
their thrones but lifted up the lowly."(Luke 1:51-52).
Yes, it is the humble and
faithful to God, who from the beginning are announced
to crush the head of the arrogant and deceitful Evil One, symbolized in the
serpent. As God says to the serpent:
"I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.
They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel."
(Genesis 3:15)
In apparently
an impossible situation for victory, the humble David will decapitate
the arrogant giant. Also, the humble and prayerful Judith, trusting totally in
the Lord, will decapitate Holofernes, the general of Nabuchanezzar's powerful army, who was threatening to destroy
the Israelites trapped in the city of
When all had departed, and no one, small
or great, was left in the bedchamber, Judith stood by Holofernes’
bed and prayed silently,.... Now is the time for aiding your heritage and
for carrying out my design to shatter the enemies who have risen against
us.” She went to the bedpost near the
head of Holofernes, and taking his sword from it, she
drew close to the bed, grasped the hair of his head, and said, “Strengthen me
this day, Lord, God of
Ultimately it is Christ, the New Adam, together with Mary
and the Church, the New Eve, as
prophesized in Genesis; ("they") will defeat the power of evil
through the mystery and power of the Cross
by crushing the head of the Serpent. This promise in Genesis is the first
glimmer of Salvation after the fall of our first ancestors.
The book of Judith is
actually a poetic reflection on this passage from Genesis. The author makes
this clear at the beginning of the story by placing statements that
historically are not true.
It was the twelfth year of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh
Nebuchadnezzar did not rule
over the Assyrians, but the Babylonians, and did not reign from the city of
7. THE CROSS AND THE
LIVING STONE