April 2020
This is the holiest week of the Christian year. This year many of us will not be making Easter party or family gathering preparations; rather, let us raise our hearts and minds to the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
|
|
The eyes do not look at the shouting crowds or the waving palm branches. Jesus’ eyes stare blankly at the street in front of him. “Inward-looking eyes,” is how Henri Nouwen describes them.
The carved wooden statue, depicting Jesus astride the Palm-Sunday donkey, dates from the middle of the 14
th century. It was designed to be set atop a cart, to be pulled through the streets in a liturgical procession. But there is nothing celebrative about Jesus’ face.
To again quote Nouwen, “He sees beyond the noise and movement to what is ahead…: an agonizing journey of betrayal, torture, crucifixion, and death.”
Somehow, this ancient statute speaks powerfully to me as we enter this Holy Week, as we stare, dazed and confused into the unknown of a raging pandemic. Hosannas are replaced by ambulance sirens and the cries of mourners. The only crowds are lines outside supermarkets, unemployment offices, and virus testing sites.
Online you can find other, similar statues that show Jesus smiling and waving, blessing the crowds. Not this one (from a museum in Freiburg, Germany). The
Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ says that in Jesus Christ, “God has come to us and shared our common lot.” This is the face of someone who knows our distress.
Nouwen writes of this face: “There is melancholy, but also peaceful acceptance. There is insight into the fickleness of the human heart, and also immense compassion. There is deep awareness of the unspeakable pain to be suffered, but also a strong determination to do God’s will. Above all, there is love, an endless, deep and far-reaching love … reaching out to all people, wherever they are, were, or will be. There is nothing that he does not fully know. There is nobody whom he does not fully love.”
Many of us will not gather in churches this Holy Week, but we will not be alone. The Man of Sorrows will be with us. As Nouwen says, “I know that he sees the depths of my heart; I do not have to be afraid.”
-- Bill
- Quotes are from Henri Nouwen, Jesus: A Gospel, ed. Michael O’Laughlin (Orbis, 2001), pp. 81-82; originally published in Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey (Doubleday, 1988), pp. 134-135.
- Note: the photo of the statue, above, is a link to the museum website, where the full statue can be seen (and that photo expanded to see details).
|
|
The Gospel of John, 19: 25-27
25
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.
26
When Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
27
Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
John 19: 27b “And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
Meditation in the Ignatian tradition, my prayer of the imagination:
It is a dark day. My heart trembles at the memory. I suffer with grief, pain, and anguish at the great suffering of Jesus at his Passion. The soldiers are brutally crucifying my Beloved, leaving me with sadness and shattered hopes. As I look around, now there are only five of us near the cross. As bystanders walk away, I hear them singing: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.”
I stand near the cross with those dearest to Jesus. I hear Jesus speak in love to his mother and to the beloved disciple, uniting them: a discipleship in love. Jesus gives his mother to the beloved disciple, that she be cared for and abide in a home of faith, hope, and love. The beloved disciple will open his home not only to the mother of Jesus but also to those who would follow the way of Jesus.
The beloved disciple invites me to abide in this community of Jesus’ friends. In this time of grieving, we find hope in the companionship of one another. Along with the three Marys, he and I, with one faith, form a new family of disciples, of beloved disciples. Many families of disciples will grow from many different backgrounds.
Throughout Jesus’ life, he impressed upon his followers the invitation to abide in him and the promise that he will abide in us, as God’s temple. Jesus, at his crucifixion, secures a home for his mother Mary, just as he does for us. That is where we will find life.
I continue to meditate upon the treasured words of Jesus and his followers:
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (Jn 15:7)
“No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 Jn: 4:12)
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?’ (1 Cor 3:16)
|
|
“The Crucifixion” by George P. Englert, 1955. This oil painting won First Place All-Army Art Contest, and after touring the U.S. and Europe, it was exhibited in the Pentagon 22 years until the family requested its return. George Englert is Jan Davis’ uncle.
|
|
Pie Jesu Lyrics
Merciful Jesus,
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest,
Merciful Jesus,
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest,
Lamb of God,
Father, who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest, grant them rest
everlasting
Rest
|
Virtual Choir
This video is repeated by popular demand
|
|
|
Please share Reflection freely by forwarding any issue (forward in its entirety), but remember to respect copyright laws by not altering, copying, or reproducing Reflection, text or photos, whole or in part, without written permission.
Copyright (c) 2020 Soul Windows Ministries
|
|
Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
