“Et sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem”: the exalted Cross, the kenosis and Mary at the foot of the Cross

By Prof. Dr. Daniel C. Afonso · Updated 19 October 2026

Et sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem in deserto, ita exaltari oportet Filium hominis.
Jn 3:14

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross sets out three texts that converge in the paradox of glory through suffering: Num 21 presents the bronze serpent that Moses raises in the desert as a cure for those who have been bitten, Phil 2 sings the kenosis of the Son who “humbled Himself unto death on a cross” and was therefore exalted above every name, and Jn 3 reveals that the Son of Man must be exalted “as Moses exalted the serpent”. Mary, who stood at the foot of the Cross (Jn 19:25), is the privileged witness of this exaltation that passes through suffering.

I. The first and second readings: Num 21:4b-9 and Phil 2:6-11

The bronze serpent of Num 21 is one of the oldest typologies of the Cross in the Christian tradition: the people bitten by the serpents look at the bronze serpent raised up by Moses and live. The people wounded by death are healed by looking at the symbol of that very death, raised up by the one whom God commanded. Jesus in Jn 3:14 applies this typology to His own exaltation: just as Moses raised up the serpent, so the Son of Man will be raised up, so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

The Christological hymn of Phil 2:6-11 articulates the same paradox in denser theological language: He who existed in the form of God did not hold on to that state as a privilege, but “emptied Himself” (v.7) unto the obedience of the Cross. God’s answer to the kenosis is the supreme exaltation: “therefore God exalted Him above all things” (v.9). The logic of the Cross is the logic of the bronze serpent: the descent to the lowest place is the way to an exaltation that no other way permits.

II. The Gospel: Jn 3:13-17

John 3:13-17 is the theological core of the feast: the Son of Man who came down from heaven is the only one who can ascend to heaven, and His “ascent” is the exaltation of the Cross. “Just as Moses exalted the serpent in the desert” (v.14): the comparison is audacious because the serpent was the symbol of the curse. Paul in Gal 3:13 says that Christ “became a curse for us”: the Cross is the exaltation of the One who bore the curse of all so that all might be healed by the gaze of faith.

“For God so loved the world that He gave it His only-begotten Son” (v.16) is the key that turns the paradox into love: the exaltation of the Cross is not a logic of power but a logic of love that goes to the very end. The Son was not sent to condemn but to save (v.17). The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross celebrates not the instrument of torture but the love that transformed it into a throne of mercy and into a symbol of the life that conquers death.

III. The logic of exaltation: kenosis and glorification

The theology of the Cross that the three texts set out has a common structure: the descent precedes and makes possible the ascent. Num 21 raises up the symbol of death as a cure. Phil 2 describes the humiliation that precedes the exaltation. Jn 3 identifies the Cross with the “ascent” of the Son of Man. This is not a logic of resignation but of transformation: suffering embraced in obedience to the Father is not the end of the road but the condition of the glorification that exceeds everything the creature can imagine.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross sets before Christian prayer a paradox that reason does not resolve but faith embraces: the symbol of the most shameful death has become the symbol of the fullest life. Paul in 1 Cor 1:18 says that “the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God”. The exalted Cross is not the defeat of God: it is the defeat of everything that opposes the love that goes to the very end.

IV. Mary at the foot of the Cross: witness of the exaltation

John 19:25 describes Mary “standing by the Cross of Jesus”: the same scene that Jn 3:14 anticipates as the exaltation of the Son of Man. Mary did not witness the Cross as a passive spectator: she was the one who remained standing while the Son was being exalted. John’s “stabat” is the posture of the faith that recognizes in death the exaltation that Phil 2 sings: the Son who “emptied Himself” is the same one whom God exalted above every name.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross invites us to contemplate Mary as the model of one who looks at the Cross with the eyes of Phil 2: she sees the kenosis, she recognizes the exaltation. She who said “Fiat” to the Angel also said “Fiat” to Calvary, because the same logic runs through both moments: God who descends so that the creature may ascend. Mary, who stood at the foot of the Cross, is the good soil where the seed of absolute love fell and produced the fruit of the faith that the Church continues to celebrate.