Tuesday of Holy Week
The statue and the shadow it casts are related, but they are very different. The statue is made of stone, and the shadow is made of . . . well, it’s hard to say, isn’t it? Whatever a shadow is made out of, a shadow is a lot less of a thing than a statue, and yet, somehow, the two are related.
Along similar lines, consider everything that you have ever seen, touched, heard, tasted, or smelled. Consider every idea that you have ever had. All of them were created. Created things are somehow related to their creators, and ultimately to God, the great Creator of all. The existence of any created thing, in comparison to the Creator of the universe, is kind of like a shadow in comparison to a statue. Whatever a created thing is, it’s a lot less than the divine Creator. In fact, it might even be better to say that created things are only shadows of shadows, as if shadows could somehow cast shadows of themselves. Our very existence is so thin in comparison to God.
In Acts 5:15 we read that people “carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.” This is the same Peter who abandoned Christ at the worst possible time: the crucifixion. At that moment, Peter was spiritually thin, weak, and cowardly. The shadow of the cross was too dark for him.
You, yourself, whoever you are, are ultimately little more than a shadow. You must find the shadow of the cross of Christ, let it fall upon you, abide there, and find salvation.