“I wish that I
could say, these things didn’t happen, but I am afraid they did.
There’s deeper meaning here too,
but for now, we simply stop and observe the very worst that humans (people like
you and me), are capable of. No matter what their deeper meaning was, the
nails, ripping human flesh and bone as they were pounded into the feet and
hands of Jesus were real. It was all real.
Trumped up charges, bogus trials,
false accusations, betrayals, scared disciples, whips, derisions and insults, a
walk of shame from the court to the dump where executions happened (carrying a
cross), a crown of thorns, soldiers casting lots for what little was left, sour
wine, a painful passion, a painful death and a mother as a witness to all of
it.”
On Palm Sunday we remember the triumphant entry of Jesus
into Jerusalem and people welcomed him with shouts of “Hosanna!” and waiving
palm branches. It was, in today’s parlance, the red carpet treatment. On Palm
Sunday we do a very odd thing, we twist these branches on welcome and praise
into miniature crosses. The cross was, at the time of the ministry of Jesus, a
tool of torture and death. It served as a warning to an occupied people not to
rebel against the power of the Roman Empire.
Yet, the cross has become for us a symbol of life and
resurrection. It expresses the awesome love God has for God’s creation, for all
of us. The cross has become a central image of the Christian Church. That is ironic
in the truest sense, its intended use to suppress people has become a symbol of
freedom. The Passion of Jesus Christ ultimately frees us from whatever
diminishes our awareness of God’s presence and love (be that sin or any other
thing).
You are welcome to join us on Good Friday to remember the
Passion of Jesus Christ as the forces of hate only seem to win and the darkness
of that Friday are proclaimed as “Good” because of the triumph of Jesus over hatred,
sin and death. A triumph we celebrate on Easter Day and every time we gather in
worship.
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