Last Words4. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34Many years ago, I went to the cinema on Good Friday, which is something I had never done before. One must point out, before you start writing to the bishop about my suitability for ordained ministry, that I went out after my divine obligations that day. The reason? Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ had just been released, along with all the reviews and comments about its bias and inaccuracy, and what better day to see it than on that Friday. Films often have the power to move you emotionally, spiritually even, and that was one motion picture which hit every button. The pain and anguish of Christ is made very clear in that film, through the magnificent acting and the extreme make-up. Sometimes I feel that our Western world hides us from the unpalatable truth behind the crucifixion, through its portrayal in art and Biblical commentaries, but we need to emerge from our comfortable environment and meditate on what the crucifixion involved in a physical way.After having seen the suffering leading up to, and on the cross, you do get a sense of Christ’s grim situation. There is Christ, two arms nailed to a horizontal beam, surrounded by a hostile gathering, full of Roman soldiers and those connected with the Temple authorities. There are of course his devoted followers, including Mary his mother, at the foot of the cross. You get a very real sense of apparent abandonment, especially from God. Where is his Father in the midst of anguish? This thought may have passed through the minds of his followers. What is the point?Such questions are characteristically human. I am sure that we are having thoughts like this during the period of ‘lockdown’ because of this virus. To feel abandoned in a time of need is a very dark place to find yourself. And yet, there is a light shining here if we only take the time to seek it out. By saying these words, Jesus makes clear to everyone his human nature. “He came down to earth from heaven” is the line from a well-known Christmas carol, which expresses Jesus as both fully human and fully divine. Jesus is showing us in this moment, on the cross, the ‘fullness’ of his humanity, if I can use that description. Jesus, just like you and me, knows what it is like to feel abandoned, to feel pain, to feel the bleakness that we can all experience from time to time. Isn’t that in itself a comforting thought?In his humanity and with a sense of abandonment, Jesus cries out with “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. He uses a line from Holy Scripture, Psalm 22, a piece of writing that speaks of anguish, yes, but also stresses the hope of resurrection and salvation. Christ drew on these words as a form of lament, but may also have drawn comfort from the rest of the text, which speaks of God’s help for all those in need. This moment in the gospel, though painful and moving, offers us a beacon. We may feel God is absent from time to time, and it is absolutely fine to cry out in pain, and to express our anxiety and even anger. However, God does walk with us in the bad and good times, even if we are not aware of it. And in our dark moments, we can turn to Scripture for comfort and to remind ourselves of the goodness of God. A final thought …. do remember that a narrative is more than a single word, or sentence, and that you must carry on reading to find out what happens next. If you continue with the gospel, we learn that Christ’s death was not in vain and that he was resurrected from the dead. Keep that knowledge in your heart.Nick Baker
The Third WordJesus said to his Mother, “Woman this is your Son.” Then he said to the disciple: “This is your mother.”John 19:26-27Rev. A. D. Hall April 2020This is the first time that Jesus speaks from the Cross in Johns’ gospel account, and it isn’t what you would expect, for we have just been told about the abuse and the mocking of Jesus by the soldiers. There is a life choice in this one point alone.You can see that Jesus’ mind is on other things; the scene is a juxtapose between Soldiers of the empire and the woman and the devoted keeping vigil at the cross. So my first question is; Where are you in this picture today?The group keeping vigil includes the two other Marys and Jesus mother (still unnamed) and “the disciple whom he loved.” Jesus concern for his mother is very evident within this narrative, his concern for her vulnerability is real. Women left alone in this patriarchal society didn’t fair well at all. The words he then utters are ‘family forming’ and reflect his deep concern for his mother to be placed within a family. These words should console us too, as they show Jesus’ heart for all those who are vulnerable and alone - for them to be placed within the context of God’s family. In our world today in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak, we are more than ever called to care for those who are in need, to help them get through this period. Acts of loving kindness towards our neighbours and those in distress can bring people back from the brink of despair and isolation and literally home and into the family fold of humanity. these acts are very powerful.Thus my my second question; Can you help someone today? With these words Jesus provides a son for his mother, something that was hugely important in his patriarchal world. A son could help to provide, both home and food for his family in those days. Just recently, Sylvia Whitworth posted a picture of the Burbage workhouse on the facebook page, which has haunted me. These places were in every town and village right up until the recent past, they were the places that people had to go when they had no-one to provide for them. These places still hold many painful memories for people in our wider families, memories that many choose to forget.Friends we are entering into a new world, another epoch, all the preconceptions that we held are changing and reforming. From a world that valued money, prestige, the banker, the hedge fund manager, the sports star, we suddenly value the nurse, the van driver, the post man, the teacher, the refuse collector, the cleaner and our neighbour. Kingdoms come and go; Could it be in these last words of Jesus we see glimpse into our future?A future where we are to value family, where we are to ‘form family,’ where we can change the world for good by loving your neighbour as yourself?Now then this is a good point to leave this reflection and I do so by asking my final question/task. Loving your neighbour as yourself is found eight times in the bible, not once, not twice, eight times; answers on a postcard to Fr Andrew at the Rectory please!Fr Andrew
Today, we also encounter the “Second Word of Jesus” from the cross. It is one of the most astounding, unsettling, and encouraging verses in all of Scripture.Jesus was crucified between two criminals. When the leaders who crucified Jesus mocked him as a failed messiah, one of the criminals joined in: “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself - and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal did not follow suit. Rather, he objected, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong”. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom”.Jesus responded to him with a stunning word of grace and promise: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise”. For the Jews of that time, paradise was associated with heaven, sometimes thought to be the place where righteous people went after death, and also with the future when God would restore all things to the perfection of the Garden. To the desperate bandit who cried out to be remembered, Jesus offered a word of confident hope. “You will be with me in paradise.” Even whilst suffering in agony, Jesus reached out to him to minister life and love. He didn’t even reprimand the other bandit. Today let us wonder at the extraordinary grace of God in Christ. Jesus’ death on that cruel cross makes us fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the gift of life to those who acknowledge that they are unworthy, who know they deserve to be condemned. Jesus gives us solid, firm assurance when we need strength and comfort. We don’t have to pray perfect prayers for God to respond to us with favour. When we call out with a mere speck of faith, God’s grace is poured out upon us in abundance. Listen to Him, hear the voice of Jesus as he whispers the reassurance we need.Some thoughts for reflection: Do you need to cry out to God today? What helps you to do this? What holds you back?PRAYER: Lord Jesus, how I thank you for your amazing grace. I cannot even begin to fathom it. How glad I am that I don’t have to understand it in order to receive it.Thank you, Lord, for hearing me when I cry out to you for mercy. Thank you for remembering me, even when I forget you. Thank you for the promise of being with you in paradise. Thank you for being with me right now, through your Spirit. Amen.
Monday 6th April7 Last Words of JesusThe First Word “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34These words from Jesus are crucial to our Christian faith in St Luke's Gospel. Without them Jesus would not have been raised from the dead and would not have been glorified. Jesus was the Sacrificial Lamb, in the once and for ever great life changing, world changing, event of redemption and forgiveness.They are not recorded in the other Gospels but St. Luke understood how important they were to understanding Jesus's mission and legacy for believers. St. Luke was writing a vindication of the Christian faith at a time of great persecution and suspicion of the early Church by the Roman Empire. It was important to show how God's love and forgiveness was being fulfilled in Jesus by his death and resurrection.Focusing on the first three words, St Luke emphasises that Jesus is calling God his “Father” and is pleading with him when he is suffering his death pains. As Christians, we know that Jesus and God the Father are one, but on the cross Jesus was the obedient Son who suffered for all of us. How often when we are in pain do we put it aside to pray for others? It is so easy to get wound up in self pity or even to curse our ill-fortune. I still do a little bit of hospital chaplaincy at times, but years ago I working almost a day (actually a night) a week at Walsgrave Hospital meeting some very poorly patients. When a person had perhaps recovered from their initial self pity, I would always encourage them to pray for their fellow patients on the ward. Not only did I want as much prayer as possible to take place in the hospital, but to put aside our own misfortune is I believe a start of healing of the soul.The second word is “forgive”, which we know to mean to pardon or to remit a debt. When forgiven we start again with a clean sheet of paper, all charges are wiped away and we become new people. Like in our baptism we are born again and can live our lives without the great burden of our sins bearing down on us.The third word is “them”, but when Jesus said “them” who did he mean? Did Jesus mean the Roman authorities and soldiers who had crucified him, or was he referring to the Jews. This prayer was omitted from several early manuscripts because some early Christians found it impossible to believe that Jesus could forgive the Jews. In forgiving the Jews, Jesus forgave all of us who are living two thousand years later who come to the foot of the cross. St. Luke had a theology of world redemption, a divine plan, that he wanted us to experience in the life death and resurrection of Jesus. He sums this up in words attributed to St. Peter in his other great book, the Acts of the Apostles - “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it”. Acts Ch2 vs 23-24.The last phrase “for they do not know what they do” must ring true for all of us a lot of the time. At the time of Jesus's arrest and crucifixion his disciples were confused and ran around like headless chickens, even Peter, the rock, denied he knew him when in danger of arrest. The Jewish and Roman authorities who arrested and crucified Jesus just thought that they were dealing with a religious and political troublemaker. They did not believe or could not comprehend that they were condemning the Son of God to the most brutal death imaginable, but they did know that what they were doing was vengeful, and cruel. They were acting in their own interests because they were frightened of a message of love that was outside their comprehension. As we use these words of Jesus to help us prepare for Easter, may that message of love dwell in our hearts so that it is reflected in how we live our lives for evermore.Let us Pray:Blessed Lord, who in thy forgiving love didst pray for those who nailed thee to the cross, and hast taught us to forgive one another as thou hast forgiven us: Take from us all bitterness and resentment towards our fellows, and give us the spirit of mutual forgiveness and brotherly love; that so, in perfect charity, we may be partakers of thy everlasting kingdom; for thy name and mercy's sake. AmenSalisbury Book of Occasional OfficesFr. Terry
