WYD (5) : Stations of the Cross and Jesus' Death and... Resurrection?

(image by Tracey Nearmy AAP)

It was a serious, intense and dramatic "reenactment" of the Passion - the last few moments of Jesus' life before the Crucifixion. According to ABC News Online, this was a common ritual practised in Jerusalem by Christians. It is certainly common now across the globe by many Catholics. What is the effect of this re-enactment? What is the crucial message? Is it helping spectators understand the Crucifixion?

It was very effective in drawing crowds in Sydney today. I'm sure in Jesus' time His real death did the same. That was because He was well known for His miracles, teachings and personality. (If anyone did catch a glimpse of the "stations", drop me a comment or email on what you learned about Jesus from it, I'd love to hear.) There was a certain Roman Centurion, who witnessed Jesus' death and he proclaimed something extraordinary: "surely this man was the Son of God." This came from a Roman Centurion as recorded in Mark 15:29. What made him say that?

I am sure not many would have said that just watching the drama today. May be they didn't hear the narration properly. The ABC's report was certainly neutral at best, and lacking in insight at worst. That's why we need the Bible to explain what exactly does His death mean.

If we want to make the Crucifixion worth our time, we would best do what the Centurion of the narrative did: look at why and how Jesus died. Apart from explaining His death ahead of time to the disciples (see Mark 10:32-46, 9:30-35, 8:27-38), Jesus also uttered some amazing scriptural phrases at the Cross to help us spectators to really see. One of them goes like this:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34, also a reference to Psalm 22)

Another is this:

"Jesus said, 'It is finished.' with that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." (John 19:30)

These phrases remind us that Jesus' death is at the hand of God, whom you can't see physically and that His death satisfies God's judgement. What a spectator needs to see is themself in the place where Jesus died. It is hard to do so, but we must. For Jesus died for us. It is us who are meant to be dead in our rebellion against God, it is us who are meant to be forsaken or separated from God. Human lives by default reject God and, in effect, His goodness and relationship: to be forsaken is exactly what we ask from God in how we live. But the beauty, yes beauty - and not gory, sadness or pathos - the beauty of the Cross is that the death of Jesus deals with our forsakenness completely. "It is finished," means that our sin and death are finished with on the Cross. It took the Son of God, God's anointed and appointed Ruler aka "Christ", to die in our place to deal with all our sins, for all of us. All us guilty spectators. We are guilty not because Jesus was weak and defenseless, but because of where we stand by default with God, our Judge and Maker. Jesus' death finishes this deal and we are guilt free, and free from judgement.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It certainly is the case in how you look at the Cross. Look properly, look through God's narrative in the Scripture, to find beauty of Jesus' death on the Cross. Here is the Son of God, powerful, glorious and perfect, humbling Himself to death for sordid, common, human rebels, so that we could be forgiven and reconciled with a Holy God. It is God's own love for us in sacrificial service. The Gospel writer Mark saw this beauty. So did the Roman Centurion. See if you agree with them. See through their eyes as you read God's word. You'll do better than the above ABC reporter.

p.s. Why does the Passion or Station of the Cross end with Jesus' death? From what I know, Jesus is no longer dead on the Cross. He is a risen Lord seated in the highest throne of power and glory. That's why Christians call Jesus the "Lord", not the victim or loser. Perhaps it is hard to re-enact something so supernatural and not of this world. Then again, the Catholic Church has many such worldly vestiges, which leads to the next post-script...

p.p.s. Remember Jesus' words: His kingdom is not of this world. It is hard to illustrate Jesus' power at human hands or dramatists. But His power can indeed be seen at work by His Holy Spirit. You can refer to part of the Spirit's work in my talk from earlier this year, and also how the Spirit leads people to follow Jesus as Lord in WYD (2). Otherwise, have a good look at the major prophets and the New Testament to know how Jesus' power is seen today. And it certainly is not through earthly power structures, "churches", human cleverness, humanity or polity. May the Catholic Church and other earthly authorities take heed.