Good Friday 10 April 2020

We were looking for something to be the focal point for the prayer desk that I use for the beginning of the Service of Compline that is broadcast live each evening. The Cross that I wanted was along in the church so that was ruled out. Then my wife found the old Crucifix which we had put up in our garage – read storeroom. She asked if it would do as the little brass pins that were through the hands and feet had fallen out. The figure of Jesus was still hanging on the Cross.

Throughout Good Friday we will have many opportunities to reflect on the Passion of Christ. The Gospel set for today tells us in excruciating detail how Jesus was crucified. In John’s account, John 18.1-19.42, we get, literally, a blow by blow account of what took place. I recommend that you read either John’s or one of the other Gospel accounts of the Passion, in one slow single read. It brings home to you the sheer horror, pain and suffering that Jesus endured. No will be left in no doubt about how it happened and what took place. If you read all four accounts you find that they all build upon and amplify one another. No detail is spared.

What exercises my mind this morning is, not so much the what of Good Friday but, the why? What lies behind the events that we recall and reflect upon today? Is there a deeper meaning to be found in the tragic account of the suffering of an innocent man? This takes me back to my little Crucifix retrieved from the garage. What was holding the figure on the Cross? What was really holding Jesus on the Cross?

Of course, in the practical sense it was the nails driven in by Jesus’ executioners that held him. I believe that the greater truth is, that it was Love that held Jesus on the Cross. Just like my crucifix there was a greater meaning and power at work on the hill of Golgotha. The Romans may have thought that it was just another crucifixion like the many they had carried out before and would carry out in the future. The Temple authorities may have thought that they had successfully gotten rid of a troublesome rabble-rouser. What they didn’t understand was the deeper meaning and significance.

In the suffering of the Crucified Christ, Christians believe that we are shown the supreme demonstration of God’s love towards all people. In the suffering of the Crucified Christ the sufferings of every innocent victim, every bruised and broken individual that ever has, and will ever have lived, is drawn into the mercy and love of God. In the Crucified Christ we see God’s total and complete identification and embrace of humanity. God endures the worst that we can do and loves us through it all. As we contemplate and reflect on the Passion of Christ let our hearts be stirred and moved by the height, depth and breadth of God’s love for us, for you. What held Jesus to the Cross? Not the nails. It was Love. Love Divine all loves excelling.