Way of the Cross - 2

THE WAY OF THE CROSS – 2

(Preached Lent 1997 and 2003)

Introduction

Since it is not possible for us all to go to Jerusalem and walk the Via Dolorosa, or the Way of Sorrows, which records the route which Jesus is thought to have taken bearing his cross from Pilate's house to Calvary, I suggested last week that Jerusalem should come to us.

And this is what we are doing here this Lent. We are walking with Jesus along the Via Dolorosa, but at the same time we are walking along our own Via Dolorosa and seeing how the experience of Jesus can help us to understand our own experiences in the spiritual life when we find ourselves suffering innocently as the result of other people’s actions.

So today we shall stop three times along the route and I have summed up these three experiences with the words Thinking, Sticking and Helping.

JESUS FALLS UNDER THE WEIGHT OF THE CROSS

"And yet ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried. But we, we thought of him as someone punished, struck by God and brought low. Yet he was pierced through our faults, crushed for our sins". Isaiah 53.4-5

Thinking

Jesus falls three times on the way to Calvary. May I suggest that he falls under the weight of our sin which put him on the cross. Sins of thoughts, words and actions. So I have used the word "Thinking" to sum up this third stop along the Via Dolorosa.

If Pilate had not thought he could please the crowd; if Peter had not thought it was better to keep silent rather than risk death; if the crowd had not thought the High Priest right and themselves wrong; if Judas had not thought he was doing Jesus a favour for providing an opportunity for him to declare his intention to overthrow the occupying Roman forces - if all these people had not thought the thoughts they thought - Jesus would not have been crucified and he would not have fallen beneath the weight of the cross.

The act of thinking can be very powerful. Evil thoughts can lead to evil actions. Good thoughts can lead to good actions.

Unless one is going to enter into the field of brainwashing, the act of thinking must remain a private matter to which only you have the key. Freedom to think is one of the most precious gifts we possess - both as a society and as individuals. Yet it is a gift we find it very difficult to keep in control.

So often we find ourselves thinking the worst of others rather than the best. So often we find ourselves thinking that other people’s motives are not what they appear to be. So often we find ourselves thinking that we know better when in fact we do not. So often we find ourselves thinking we know the whole truth when in fact we have only part of the truth. So often we find ourselves thinking we are right and everyone else is wrong.

Thinking so often causes us to sin. Thinking so often causes us to fall from the glory of a child of God. The thinking of others caused Jesus to fall beneath the weight of sin which he carried upon the cross.

But the good news is that we need not fall because of our thoughts. Jesus offers to disinfect our thoughts and intentions. If only we are humble enough to ask for his purifying power to cleanse the thoughts of our hearts. That is why he prayed on the cross - "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”.

JESUS MEETS HIS MOTHER

So we come to the fourth stop on our journey where Jesus meets his mother. Suddenly the words of the aged Simeon some thirty years earlier come to mind.

"You see this child" Simeon had said, "He is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected - and a sword will pierce your own soul too - so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.” (Luke 2.34-35).

Sticking

Now these words of Simeon at the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary come true and a sword pierces her heart.

Mary had also been warned earlier of what to expect with the gift of myrrh from the Wise Men. Myrrh was used in embalming the dead. It was myrrh, you may recall, that the women brought to embalm the body of Jesus before the conclusion of the Sabbath since he had been entombed in a hurry.

So Mary knew from the very beginning the child she had borne was to cause her much suffering.

At about the age of 30, Jesus had left home. He had attracted a group of friends around him of his own choice. He had no regular source of income and is recorded as having only once returned home to Nazareth. For three years he lived without any visible means of support. Finally, he attracted much criticism and hostility towards his manner of life and eventually he was condemned to a common criminal’s death.

Nevertheless Mary never disowned him. She kept close to him. Save for one wedding celebration, she appears never to have interfered with his life or sought to tell him what to do. She stood by her son even when the going got tough, and finally at the foot of the cross, she was found to be still sticking to him. What loyalty! What love!

Children sometimes don’t choose the friends we would choose for them. Children sometimes don’t marry the person we would want them to marry. And children sometimes don’t enter the career we would select for them. More painful than the act of child-bearing is the pain of watching our children grow up - doing their own thing - and often, quite unintentionally, causing immense disappointment and pain.

It is so easy in situations to say, "You have made your bed and you must lie on it". It is so easy to say "I don't want to have children so I don't get hurt". It is so easy to say "I have done my best and they must now get on with it by themselves". It is so easy just to disown ones children when they bring discredit to the family and say with wide innocent eyes "What Son? What Daughter?"

But that was not the way of Mary. She stood by her son and was there at the end. We too must surely follow that saintly attitude and stand by our children - no matter how often they disappoint us, no matter how often they hurt us, no matter how often they dash our hopes to the ground. The door of our homes must surely always be kept open. Our hearts always kept free from keeping score of wrong. Our eyes ever looking at what they can become in the future rather than seeing what they have been in the past.

Your child is a child of God. So stand by them as did Mary right to the last - and have no fear of wagging tongues.

SIMON OF CYRENE CARRIES THE CROSS

"They led him out to crucify him. They enlisted a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross". Mark 15.21.

Helping

It was Passover time. To this annual religious Jewish festival came Jews from all over the Middle East. Josephus, the historian of the time, has suggested that as many as 2 million pilgrims would be in the city for the festival. People scraped and saved for many years in order to be there.

Through the streets lined with the Passover crowds, Jesus was forced to walk bearing his cross. It is important to bear in mind that Jesus was no weakling for he came from a carpenter’s family. In those days carpenters cut down their own timber for use in the workshop. Such physical work led to the development of strong muscles and rough coarse hands. Yet in spite of his strength the weight of the cross proved too much for Jesus. This should not surprise us when we bear in mind that he had been up for over 30 hours; he had been pushed from pillar to post in a mockery of a trial, and he had been whipped and scourged by the Roman soldiers.

So the Roman soldiers came along and touched an African pilgrim on the shoulder, pushed a spear to his side, and ordered to him to carry the cross for Jesus. Thus Simon of Cyrene found himself helping Jesus.

It is interesting to note that when Mark wrote his gospel for the Christians suffering persecution in Rome in the first century he made a special point of identifying Simon as "the father of Alexander and Rufus". Could it be that the readers would have known Alexander and Rufus? When Paul wrote to the Christian church in Rome he refers to "Rufus" and described his mother as being as dear to him as his own mother. The New Testament also recorded that among the men who sent Paul and Barnabas on their mission to the Gentiles was one called "Simon the Niger".

If this is the same Simon and his wife and children that are being referred to, it would appear that something happened to this Jew who helped Jesus to carry his cross. In short, through helping Jesus he became a Christian and he and his family came to play an active part in the life of the early church.

For me, Simon represents those many people who are helping Jesus today by doing little jobs of work for the church. Some are committed Christians. Many are not.

Fortunately, such people do not have to be press-ganged by Roman soldiers. People are usually only too willing to lend a helping hand provided they are asked and encouraged. And who knows where that helping will lead? Many catch something of the spirit of Christianity and want to find out more. Some, like Simon of Cyrene, may even go further and commit their lives to Jesus by becoming active members of his church.

PRAYER

O Jesus, you know what is in man. We thank you for carrying the weight for which we are too weak and offering us forgiveness.

O Mary, faithful even to death, in our hours of sorrow and love help us to remain firm in loyalty and love.

O Jesus, give us a generous heart to serve you. And eyes to see that you are the Lord. Amen