The feast of the exaltation of the cross has two images. St. Paul says that Jesus “emptied himself” of his divine prerogatives in order to accept the cross. In the gospel (picking up an Old Testament theme) Jesus speaks of being “lifted up” — which we ordinarily thing of as a positive thing but being lifted up on the cross testifies to suffering and death. Those two images say something about our own stance before God. On judgment day we cannot boast of how great we are, as if we completed our assignment and deserve a gold star. Rather we empty out our accomplishments and lift up our fallible humanity to God — like a child’s crayon drawing — demonstrating our complete reliance on God’s grace and mercy
