Sitting in the Shadow of the Cross

Lent Devotional // Week 7

by Cade Gremillion

John 19:16-18 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others––one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Consider This

Holy Week (the time between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday) can be uncomfortable. The themes of repentance, fasting, and suffering that we've been meditating on throughout this season of Lent reach a boiling point in this week. The triumphal tones of Palm Sunday are tempered with the knowledge of where the week is going. On Maundy Thursday, the mood becomes subdued as we reflect on Jesus's final words to his disciples before he was to be handed over to those who would kill him. On Good Friday, the mood becomes deeply somber as we remember the brutal death of Jesus on the cross. By Saturday, we are anxious to move past the negative emotions and get on to the celebration of Easter Sunday. In fact, many observances of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday will be riddled with reminders "Don't worry––Sunday's coming!"

The inevitable arrival of resurrection Sunday is not something we should forget altogether in the darkness of Good Friday. However, I wonder if there is something we miss by trying to move past the unpleasant parts of Holy Week too quickly. By reflecting deeply on the stories leading up to Jesus's death, we see God's love for us and provide an avenue for the hope of our own resurrection to fill our hearts.

In one sense, it's hard to imagine what it would have been like for the disciples of Jesus the day after their Lord was crucified. To watch the horrific murder of the closest teacher and friend you had ever known is something that is difficult to even fathom. To hear the one you thought would save your people mocked by the crowds would have produced such anguish and bitterness that I can only imagine.

In another sense though, there are things about that day that might resonate with us a little more. Many of us know what it's like to see an innocent one falsely accused and punished. Many of us know what it's like to be deeply confident in something or someone and have everything come crashing down. Many of us know what it's like to watch a loved one pass from life into death while being powerless to stop it. We can resonate with the disciples and their pain because we live in a world that still is infected by the curse of sin and death.

We affirm that in his death, Christ defeated death. When he descended to the realm of the dead, he proclaimed his victory to all gathered there. When he rose from the grave, he brought forth new life and a new humanity that he calls us to join in union with him by the ministry of the Holy Spirit to become like God. This is the Good News of the Christian faith and the victory that we joyously proclaim on Easter Sunday (something I'm very excited to do). However, even as we celebrate Christ's victory, I think we should not forget to position of the disciples. On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, they did not have the eyes to see how Jesus was defeating the powers of death and darkness even though that was the reality. In the same way, we don't always have the eyes to see how Jesus is pushing back the darkness and establishing the kingdom of heaven. We still see the curse of sin and death all around us. Holy Week serves as a reminder that God is not unaware of sin and death in our world. Not only does He know about it, but he also experienced it in Christ Jesus bearing the sin of the world and surrendering unto death. Therefore, we should not simply move past the uncomfortable feelings but sit in them for a time. We should remember the grief and uncertainty of the disciples as we wait for Sunday to arrive.

Just as spring appears more beautiful to the one who has undergone a long winter and water tastes sweeter to the one who is parched, so the brilliant sun of Resurrection Sunday shines brighter to the one who has sat in the shadow of the cross on Good Friday.

Prayer

Dear God, as we come to the end of this season of Lent, do not let us forget your great acts of love in Christ Jesus of living and dying on the behalf of those who were far from you. Make us aware of the brokenness of the world. Don't let us become numb to the pain experienced by your image bearers. Help us to understand these things so that our proclamation of Christ's death and resurrection might ring out the clearer. Make us your witnesses to a world that doesn't recognize you. Make us more like Jesus that we might respond to the brokenness of the world in the same way as he did by giving ourselves for others. In all these things we know that you will never leave nor forsake us. May all glory and honor and power be to you, now and forever, amen.

Questions

• What emotions do the different days of Holy Week evoke in you? How do you typically respond to these emotions?
  

• At what points in your life have you felt the despair and hopelessness the disciples experienced as they waited for Jesus's resurrection? Was it hard for you to accept that Jesus had conquered in that moment?