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GOOD FRIDAY
2nd April 2010
Reading: The Passion Gospel
Gospel of St John - Chapters 18 & 19
In the name of God: Creator, Pain bearer and Spirit of Life and Love.
In July 2008 Meredith and I travelled to the beautiful little town of Assisi in Umbria, Italy. We travelled up from Rome by train and then taxi to the top of the hill where the ancient town is set. We stayed there for a week and walked the narrow mediaeval streets and visited the basilica and the tomb of St Francis.
It was a wonderful experience which I will never forget.
Inevitably within the basilica is a shop (even the Queen has one at Buckingham Palace!). Within the shop was a mighty array of souvenirs, ranging from the exquisite and expensive to the downright tawdry – mass produced cheap tourist kitsch.
Prominent amongst this range was the San Damiano cross in a variety of sizes and materials – from the tiny pocket size version probably made in Taiwan and costing a few cents to the large expensive model suitable for the wall or church. I have made a copy of this crucifix and offer it to you for a little Easter reflection. There is a large one in Adelaide featured at the Catholic Church on St Bernard’s Road, Newton.
This morning it is most appropriate that I reflect on the cross and crucifixion. The cross has become the universally recognised symbol of Christianity. There are many styles of cross that people of varied cultures use as a focal point of reflection and worship. They range from the Protestant bare and simple cross, often mounted on the front wall of the church, to the most ornate and artistically contrived bearing the figure of Jesus – sometimes in grotesque agony as would befit a human body subjected to such barbarous treatment - sometimes as something approaching a God figure who is impervious to the physical agony and is reaching out to the peoples of the world in love and power.
The Romans are conservatively estimated to have crucified around one hundred thousand people from the time of the Maccabean revolts in the second century B.C.E. up until Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, abolished crucifixion in the Roman Empire in 337 out of veneration for Jesus Christ, its most famous victim.
A cruel prelude to crucifixion was scourging, which would cause the condemned to lose a large amount of blood, and approach a state of shock. The convict then usually had to carry the horizontal beam, but not necessarily the whole cross to the place of execution.
Crucifixion was typically carried out by specialized teams, consisting of a commanding centurion and four soldiers. When it was done in an established place of execution, the vertical beam could even be permanently embedded in the ground. The condemned was usually stripped naked — all the New Testament gospels describe soldiers gambling for the robes of Jesus. (Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, John 19:23-25)
The 'nails' were tapered iron spikes approximately 5 to 7 inches long, with a square shaft 3⁄8 inch across.
In his ‘Antiquities’ the Jewish historian Josephus reports that the Romans crucified many people by the walls of Jerusalem during the siege of 70 C.E. The idea was to terrorize the population and force surrender. The number reached 500 a day at one point until there was no suitable wood left in the area. We of this Australian westernised society of the 21st century find it almost impossible to imagine such a scene of butchery and mayhem. Josephus mentions the crucifixion of Jesus.
Most scholars agree the passage is authentic. He writes:
‘Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us [the Jewish leaders], had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.’
Little did Josephus imagine the turn that history would take so that today, some 1900 years later, the name of Jesus is still almost universally revered.
There is some conflict of opinion here. I am intrigued that Josephus records that Jesus’ disciples did not forsake him. Whereas in the earliest Gospel to be written, that of Mark, he writes in Ch14:50, “[at Jesus’ arrest]... All of them deserted him and fled”. If we accept for a moment the Gospel writer’s version, we see that when the ‘chips were down’ and Jesus and his little band of followers were facing imminent danger, danger whereby their very lives were in jeopardy, they fled.
Where to? Like the ancient story of Jonah, as far away as their feet could carry them – possibly back to Galilee. It is postulated that Jesus died alone, abandoned by his friends and followers.
This is the day when we, so far removed in time and culture from all this, can stop and reflect on these horrible events at Jerusalem. In our own time death is sanitized – the facts are often ‘brushed under the carpet’. Death now is usually a gentle affair, in hospital and made easier by the use of painkilling drugs – a far cry from those barbarous days of the Roman Empire.
But people are still executed in some less enlightened countries – fortunately the human race seems to have progressed at least to the extent that the shocking barbarity of crucifixion no longer exists. In my opinion execution has no place in a civilized society, certainly one that claims to be based on Christianity. It is really based on an ethic of revenge, an ethic that Jesus completely refuted.
Where do we stand amongst our friends and community? Have we, like the disciples, fled in fear from the embarrassment of associating with this Jesus of Nazareth?
Since ordination I have to admit to finding it a little confrontational to go out in public wearing my clerical collar. I am announcing to all and sundry that I am a priest of the Christian Church and a follower of the Nazarene. But I am proud to wear that ‘uniform’ and have found that everyone with whom I have come in contact respect it. I realize that may not always be so but will face that when and if it arises.
Good Friday sets before us a mighty challenge.
Forget the often maudlin manner in which this day is portrayed. The butchery and violence of the first century Roman Empire are in our face.
Jesus rose above that violence with a message of profound love and forgiveness – even to those who drove in the nails.
Where does that leave us today? The very least we can do is to live our lives in open acknowledgement of Christ’s sacrifice. That means living in love both for our loveable neighbour and also all those unlovable people in the community.
Contemplate the San Damiano cross, its intricacies and the direction made to St Francis – “Go out and rebuild the church”.
That’s the simple message of Good Friday.
Not the violence but the love!
THE LORD BE WITH YOU
