Good Friday: Walking the way of the Cross

 Opening Prayer

O Lord open our lips.
That our mouths may proclaim your praise.

O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

‘As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ He answered him, ‘You say so.’ Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, ‘Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.’ But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

 

‘Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?’ For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate spoke to them again, ‘Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

 

‘Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

 

‘They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

 

‘It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, ‘The King of the Jews.’ And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!’ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, ‘He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.’ Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

 

‘When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly this man was God’s Son!’

 

‘There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

 

‘When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.’

[Mark 15]

 

The story of the crucifixion is a familiar one to us, and these words have been explored by many theologians and preachers over the years. In this reflection I want us then to focus on two images from this story, the first on the two men, Ss. Alexander and Rufus the sons of Simon of Cyrene. I then want to look at the splitting of the Temple curtain in two.

 

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I find the story of the crucifixion in St Mark’s Gospel to be a fascinating one, not least because of the presence of Simon of Cyrene along with the mentioning of his sons Ss. Alexander and Rufus. It is possible, indeed likely that the church community in Rome for whom St Mark is writing knew these two men, and possibly Simon himself. (Why else would St Mark and St Peter include their names in the narrative, if not to identify them in person to people who themselves knew them?!) It is also likely that Simon is named in person as a witness in order that the gospel story might better be believed: here says St Mark, is external verification of these events, it’s not just St Peter whose story I am transcribing who witnessed this, it’s also the father of these two men.

 

In the image I have chosen do we see Ss. Alexander and Rufus walking in the way of the Cross? Or is it perhaps Simon of Cyrene supporting Jesus as he carried the Rood (the cross beam of the crucifix) to Golgotha? In a sense it does not matter who is being depicted, it is that we are included (as viewers) in this scene.

Next, we have the tearing of the Temple curtain into two pieces.

 

The fact that the curtain is torn from top to bottom is indicative that this is a divine act, that there is no human agency involved. (Had it been a human one, the curtain would have been ripped from the bottom up, such was its height and location, separating as it did the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple complex.)

 

This act of tearing is a sign that the old veil between humanity and God has once and for all been torn down. No more do humans need to go to the Temple to meet with God, now God dwells in the midst of his people, and in their hearts and minds.

 

There is a temptation to view this event through the eyes of the story of the Wizard of Oz, where another curtain is used to hide and disguise the truth, in the story the truth being that the curtain conceals a lie, not a powerful man, but a weak and fearful one. No, far from it: the curtain in the Temple was a sign grace, a protection from the destructive and all-consuming majesty of God, because to look upon God was to die!

 

However, in the death of Jesus that changes, the divine dwelling place is no longer the Temple. Now God meets us face-to-face in Jesus and names us as his children. Now we the people of God are the living temples of God’s presence and spirit. And no longer is forgiveness given through sacrifices made at the Temple, now Christ’s once and for all time sacrifice upon the Cross ends that requirement.

 

It is however important to note that this does not end the role of the Temple. The early Church, St Luke tells us used to meet in the Temple and worship there. (Had the role of the Temple come to an end, so would the role of our churches, which are places of worship and fellowship: places that speak to us today of the majesty and presence of God, and of his Incarnation, his dwelling in our midst.) The truth is that the Temple is no longer the sole dwelling place of the divine presence, now that is in the heart of every believer.

 

- On a final note. The place where Jesus was crucified was a place of execution, and it is likely that Jesus where Jesus and the two thieves were crucified there were other crosses, some in use, other awaiting their next victim. (It is likely that the cross Jesus receives in Jerusalem was the rood/ the cross beam of the crucifix, the holding post would have already been in the ground, used previously and awaiting its next victim.) Whilst we normally only depict the crucifixion with three crosses, this image of the tower at All Saints reminds us that Jesus for the people of Jerusalem Golgotha was not a place of pilgrimage, but a place of pain and death, just as Tyburn and Tower Hill were in the history of our own country.

 

Closing Prayer

O God, who by the Passion of Christ your Son, our Lord,

abolished the death inherited from ancient sin

by every succeeding generation,

grant that just as, being conformed to him,

we have borne by the law of nature

the image of the man of earth,

so by the sanctification of grace

we may bear the image of the Man of heaven.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.