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Gospel Reading for September 14, 2025 – John 3: 13-17
GREAT SACRIFICE
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
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During Jesus’ time, crucifixion was a death sentence for low-life criminals or enemies of the state. The latter was what the Jewish elders insisted as the crime Jesus supposedly committed (sedition), because their accusation that Jesus committed blasphemy was not punishable by death.
The Son of God dying on the cross made the cross holy and exalted. It was no longer what used to be derogatory. Whenever we look at a crucifix (Jesus on the cross), or when we make the sign of the cross, let us be reminded of the GREAT SACRIFICE of the Son of God just so we may be saved from eternal damnation. The cross is also an assurance of GOD’S GREAT LOVE FOR US!
Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the Saviour of the world!
