The meaning of the Greek word used for "Crucifixion" is "lift up". Good point! We have grown accustomed to see both the horizontal and vertical bars of the cross as not being in equal proportion. In the cross of execution, the horizontal bar was barely long enough to hold the arms of the delinquent; but the vertical bar which measured three times the size of the body was meant to hold all of the body! Part of the penalty of the crucifixion was to expose the convict to public shame; so the cross was to make him visible to all around and from afar. The expression "lift up" is an insult, so too "the scandal" of the cross.

How do we understand Moses lifting up the serpent on a stand in Numbers 21:4-9? Whether it was God's order, as narrated there, or Moses' weakness giving in to a local superstition, it nevertheless became a sacred symbol; so "lifting up" here gained a positive meaning. Applied to the cross, it means "exaltation". That is why the last part of John's Gospel, including the Passion, is called THE BOOK OF THE EXALTATION. And Jesus confirms this shift of meaning by describing its impact in the world: "And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself" (Jn 12:32).