Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the fifth week of Lent, April 8, 2025

Delivered by Father Peter Tukan, SDB from Salesian Don Bosco Gerak in the Diocese of Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Numbers 21: 4-9; Rs psalm 102: 2-3.16-18.19-20; John 8: 21-30THE TREE OF GLORY Our meditation today has the theme: The Tree of Glory.The wooden pillar of the cross or also called the crucifix, before becoming thecross of Jesus was a sign of great humiliation. The human person condemned onthe cross was a criminal of the lowest dignity. But when it began with JesusChrist being severely punished with the goal of His death on the cross, themeaning of the cross changes. For followers of Christ, the cross is a sign ofglory. Nevertheless, those who do not believe in Christ still regard the crossas a very shameful insult or merely a symbol of ignorance and emptiness.  The cross as a tree of glory for Jesus Christ sifnifiesthe salvation. In the days when Moses and the Israelites wandered in thewilderness, the cross was not yet known to them. The cross only became popularwhen the Roman colonizers used it as a means of punishing big criminals. But asa tree planted in the ground to signify salvation, it was already known toMoses and the chosen people. According to the book of Numbers chapter 21, the copperserpent placed on a stake became the object of sight of those who were bittenby wild snakes, and they were healed. They did not die or perish because ofsnakes, but survived and recovered. Since the cross was placed on the shoulders of Jesusin the story of His passion and especially when He hung on it until His death,the meaning of salvation displayed by the cross was perfected in glory.Salvation is a freedom from the bonds that afflict and bring suffering. Fromsalvation, a person is lifted to a high place where Jesus Christ with theFather and the Holy Spirit dwell. On the cross hung the body of Jesus that diedbut His Spirit rose gloriously, as He Himself said in the Gospel: "When youhave lifted up to the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he."  We are heading to the memorial of Jesus Christ'spassion from the garden of Gethsemane to the hill of Golgotha. It reminds us ofthe experience of suffering for each of us or others around us. Jesus sufferedso much with the evidence that He was hung on the cross, which reminds us ofthe great and severe suffering we have experienced. Our spirits and souls mustnot be tormented by the bodies that are burdened by the weight of the cross ofsuffering. Our bodies will eventually die and be destroyed, but our spirit andsoul will survive to pass through salvation and reach glory of heaven. FollowingJesus Christ means that we must go through the sufferings of our bodies, for wehave been promised the best result that will follow, which is salvation andglory in heaven. Let us pray. In the name of the Father and of the Sonand of the Holy Spirit... O glorious Jesus, may we always rejoice and praisewith the cross that each of us bears. Hail Mary, full of grace... In the nameof the Father ...