Reflection on the readings for the 3rd April, Good Friday

26.04.03 - Collect, readings and reflection.pdf

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Readings: Isaiah 52:13-end of 53; Psalm 22; John18:1-end of 19

Today’s reflection was prepared by the Vicar, the Revd Canon Jonathan Cain.

The cross and the world

‘It is finished’ is what Jesus cries out from the cross. His ordeal is over. He has gone through all human experience, save death which is about to take him. He has walked this sorrowful path with passion and dignity, and it is over. It is finished.

And yet there’s more to this. The New Testament writers invite us to conclude that something is achieved on the cross that is eternal, immeasurable, that changes the whole relationship between us humans and our Creator. A process that began in a stable in Bethlehem reaches its climax on a hill outside Jerusalem. The cross is not disaster or failure or tragedy, it is accomplishment. It is the will of God, the means of the world’s salvation as Jesus draws the whole human family, as Jesus draws the whole world to himself. Somehow this cross gives glory to God; and yet somehow it is a glory that we struggle to understand. We’re in good company.

What do we see in the Passion story? What is there, in the characters, and in their words and actions, that speaks to us, and ours? Not many churches have Jewish members who can relate directly to the Jewish characters. Or any Romans to relate to Pilate. The only demographic we could be confident of recognising would be the part played by the crowd — a collection of people who are fickle and unjust. And yet, if the Passion is a betrayal story, I can find myself in Judas. If it is a forgiveness story, I can find myself (as I would like to be, even if not in reality) in Jesus. If the Passion is a story about hiding behind a crowd instead of standing up for what is right, there I am as one of the soldiers, or as Pilate.

What do we see in the Passion story? Standing back from the detail, and taking in the whole picture, there are perhaps two model responses, two ways of being present at

the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. One is action. The other is stillness.

Both these models, these ways of responding to the Passion, are authentic: true, most of the Gospel account is movement and dialogue, but the centre is still. The centre is Jesus, sparing with his speech; unable, by his own choice, to move or act. We may all recognise such powerlessness; situations that we did not choose, but which we are living through. We find a like stillness, and waiting, in the women at the foot of the cross: in his mother; and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas; and Mary Magdalene. With them we watch. Wait. Hope.

The shape of this service is simple and provides space for such stillness.

First, we stand, sit, or kneel and face the cross, individually, and informally to worship; to be thankful; to gaze at this symbol of God’s love and our redemption. There is nothing else for us to do but worship. Jesus has done it all. And in these moments, we can bring to God our own struggles, and suffering, and failure. Our loneliness, our anxiety, our despair. And in those moments, God is close, God understands, God accepts, God forgives.

And then we turn to God’s world. In prayer we bring to the cross the whole creation, groaning for God’s love and redemption. This year we bring to God all those in harm’s way in wars in the Middle East, in Ukraine and in countless places that do not make the daily news. We bring to God those whose lives will be indirectly affected by those wars as chaos in global supply chains and markets brings higher prices for fuel and for food. We bring to God the injustice that this chaos will bring hardship to those who can least afford it. We bring to God all those whose lives are blighted by violence, by hunger, by prejudice, by injustice. And when we pray, we might imagine that we do so looking out from the cross, as Jesus did; with love and pity and longing that what was accomplished by Jesus on the cross is recognised, received, accepted and lived out by all the women and men for whom Jesus died.

Yes, it is finished. Jesus has accomplished it all, alone. And yet, Jesus still has work to do, and this he does not do alone. The closeness of God and the love of the cross must be preached, and shared and lived out so that the whole world may believe and return to the Father.

The shape of this service invites us to accept the limits of what we can control; to be still; to gaze at the cross and worship; to look out as from the cross in prayer; and then to act. To take our share of God’s mission of love for the world. And we don’t do this alone, but in the company of the risen Jesus and each other.

May God bless us richly in that mission. Amen.