Good Friday tomorrow. Always a challenge for Protestants because Jesus’ crucifixion isn’t where we dwell. Our churches don’t display crucifixes; they show the empty cross, symbol of the resurrection. And yet, I notice more attention to Holy Week than I recall growing up. We’re beginning to face the complete picture, read the whole story.
Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, in “Christ’s Passion, Our Passions: Reflections on the Seven Last Words from the Cross,” helps me be present to Good Friday. In each chapter she addresses the comments in the gospels made by Jesus from the cross.
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ is the most provocative for me. It is hard to accept that Jesus felt such despair. Does that mean that he lost his faith? Bullitt-Jonas has faith that God was with Jesus even though he may not have been aware of it at the time. She asks us to enter into presence with Jesus and open up to what transpires. Listen to and learn from Jesus in his time of anguish and hopelessness.
Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, in “Christ’s Passion, Our Passions: Reflections on the Seven Last Words from the Cross,” helps me be present to Good Friday. In each chapter she addresses the comments in the gospels made by Jesus from the cross.
‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ is the most provocative for me. It is hard to accept that Jesus felt such despair. Does that mean that he lost his faith? Bullitt-Jonas has faith that God was with Jesus even though he may not have been aware of it at the time. She asks us to enter into presence with Jesus and open up to what transpires. Listen to and learn from Jesus in his time of anguish and hopelessness.
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