Good Friday – Meditation – The Wounds of Jesus
Good Friday “The Wounds of Jesus” 2023
Introduction
Strange as it may sound, in our recognition of the truth that Jesus is God, we sometimes forget that Jesus was also a real physical person who lived on this earth and died a cruel death on a cross. Meditating on the wounds of Jesus is a vivid reminder of this truth. Meditating on the wounds of Jesus is an ancient custom in the Christian Church. In our meditations this Good Friday, we think of the different wounds of Jesus and what they might mean for us personally.
Opening Prayers:
Most merciful God, by your Spirit you strengthened your Son so that he was able to suffer for us; Send your Spirit now, so that we may be strengthened to look upon him whom we have pierced, to receive all the benefits of his passion, and to offer ourselves wholly to your service, for his dear name’s sake. Amen
The Collect for Good Friday:
Eternal God, in the cross of Jesus, we see the cost of our sin and the depth of your love:
in humble hope and fear may we place at his feet all that we have and all that we are, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Opening Hymn: Come and see, come and see, come and see the King of love.
Come and see, come and see
Come and see the King of love
See the purple robe and crown of thorns he wears
Soldiers mock, rulers sneer
As he lifts the cruel cross
Lone and friendless now he climbs towards the hill
We worship at your feet
Where wrath and mercy meet
And a guilty world is washed
By love’s pure stream
For us he was made sin
Oh, help me take it in
Deep wounds of love cry out ‘Father, forgive’
I worship, I worship
The Lamb who was slain.
Come and weep, come and mourn
For your sin that pierced him there
So much deeper than the wounds of thorn and nail
All our pride, all our greed
All our fallenness and shame
And the Lord has laid the punishment on him
Man of heaven, born to earth
To restore us to your heaven
Here we bow in awe beneath
Your searching eyes
From your tears comes our joy
From your death our life shall spring
By your resurrection power we shall rise
HIS HANDS
Reading: John 18:28-38a
Jesus Before Pilate
28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”
30 “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected. 32 This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
Meditation
How did Jesus use his hands? He used them to work in the carpenter’s shop, hard manual labour. They were used to serve, he used them to wash the disciples feet. He used them to bless, he blessed the loaves and fish before they were distributed to the 5,000. It was with his hands that Jesus wrote in the dust as the woman was brought to him who was accused of adultery. He used his hands to heal, he laid hands on a person or touched a person in order to heal them. The last act of the free hands of Jesus was to heal the ear of the High Priest’s slave which had been cut off by Simon Peter. These were the hands that were bound when Jesus was arrested (John 18:12). These were the hands that Jesus used to hold the cross that he had to carry. These were the hands that were nailed to the cross, to the cross beam of the cross, his arms outstretched wide. Thomas was later to see for himself the wounds in Jesus’ hands where they had been pierced by the nails.
Let us ponder for a moment those outstretched arms held in place on the cross by nails hammered through his hands. Outstretched arms can, first, be a sign of welcome. He stretched out his arms to welcome little children. Jesus said ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself ’ (John 12:32).
Outstretched arms can, secondly, be a gesture of blessing and healing. And third, outstretched arms can be thought of as being uplifted in prayer. Jesus ever lives to intercede for us. Our lives too can be touched by the hand of God. Think on those times when your life has been touched by God, and thank God for them. Perhaps it was at your baptism, confirmation, times of answered prayer, illumination, encouragement, healing, forgiveness or some moment when you were touched by his grace and mercy. Perhaps God has touched you through prayer, scripture, sacrament, worship.
Perhaps you need to receive from his hands. Think of your hands, what good things have they received? Often, we stretch out our hands to receive. Amongst other things at Communion when we remember the death of Jesus, we stretch out our hands to receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Everlasting Salvation. Count your blessings – and remember – and thank God.
Tony Kidd summarises this in his book ‘Jesus’ Hands and Ours’ in a meditation: ‘Crucified Hands’
Jesus says “When I look back upon the last few days, when I hold up my hands and see the holes left by the nails, I cannot help but wonder. These hands made a lot of things, they comforted many people, they healed others through the power of my Father working in me. I think of the work done at home for my mother, of the feet I washed for the disciples, and I ponder the short time it took to render me powerless to do any of these things, and I wonder at it. Why do some people find it easier to destroy than create, to harm rather than offer comfort, to injure or cause pain than to heal? Some wanted me to become a king, to organise a revolution. When I refused, I became the token victim of their frustration. Others wanted to stop my work because, as they saw it, I threatened their privileges. Far easier to dispose of me than to change their hearts and minds. My Father had other plans. I am alive and my hands will heal, although I will always bear the scars.
However, healing will continue as will the other things my disciples do in my name. Some will always find destruction attractive, but my words will live forever.
HIS FEET
John 18:38b-19:16
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. 39 But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”
40 They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified
19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
6 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.”
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
11 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.”
12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
13 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). 14 It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.
“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.
15 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.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
Hymn: My song is love unknown, my Saviour’s love to me
My song is love unknown,
my Saviour’s love to me,
love to the loveless shown
that they might lovely be.
O who am I
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?
He came from his blest throne
salvation to bestow,
but men made strange, and none
the longed-for Christ would know.
But O my friend,
my friend indeed,
who at my need,
his life did spend.
Sometimes they strew his way,
and his strong praises sing,
resounding all the day
hosannas to their King.
Then “Crucify!”
is all their breath,
and for his death
they thirst and cry.
Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
themselves displease,
and ‘gainst him rise.
They rise, and needs will have
my dear Lord made away;
a murderer they save,
the Prince of Life they slay.
Yet steadfast he
to suffering goes,
that he his foes
from thence might free.
Here might I stay and sing,
no story so divine:
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like thine.
This is my friend,
in whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend.
Meditation
Jesus’ feet took him to many different parts of Palestine where the power of God was needed. With his feet he climbed mountains, walked on water, crossed the fields where grain was growing. His feet would have been roughened by much tough walking. His feet were made wet by the tears of the sinful woman who then dried his feet with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. Mary too poured expensive perfume on his feet. His feet took him to Jerusalem when he knew that his destiny there was to suffer and die. His feet took him up the hill to Calvary. These were the feet that were pierced by the nails on the cross at Calvary.
Sometimes when the feet of criminals were nailed to the cross, there was a footrest at the base of the cross, which enabled the crucified person to raise their body and take the weight off their arms in order to breathe more freely. The evidence suggests that the cross of Jesus did not have this footrest as his death came so swiftly.
How might the feet of Jesus influence our Christian lives. Perhaps two ways. First, we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus (1 Peter 2:21) ‘It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps’. We are to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Peter was writing his letter to slaves, people who lived with the tension of having the freedom of the Gospel, but were disempowered by their social setting. We are called to do good even when suffering unjustly. We need the support of the Christian fellowship for that.
The second way that the feet of Jesus can influence our Christian lives is pictured for us in the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. As Jesus, in love and humility washed the disciples feet, so we should wash one another’s feet. This means we are to serve one another in love and humility and in ways which are practical and perhaps as socially uninviting as Jesus washing the feet of those first disciples.
Prayer: Jesus our brother, as we dare to follow in the steps you trod, be our companion on the way. May our eyes see not only the stones that saw you but the people who walk with you now; May our feet tread not only the path of your pain but the streets of a living city; May our prayers embrace not only the memory of your presence but the flesh and blood who jostle us today. Bless us, with them, and make us long to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.
HIS BACK
John 19:17-27
17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”
22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
24 “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”[a]
So, this is what the soldiers did.
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Hymn: There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall
There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall
Where our dear Lord was crucified;
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, We cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us;
He hung and suffered there.
He died that we might be forg’ven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to hea’en;
Save by his precious blood.
There was no other good enough,
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate,
Of hea’en and let us in.
Ohh dearly dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too;
And trust in his redeeming blood,
And try his work to do.
Meditation
I have never heard a sermon about Jesus’ back, but here are a few thoughts. Jesus turned his back on sin. He turned his back on Peter when Peter tried to tempt him to avoid the cross and Jesus said ‘Get behind me Satan’ Matthew 16:23. Jesus will have turned his back on other temptations too. His mother had taught him how to do this.
The disciples would have seen a lot of the back of Jesus as they followed him around Galilee. He strode ahead of the crowd, up the mountain or into the boat so that he could teach them. We can but speculate that his back was straight and strong. The disciples would probably have watched the back of Jesus in Gethsemane, at least for as long as they could stay awake. In Gethsemane Jesus was on the brink of abandoning the path of obedience to his Father. He prayed that he would not be brought to the time of trial, but then added ‘nevertheless not my will, but yours be done’ Matthew 26:39. Certainly the disciples turned their backs on Jesus. In his hour of need, they fell asleep.
Jesus’ back was subject to the cruel flogging which was part of Jesus’ physical suffering for us. Such flogging in the ancient world was a brutal affair and some victims died from that alone. There seems to have been a custom of flogging condemned prisoners before they were crucified in order to shorten the time they were on the cross. The instrument of torture for such flogging was leather whips fitted with pieces of sheep bone and lead balls. The sheep bones cut into the flesh and drew blood, the lead balls raised crimson bruises. At the end of the flogging tiny ribbons of flesh were all that was left on Jesus’ blood stained back. We read that after flogging Jesus, Pilate handed him over to be crucified.
Then Jesus carried the heavy cross on his back, raw wounds against rough wood – imagine the pain. J.S. Bach in St John’s Passion wrote ‘Look how his bloodstained back – in every part brings heaven before our eyes.’ How might the back of Jesus influence our Christian lives? Picture in your mind’s eye, the progress of Jesus along the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrows, struggling to carry his cross on a back already bleeding and covered in open sores from the flogging, and hear again his call to us ‘to carry our cross’. What does it mean for us to carry our cross? One commentator, David English wrote “Jesus is not using cross bearing to describe the human experience of carrying some burden through life. It is much more comprehensive than that. People carrying crosses were people going to execution. Cross bearing as a follower of Jesus means nothing less than giving one’s whole life over to him.” Our cross is about self-denial. Jesus said ‘If anyone wants to come with me, they must forget self, carry their cross and follow me’ Matthew 16v24.
So, the back of Jesus reminds us too, that we must turn our back on all that seems most attractive in the world, in order that we can see what God is calling us to do for him in the world. Jesus turned his back on sin and temptation and gave his back to the smiters. Will we do likewise?
Prayer: Must I go on, Lord Jesus? I can barely stand to see myself through the gaping wounds on your back. My stomach churns and I want to walk away. The journey on the cross is fraught with a thousand deaths, and I’m not sure if I am prepared to embrace each one. To know the fellowship of your sufferings is not so simple. Sustain me in my quest, dearest Saviour, and I will seek to share your sorrow. Amen
HIS HEAD
John 19:28-30
The Death of Jesus
28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Meditation
We do not know what Jesus looked like. We have pictures in our mind of what he might have looked like influenced by the paintings or sculptures of him. What we do know is that soon after his public ministry began, he was recognised by many people who flocked to see him and hear him speak. Perhaps we can picture him walking the hills and using his eyes to take in the natural landscape and human life, useful for his sermon material and parables. His eyes were attuned to detail. He even saw the widow put into the collection all that she had.
His ears were also attuned to detail, he heard the tone of people’s voices, he knew when to challenge, when to encourage. He listened with the inner ear and so ministered to people’s hearts and could get to the root of their problems.
In what way were the head of Jesus wounded? Perhaps the first occasion was the kiss of Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. It has become a notorious kiss, because what should have been a sign of affection and honour was given with the opposite intentions – a mark of identity for execution. The first wound to his head was not in itself physically painful, but it was personally destructive, violating a bond of trust.
Then twice Jesus was a victim of spitting. At the High Priest’s house when Jesus was brought before the Council, and again when the soldiers mocked him when he was on the cross. The first time they blindfolded him so that he could not see who spat on him or hit him. We have seen similar pictures of atrocities against prisoners in (e.g.) Iraq who are blindfolded to disorientate them. The second time he was spat upon was just after they had forced a crown of thorns on his head. The King was crowned, but his Kingship was clearly seen not by a crown of diamonds, but by a crown of thorns, his Kingship was seen in suffering, shed blood and humiliation.
Then Jesus’ mouth was offered wine vinegar (sour wine) both before and during his crucifixion. Partly to numb the pain, partly to add to the mockery. Perhaps to try to keep him alive a little longer to see whether Elijah would come and rescue him. It added insult to injury. In Mark’s Gospel (14:3-9), the Passion Story begins with an anonymous woman anointing the head of Jesus with expensive perfume. Whilst Judas was preparing to betray him and his enemies seeking to arrest him, an anonymous woman anointed him.
When we decide to accept the rule of Jesus into our lives, and are anointed by his Holy Spirit, it will mean being transformed by the renewal of our minds. It will mean living a very different kind of life from the one we had before we came to faith. It may well include suffering different kinds of insults.
Prayer:
Christ be above me.
Above my head, as my helmet of salvation.
Christ be above me.
Above my life, as my protection.
Christ be above me.
Above my future, as my banner who leads me on.
Christ be above me.
Above my hopes, as my upward heavenly call.
Christ be above me.
Now and for ever. Amen.
HIS SIDE
John 19:31-42
31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[a] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[b]
The Burial of Jesus
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.[c] 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
Hymn: Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Meditation
Many people walked beside Jesus in his lifetime. Mary and Joseph would have held his hands and walked beside him as he himself was learning to walk. Other families accompanied him and his own family to Jerusalem on pilgrimage. He sat beside people in the synagogue and the marketplace. He began his Ministry by calling the twelve disciples to be alongside him, they listened to him, watched him and learnt from him. Later in his ministry he included alongside him those whose family or social setting made them undesirable, outcasts, lepers, prostitutes. Many were by his side. He died on the cross with thieves either side of him on their crosses.
The wound in the side of Jesus is mentioned only in John’s Gospel 19:31-37. It was inflicted on the body of Jesus after he has died. Jewish law forbade leaving bodies exposed after dusk, burial had to be on the same day. A further complication was that the next day was the Sabbath, and he could not be buried on the Sabbath. Nevertheless, the authorities had to be assured that Jesus was truly dead before he could be buried. So, a soldier pierced his side with a spear. Blood and water flowed from the side of Jesus, proving medically that Jesus was dead. That is important. Because when it comes to the resurrection, it is important to know that Jesus died and rose from the dead. It is not that he fainted and revived in the cool of the tomb. Jesus was dead. The wound in his side proved beyond any doubt that Jesus was truly dead.
For his contemporaries, being alongside Jesus meant learning from Him, which is why his followers were called ‘disciples’ or ‘learners’. We too are disciples or learners, as Christians, Christ is both in us and beside us. How does our being alongside Jesus impact upon us? How does Jesus being alongside us impact upon us? There is cleansing and strengthening in us being alongside Him. There is eternal protection because Jesus is alongside us.
Prayer:
Jesus, even now, I look at you – at your side as it flows with water and blood. It is a fountain in which I cannot plunge deep enough, dearest Saviour. I feel your heart break for me, and I know that I, too, have pierced you with my indifference, my rebellious clutch at control, and my callous disregard for the price you paid to change all this. I see in your blood the great sacrifice and I take comfort in the cleansing streams that ever flow from your side. Wash me here, Lord, and I will be whiter than snow.
HIS HEART
Philippians 2:5-11
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Hymn: Jesus Christ, I think upon your sacrifice
Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
You became nothing, poured out to death
Many times I’ve wondered at Your gift of life
And I’m in that place once again
And I’m in that place once again
And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I’m humbled by Your mercy and I’m broken inside
Once again I thank You, once again I pour out my life
Now You are exalted to the highest place
King of the heavens, where one day I’ll bow
But for now, I marvel at Your saving grace
And I’m full of praise once again,
I’m full of praise once again
Once again I look upon the cross where You died
I’m humbled by Your mercy and I’m broken inside
Once again I thank You, once again I pour out my life
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross, my friend
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross
Thank You for the cross, my friend
Once again I look upon the cross where You died
I’m humbled by Your mercy and I’m broken inside
And once again I look upon the cross where You died
I’m humbled by Your mercy and I’m broken inside
Once again I thank You, once again I pour out my life
Once again I thank You
Jesus Christ, I think upon Your sacrifice
Meditation
Human beings are people who need both novelty and custom. When we are spiritually tired or drained, we are aware of the need to ‘come home’. Spiritual refreshment might come to us by taking a walk in a place that we have never visited before. Another time, going to somewhere we have often visited before never fails to refresh or challenge us. Christians find this to be true in our spiritual lives too. Perhaps reading a very familiar passage of scripture, a Psalm, or a Parable, never fails to refresh us. The 23rd Psalm for example might always inspire us. It is a natural resting place to which we often return. On another occasion, a fresh movement of God’s Spirit within us, something totally new, inspires us and renews us too. As we consider the heart of Jesus today, it might offer the chance to ‘come home’.
At the time of Jesus, a person’s heart was considered to be the seat of the emotions and also a key location of spiritual life from which worship flowed. Yet the heart of a person could be hidden, and people recognised that only God really knew the human heart. God is able to search the hearts of people, he tests our hearts. The heart is capable of a huge range of emotions, from it come both evil thoughts and faith in God.
The heart of Jesus was easily moved. It was moved with compassion when he saw people in need. It was moved to tears, he wept when he saw the sin of people and the effects that it had. He wept when his friend Lazarus died. Jesus was not half-hearted, hard-hearted or soft-hearted. The Gospel writers speak of Jesus as strong-hearted (his love endures) and warm hearted (his love flames fiercely for all who need his care).
It is hard for us even to imagine what Jesus experienced at his crucifixion. Alongside the physical pain and suffering, he experienced emotional anguish and spiritual anguish as he was entirely at the mercy of the forces of evil, and overwhelmed with the certainty that this was his father’s will and the purpose for which he came into the world. His close friends deserted him, he was betrayed by one of those closest to him, another close friend denied him. His was a heart breaking death.
Perhaps his preparation was the self-emptying of his heart during his life. At the temptations in the wilderness, Jesus had the opportunity to abandon his God given call. He stayed with the hardness of that call rather than choose the easy way of giving into the temptations. At the foot washing, he took the servant role himself. He emptied himself. The heart of Jesus is one of love and self-giving. It is a heart that beats for you and me, the love of Jesus is for everyone. It is pure unconditional love offered freely to each person who will receive it. In accepting this love and responding to it we can begin to understand the wounded heart of Jesus, and allow ourselves to be given a new, woundable heart, which can love and give as Jesus did.
As he was preparing for death and as he was dying, the heart of Jesus was concerned for the well-being of his disciples and of his mother. But the wounds of the heart of Jesus continue beyond his death, beyond his resurrection into eternity. His heart is continually wounded by our failure to live in love, by our failure to keep his laws. This Jesus whose heart we wound, nevertheless carries us to the Father’s throne of grace. He intercedes for us. By the grace of God our hearts can be changed by Him. Are we prepared, this Good Friday, to let God change our hearts, soften our hearts, enlarge our hearts?
Meditation: Is it Possible?
Is it possible for a man to speak to another man’s heart? For a man on a cross 2,000 years ago, upon a hill to speak today to a man’s own heart? Is it possible for one man’s death to be another man’s life, when that man’s death 2000 years ago, upon a hill said death to his friends and desolation to his mother? Is it possible for one man’s shadow to throw light on life and love 2,000 years on. Is it?
Closing Hymn: When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died
Closing Prayers,
The Prayer of St Richard
Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
May we know you more clearly,
Love you more dearly,
And follow you more nearly,
Day by day. Amen
Lord Jesus Christ, Master carpenter of Nazareth
Who on the cross through wood and nails didst work mans full salvation.
Wield well thy tools in this thy workshop, that we who come to thee rough hewn may be fashioned to a truer beauty and a greater usefulness by thy nail pierced hands. For the honour of thy holy name. Amen.
The Blessing:
Christ crucified draw you to himself,
To find in him a sure ground for faith,
A firm support for hope,
And the assurance of sins forgiven.
And the blessing of God almighty, Father Son and Holy Spirit, be upon you now and always. Amen
Revd Mike Griffin Good Friday 2023