Holy Week Meditation

Scripture: Matthew 27:1–61 (NRSV) Selected Verses

27 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. ² They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” ¹² But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer. ¹³ Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?” ¹⁴ But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

²⁶ So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. ²⁸ They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰ They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹ After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

³² As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross. ³³ And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴ they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵ And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; ³⁶ then they sat down there and kept watch over him. ³⁷ Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸ Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹ Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ⁴² “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. ⁴³ He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ” ⁴⁴ The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

⁴⁵ From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. ⁴⁶ And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸ At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. ⁵¹ At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.

⁵⁵ Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. ⁵⁶ Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷ When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

Meditation:

            Since Lent began back on Ash Wednesday our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters have been following the way of the cross each Friday. I have made it a habit to join them this year and it has been an eye opening experience for me.

            First to see so many people weeping over the events that happened to Jesus so long ago was amazing. Each Friday it hammered home into my heart that these events that are described in this passage from Matthew as well as in the other Gospels really did happen to Jesus. The cruelty, the struggle, and the death, and burial were all real as well. I think that perhaps we Protestants take the way of the cross too lightly. The drama that unfolds during the walking of the Stations of the Cross should move our hearts with the sorrow and pain our Savior felt as he carried that cross for us.

            The most difficult stations for me were the stations of death and burial. Good Friday approaches quickly this week. How do you commemorate the incarnate God being hung on a cross to die for our sins? What can you really say that makes any difference? Sure Jesus took his cross willingly to that hill, but that does not diminish the pain and agony and aloneness Jesus felt as he hung there. His death a certainty the agony of the bystanders was un-comfortable.

            After the death the burial and the seeming finality of the stone rolled across the entrance to that tomb. No tears can bring Jesus back. The sorrow is unbearable. But with Passover fast approaching the people must leave the tomb their mourning incomplete. And all is quiet. A dead body sealed in a tomb with guards posted. It looks and feels like the end of hope.

Prayer:

Help us God to take in the sights and sounds of Jesus journey to the cross this week. Lead us on the way to that cross. Help us feel the sorrow and commit ourselves to follow Jesus to that cross and tomb. Help us mourn our own sin that has done such a thing to the very Son of God. Keep us watchful because there is more that God wants us to see. Amen