The Medium Is the Message
All Saints’ San Diego, CA 9 March 2008
Preached by Fr Doran
“The Medium is the Message.” Many of you may remember the thought-provoking and controversial Canadian professor and Communications Theorist Marshall Mcluhan. In the mid-1960’s Mcluhan coined his most famous expression, “The Medium is the Message.” This theory concentrates on a given medium, and how that medium conveys information, rather than on the specific content of the information.
Take television for instance. Mcluhan would argue that television as a medium – a little broadcasting box that infiltrates the privacy of millions of living rooms -- conveys more important information in and of itself, than the content of individual television programs. The Medium (the television itself, not it’s content) is the Message. It’s not hard to see why Mcluhan’s ideas were controversial.
Of course, we are not gathered here this evening to discuss television or Marshall Mcluhan. We are here to meditate on the Holy Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and to adore His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
To that end, I would like to suggest to you that Mcluhan’s theory, quite irrespective of its implications on modern media, lends to us a profound insight into the most important message of all, the message of the Holy Cross.
So this evening, let us ask the question, what is the message of the Cross of Christ?
Our culture is filled with Crosses. We see them swinging from jewelry. We see them on t-shirts and bumper stickers. We see them tattooed on biceps (and other body parts). And of course we see them perched atop churches and, indeed, altars. Generally speaking, the symbol of the cross represents – for obvious reasons -- the Christian Faith. But this was not always the case.
We 21st century folks are greatly removed from the original function of the cross. It’s easy for us to forget that the cross, before it was a symbol of faith, was an instrument of death. It was a tool. It was a machine. It was a piece of technology. The primary purpose of which, was not only death, but death by execution.
Now wouldn’t it be slightly unnerving to see someone wearing a little metal pendant around their neck of a guillotine, or a gallows, or a gun. And yet the Cross belongs in the same family as these as an instrument of death.
The original message of the Cross was death. But our Lord’s own passion and death outside of Jerusalem 2000 years ago amended the message of the Cross. Because Jesus was not just executed. He was voluntarily executed. He was not only put to death, he was put to death of his own free will.
Free to choose, Jesus laid down his own life, and commended his Spirit to God. In so doing, Our Lord transformed the message of the Cross from one of death by force, to death by choice.
Jesus forever amended the message of the Cross from a message of death, to a message of sacrifice.
But there is still more. In order to complete the renewed message of the Cross we have to answer one simple question, “Why?”
Why did Jesus sacrifice himself on the Cross that day? Why did he willingly give up his life? The answer to this question completes the message.
The answer is Love. Jesus sacrificed himself out of love for the Father, and out of love for you, and for me.
Remember his words to the disciples? “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”[1]
And that is exactly what he did. He loved his own to the end.[2] He bore our sins in his body on the tree, the righteous for the unrighteous, that in him we might have life.[3] Jesus laid down his life for his friends.
And so the message of the Cross comes into focus, Love is Sacrifice. The Holy Cross is the medium. It is the instrument. And it just so happens that the Medium is indeed the Message. Through the work of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Cross itself broadcasts its message of life and salvation throughout eternity; Love is Sacrifice.
God is Love. And Love is Sacrifice.
This message of the Cross is deeply opposed to our popular sentiments regarding love. Love, at its core, is not a feeling that we get; Love, at its core, is an action that we do. Indeed, love might not always feel that great. Take crucifixion for instance. Does that look like it feels good? And yet it is the greatest picture of Love the world will ever know. Love is Sacrifice.
Shedding his own precious blood on the Cross, Jesus has given us an example. He has shown us the way to keep the New Commandment. God made us out of love, and for love. We have been charged to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The message of the Cross is our key to fulfilling the New Commandment. Love is sacrifice.
Jesus tells us that if we love him, we are to keep his commandments.[4] We are to sacrifice our sinful desires, for God’s Holy desires. Love is Sacrifice.
St. Paul uses the message of the Cross in his teachings on marriage (which are often misunderstood). “Husbands, love your wives [How?] The way Christ loved the Church, and gave himself up for her.”[5] In our relationships with one another, including and especially in Holy Matrimony, that most sacred of unions, we are called to seek the good of our beloved over our own good. Love is Sacrifice.
Writing to the Corinthians St. Paul tells us quite plainly, “Love does not insist on its own way.”[6] Love is Sacrifice.
Jesus makes the message of the Cross abundantly clear when he tells us, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”[7] Love is Sacrifice.
I was asked recently during our Lenten Program why the Christian Faith was all about pain and suffering.
The answer is that the Christian Faith is not all about pain and suffering, it is all about Love. The Christian heart is animated by the singular desire to love God, and for God’s sake to love one another. And this love, true love, has been demonstrated for us in the most profound and humbling way. Jesus did not die on the cross because He wanted to. He did not die on the cross because he was told to. He did not die on the cross for his own glory. Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross out of love… for the Father, and for you, and for me.
Brothers and Sisters, whenever you see or make the sign of the Cross, remember that the medium – the Cross -- is the message; Love is Sacrifice.
As we continue on our Christian pilgrimage through Lent, towards the great Paschal Feast and beyond, may God give us grace and strength to continue our “Walk in love.” Not love as the world loves, but “as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God[8] Amen.