Way of the Cross - 5

THE WAY OF THE CROSS – 5

(Preached Lent 1997 and 2003)

Introduction

Today we conclude our Lenten walk with Jesus along the Via Dolorosa - the Way of Sorrows - which recalls the walk which Jesus took from Pilate's house to Calvary.

It is a route which is still walked by most pilgrims to Jerusalem as a means of drawing closer to our Lord. However, because we cannot all go to Jerusalem, we have sought to bring Jerusalem here this Lent and I hope we have thereby been able to understand something of the meaning of our own suffering in this world.

Last week, for instance, we arrived at Calvary where Jesus was stripped, and nailed to the cross and we reflected how we too often need to be stripped of our worldly possessions in order to discover what really matters in life, and how our physical, intellectual and spiritual freedom can be curtailed when we are nailed down through illness, denial of choice and unforgiven sin.

Well today I want to consider three more experiences of Jesus. These I have summed up in the words Achieving, Caring and Sleeping.

JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

"After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, 'It is accomplished', bowing his head, he gave up the spirit". (John 19.30 0

Achieving

Jesus has now been hanging on the cross for some six hours. The excitement has died down. The crowds have begun to go away. Drained of all life Jesus slips peacefully away but not before he has declared that all is accomplished.

What had Jesus accomplished? What had Jesus achieved? After spending 30 odd years preparing for three years ministry, his work appears to come to a sudden and abrupt end.

Just when he was about to get going he is cut down in the prime of life.

He has discovered how God reveals himself through the world of nature and human relationships. He has attracted an ever growing number of followers, from whom he has chosen twelve to be his intimate friends to assist him in his ministry. His ministry is now beginning to grow from strength to strength as new opportunities are embraced and new challenges accepted. He is on a roller coaster of success.

Suddenly, all this comes to an unexpected stop.

There is so much left undone. So much left unsaid. All he can do is to look up to the sky, and take one deep and final breath and exclaim, 'It is accomplished'.

With those words upon his lips, he dies, leaving the rest to God.

Cecil Rhodes of South Africa, who died at the comparatively young age of 49 years is said to have remarked: 'So little done, so much to do'.

And I suspect we all feel like that, the older we get. There was a time when the whole of life was opening up before us with new opportunities and new challenges leading to new horizons.

Then suddenly we become aware that life is passing us by. Time is running out. We know what we want to do and what we want to say but somehow the time is not there to do it or to say it. We feel we are losing control and we are not going to make our mark upon this world, let alone make our first million, but rather fade away into oblivion.

Others do not have this luxury for they are cut down in the prime of life through sudden illness or violent death having hardly started to live, let alone achieve anything in life.

To old and young alike, the cross stands as a permanent reminder that it is not we who achieve anything. It is God working through us. To Him belongs any glory and recognition that needs to be given. He can and does achieve everything but in his good time. How dare the clay take away the credit from the potter!

When Jesus looked down from that cross, he could see only three women and one loyal disciple remaining faithful to him. So little achieved - or was it? After all, for over 2000 years the Christian church has continued, and will doubtless continue to go on long after you and I are dead and buried. 'Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return'.

THE BODY OF JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS

"Then a member of the Council arrived, an upright and virtuous man named Joseph. …He came from Arimathea, a Jewish town.......This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He then took it down, wrapped it in a shroud". (Luke 23.50-53)

Caring

It was the custom not to bury the bodies of criminals but rather to take them down from the cross and leave them for the vultures and scavenging dogs to eat. That is how Golgotha got its name - a place of a skull. It was a place littered with skulls remaining from previous executions.

This was not to be the end for the body of Jesus.

Among the many thousands of people who had witnessed and encouraged the crucifixion of Jesus there was one man who cared. His name was Joseph. He came from a Jewish town called Arimathea.

Joseph was not only a caring person but also a courageous person. He was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin - part of the Jewish aristocracy - that had been responsible for bringing about the death of Jesus. He was a person of wealth and influence and enjoyed a high reputation. However, he was also a secret disciple of Jesus. Obviously, for fear of the consequences, he never publicly revealed this discipleship. After all, religion and politics do not mix very easily!

Joseph cared for Jesus. He cared greatly for Jesus. At last he could keep back his caring no longer - to hell with the consequences - to hell with his reputation. He went to Pilate and asked for permission to remove the body of Jesus. He knew full well that this would undoubtedly mean the end of the kind of life and influence he had hitherto known. Nevertheless, he was prepared to sacrifice all that.

Joseph may not have had the courage to declare openly his discipleship. Joseph may not have had the courage to intervene in the trial of Jesus. Nevertheless, when all the disciples and friends of Jesus had left him, he and he alone had the courage to show how much he cared.

Few people object to caring for another person. But few are prepared to care when it is inconvenient or it demands courage. Care yes - but provided it does not interfere with my home life, my work, my reputation, my job prospects and so on.

The old people’s homes of this land have people who are there because it is inconvenient for those near and dear to them to care for them. Hospital wards have people who are not being nursed at home because it is inconvenient.

The stench of stale urine from incontinent patients is inconvenient to the house proud family. The maladjusted child is an embarrassment to the otherwise normal pattern of family life. The hard of hearing eventually becomes too much a strain upon one’s patience. Caring for one another is easy but caring for one another when we could suffer that’s another matter. Thank goodness Joseph did care irrespective of personal suffering - else our Lord's body would have been left upon the ground as a tasty meal for the dogs and vultures at Golgotha.

THE BODY OF JESUS IS LAID IN THE TOMB

"At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was a Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was near at hand, they laid him there". (John 19.41)

Sleeping

The wealthy people in New Testament times had their own tombs cut out of the rock or formed by natural caves. The bodies were placed in recesses, or on shelves, or on slabs of stone. In front a large rectangular block of stone (sometimes hinged like a door) or a rounded stone was fitted to guard the entrance.

Into such a tomb the body of Jesus was hurriedly laid before the Passover began. This was to be the final resting place for Jesus who was sleeping.

Do you notice that I use the words 'resting' and 'sleeping' to describe the physical death of Jesus. The word 'death' in the New Testament is used only to mark the end of the old life when one first becomes a Christian. It is not used to describe the end of our physical life upon this earth. The word the New Testament uses for this state of existence is 'sleep' or 'rest'.

So after all the hustle and bustle of the past 24 hours, after all the exhausting walking and painful death, the body of Jesus is laid to rest. He sleeps.

Sleeping is a common experience. When we go to sleep we expect to wake up. Sleep is only a temporary cessation of activity. So Jesus sleeps in order to awaken and rise again on Easter Day.

Much of the fear of physical death could be removed we used the New Testament symbol of it as sleeping or resting firmly in mind. Physical death is not an end. It is merely the temporary stopping of activity. We face death knowing that we will wake up. We face death knowing that we will rise from our slumbers. The life of the spirit goes on and no matter what people may do to us, they cannot destroy the real self - no more than all the suffering and torture inflicted upon our Lord could destroy Him.

Physical death has lost its sting. The cross is not a sign of defeat, as those who crucified Jesus thought it to be. The cross is a sign of victory. Physical death could not put Jesus down. He goes on greeting his disciples and never more so than in the Eucharist where we meet him Sunday by Sunday and we proclaim his death and resurrection and await his final return with the words

"Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again".

In physical death we sleep in Christ for he has been there before us. We sleep, wrapped, not in the embalming robes which Joseph provided for Jesus, but in the loving arms of God knowing that nothing can ever separate us from him.

As St. Paul proclaims for all time, 'I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus'.

So Jesus who started life in a borrowed manger finishes his earthly life in a borrowed tomb and there he sleeps until the dawn of Easter.

Prayer

O Jesus, our Lord of life and power strengthen our resolve to serve you and honour your glorious name.

O Jesus, your angels always do you service let us serve you as we are able, and keep us in your love.

O Jesus, in all things you are made new, renew in us the power of your unending life, and grant us through the door of death to enter the realm of your victorious triumph.

Amen.