The Truth of the Cross that crushes Satan’s Head
 
Fr Michael Panachickal V.C.
 

" I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head" (Gen. 3:15).

These are the words told by God to the crafty serpent who had deceived man and frightened him to take refuge behind the trees. Who is this 'he'? The Son of Man of whom God said, "He is my son", the one who was born of the Virgin in a way no other can claim, the one whom only one woman of the human race could claim saying, " He is my son". This is the 'he' referred to in the prophecy. With the truth of the cross Jesus crushed the falsehood that issued from the head of the serpent who pushed the human race into pain and tribulation. In other words, the crucified Christ, who is truth itself, crushed Satan's lie.

The lies propounded by Satan were:

1. God is not good.
2. Man has no worth.
3. Created things (the fruit) will make you like God.
This is the summary of the lies that Satan uttered. These lies were destroyed by the truth that is the cross. There are psychologists who say that fear is the basis of all the problems of man. But the basis of this fear is the lack of faith in God and the basis of this lack of faith is the deceptive idea of God that Satan gave the first couple. The Bible compels us to realize this. The fundamental reason for all the problems of the human race is falsehood. The falsehood that Satan uttered about God, about man and about created things. Each one of these lies, has been destroyed by the Son of Man, born of a woman. He proved on the cross that God is love. Even if he is nailed to the cross and killed, God can only love. He proved on the cross that man is worth while. Even if man nails him to the cross he will value him. God justifies man because he values man. He also proved that created things and this temporal life are only momentary, they will not make any one like God. Let us examine this truth of the cross. The first of the two statements that came from Satan was that God does not love man. "If God loved you, if he were so good, would he ever prohibit you from eating such a good fruit?" Thus he sowed the seed of doubt about God's goodness in man. Man began disbelieving God's love, his very words. Even though God had said eating the fruit meant death, man did not believe it. Thus he defied God and took and ate that "death".

Even today those who defy God act from falling into the deception of Satan and disbelieving God. Those who believe God's words, receive grace through faith and through grace the strength to obey God's commandments.

Even those generally held to be good and holy, doubt God's love when trials and misfortunes overtake them. In the midst of pain they complain unawares. If God is love, why did he give me this suffering ? Though I lived in obedience to his commandments, in prayer and devotion, why has he permitted this illness? Why does God give an innocent infant a fatal disease? Could he, who is almighty, not have prevented it? How many such questions fall from the lips of believers and devotees ! They arise because Satan conceals God's love with his falsehood. Once I saw a man, who had been active in the renewal for several years, completely under the influence of alcoholism. I enquired what had happened to him. He spluttered: "It is no use! You can never again get me to preach that God is love." The reason was this : the doctor had just confirmed that his one-year-old child was mentally backward. If God had loved him, would he not have given this man a smart, intelligent child, after the many years of faithful service the man had given to him? Satan's deception had been fed and stored even into man's genes as in a super computer! The test of faith means that the wrong 'commands' of this super computer are called into play.To put it differently, Satan's agents try to give new wrong commands.

Jesus said, "I am the truth". There is no distinction between the word and life in Jesus. The liar cannot prove his lie. But the one who tells the truth can prove he is telling the truth. Jesus can do it. That is why he challenged: If what I say is not true, prove it. My works prove that my words are true. "Which of you convicts me of sin ? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?" (Jn. 8:46).

Jesus spoke about God and testified that those who saw him saw God himself. Jesus had to die on the cross because he spoke the truth that he is God. Those who tell lies, do so to avoid losses and ensure benefits. There is no meaning in a man telling lies in order to die on the cross. If Jesus said he was not God, he too would be telling a lie. It is not possible for the Lord, who is reality itself, to tell a lie. The one who suffers the loss of his selfhood cannot tell the truth. "You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (Jn. 8:44). Jesus was crucified because he claimed he was God. " Are you, then, the son of God?' He said to them, 'You say that I am'. Then they said, 'What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips'"(Lk. 22:70-71) When they nailed Jesus to the cross and killed him he proved he was telling the truth. "Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, truly this man was God's Son"(Mk. 15-39). God's glory was made manifest in the crucifixion of Christ. He proved that what was natural to him was only to be benign, to bless, and to show mercy. Thus Jesus removed the covering that Satan had put on God's face through his falsehood. The wiles of Satan, who said God was not good, were destroyed. God revealed beyond doubt his infinite goodness on the cross. How can Satan's head not be crushed here!