In our evening services this Holy
Week we are reflecting on some phrases from the Apostles’ Creed. Yesterday
evening in Templederry, Rev Rod led us to reflect on the words – Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. This
evening I am asking you to meditate on the words: Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. Tomorrow evening in St
Mary’s Nenagh the words will be Jesus
descended to the dead.
Jesus was crucified.
·
We can’t
avoid Jesus’s suffering, even if we feel we can’t bear it. We must face
squarely the excruciating physical pain of the Cross. Excruciating – the word
literally means ‘from a cross’.
·
What did
crucifixion involve?
o The nails would have been hammered through Jesus’s
wrists, not the palms of his hands as imagined in medieval pictures, because only
bones can support the weight of a body.
o The arms would be spread quite wide, because if the
angle were narrow Jesus would have died too quickly from suspension
asphyxiation. Even so he would have felt he could hardly breathe. And to get
relief by hauling his body upward on the nails would be very painful.
o Death could come either from asphyxiation, or by
shock and dehydration. Liquid loss from the scourging and exposure in bright
Judean sun would lead quickly to dehydration.
o Jesus would have become very thirsty. As
dehydration worsened, his heart would begin to race and his breathing would
become fast. He would experience headache and nausea. At about 15% fluid loss
he would begin to suffer muscle spasms and vision loss. Death would follow
later.
o It could take days to die on a cross. If the
executioners wanted to speed the process up, they would smash the victim’s legs
to cause traumatic shock and hasten death. Jesus didn’t have to suffer this
because his death came mercifully fast, but the two criminals beside him did.
·
Conjure up
in your mind’s eye Jesus’s broken body hanging in excruciating pain.
Excruciating pain which Jesus accepts obediently, as his loving Father’s will.
Excruciating pain which Jesus accepts willingly, to show us the way to enter God’s
kingdom.
·
In a few moments of silence let us think about the
love Jesus showed by accepting crucifixion.
Jesus died.
·
John tells us that at the moment of his death
Jesus uttered a great cry: “It is
finished!” It is a shout of triumph. He didn’t whisper it, like
someone forced to admit defeat. He didn’t mouth it in relief that his agony is
over. He threw back his head and he shouted it. “I have done it!” he is saying,
“I have faced the very worst, and I have won!”
·
By his victory won upon the cross, our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, our friend and brother, shows us all the way to vanquish
sin and death with the weapons of love. It is only left to us to follow.
·
The note of triumph in Jesus’s last word from
the cross is a foretaste of his resurrection. But we are running ahead of
ourselves. Before we meet him again on Easter Morning, we must follow him to
the tomb.
·
Let us be
silent again as we think about what Jesus achieved for us by his death on the
cross.
Jesus was buried.
·
In Jewish law, in Deuteronomy (21:22), it is
written: “When
someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you
hang him on a tree, his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you
shall bury him that same day.” The Temple authorities have no option
but to arrange with Pilate for the bodies of Jesus and the two criminals to be
taken down.
·
But where to bury him? The little party of
disciples from Galilee would not have the resources to do so decently. Two
people step forward to help. Joseph of Arimathea is rich and powerful, a member
of the Sanhedrin, and a secret disciple of Jesus: he provides the tomb - his
own, we are told. Nicodemus is also a secret disciple; he had visited Jesus at
night, because he was afraid to do so publicly: he provides the ointments and
spices needed to embalm the body. Together they make sure that Jesus is buried
with decent reverence.
·
It’s amazing, isn’t it? These two people, who
were afraid to support Jesus publicly while he was alive, can do so as soon as
he is dead. All the cowardice, the hesitation, the prudent concealment are
gone. Jesus has not been dead an hour, when his words reported by John (12:32)
begin to come true: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself.” Jesus
is already showing his risen power to be the magnet of souls.
·
In
silence, let us meditate on how Jesus calls his disciples to himself, not just
2,000 years ago, but throughout the ages right down to our own time, where we
as Christians are his living body, the Church.
As we meditate
on this, let us pray together the Anima Christi, a C14th prayer translated from
Latin:
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, refresh me
Water from the side of Christ, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesu, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to Thee
That with thy saints I may praise Thee
For ever and ever. Amen.
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