We approach the end of our Holy Week reflections on the new creation, focussing on Genesis 1: 24-31 and John 19: 1-16.
Opening Liturgy
And God said, "Let
the land produce living creatures according to their kinds..."
And it was so.
God made the wild animals
according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the
creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let
us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and
over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said
to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue
it. Rule over every
living creature..."
Then God said, "I
give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree
that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the
beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that
move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every
green plant for food."
And it was so.
God saw all that he had
made,
and it was very good.
And there was evening, and
there was morning
the sixth day.
Genesis 1:24-31 (ANIV)
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers
twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in
a purple robe and
went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And
they struck him in the face.
Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews,
"Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis
for a charge against him." When Jesus came out wearing the crown
of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the
man!"
As
soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted,
"Crucify! Crucify!"
But Pilate answered, "You take him and
crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him."
The Jews
insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because
he claimed to be the Son of God."
When Pilate heard this, he was even
more afraid, and
he went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?" he asked
Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you refuse to speak to
me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realise I have power either to free you
or to crucify you?"
Jesus
answered, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you
from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater
sin."
From
then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If
you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a
king opposes Caesar."
When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and
sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in
Aramaic is Gabbatha). It
was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here
is your king," Pilate said to the Jews.
But they shouted, "Take
him away! Take him away! Crucify him!"
"Shall I crucify your
king?" Pilate asked.
"We have no king but Caesar," the chief
priests answered.
Finally
Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
John 19:1-16 (ANIV)
Reflection
“Here is the man,” the Governor
announced, as Jesus staggered out onto the balcony… He was decked out in a fine
purple robe and a crown of thorns jammed on his head… “Here is the man…”
Man – God’s last word when he made the
world… the crown of his creation, reduced to this – a cruel, baying mob,
mocking an innocent man… A week before people had been shouting his name and
praising God – calling for him to be crowned King…
And here was another crowd at this
mockery of a coronation… calling for him to be raised up, not on a royal
throne… but a criminal’s cross… “We have no King but Caesar – Crucify him!”
And I kept quiet…
But I was in good company… because God
kept quiet too… God who could bring all of creation into being by his word of
command, didn’t say anything to save the one who claimed to be his son…
They took him to the place of execution,
followed by a crowd… some weeping but many mocking… He was stripped naked,
nailed to a crosspiece and hauled aloft, so everyone could see his humiliation
and shame…
“It is finished” were his last words…
And I felt that it was… not just his
life, his ministry and all the hopes that he had raised… but something more…
Here was the man – the greatest of all
men – God’s last word…
And now all was silent…
Poem
The
creator stands condemned
Crowned with cruelty
“Crucify him!
Take him away!
We have no king
but Caesar!”
The creator
stands in for the creature
The crown of his
creation
Crucified
Taking away our
sin
We have no hope
but him.
Prayer
May we go into
this day, knowing that we are a new creation, children of God, to carry our
cross, in the footsteps of our crucified saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN
Comments