preparing for Holy Week
And found again Lord I Believe by Austin Farrer. I am sitting on my porch crying, reading his sermon on I believe in Jesus Christ our Lord who was crucified.
"The proud men have hung me up, still breathing, between the earth and sky. This is their cunning, their art of propaganda, to nail up a living placard, the enemy of mankind ... Speaking of someone's opposition to our schemes, we say lightheartedly: 'I'll soon fix him, never you worry.' Jesus had been a trouble to the priests, but now Pilate had fixed him for them, so they did not need to worry. He could not stir a finger to trouble them any more. If he moved an inch it was an agony. This was the sting of crucifixion, that you had them fixed."
Then he falls into a contemplation of his pierced hands: "Those hands had not been sparing of their healing touch; and yet Jesus did not come to heal the body; had he been free, he would not, perhaps, have sought out the sick. Those hands, in a gesture of force, had thrown the market out of the Temple. The mere demonstration was enough; if they had been free, they would not have armed themselves for revolt. These hands, only yesterday---was it yesterday? How long ago it seemed! these hands, these very hands, had given away the body and blood of Jesus to his friends in bread and wine. Now, they might as well stay where they were, nailed to the beam. For a man who has given his body and blood away has no business left in this world, but to die; to die and make good his bequest."
"O Jesus! nailed to the cross, fasten our hearts there also, that they may be united to thee until death shall strike us with its fatal blow, and with our last breath we shall yield up our souls to thee." (from Saint Augustine's Prayer Book)
Easter is now only a week away, but what a week it will be. Holy Week is a time for us to watch as Jesus enters Jerusalem ... to join in the cries of Hosanna ... but to recognize in our own voice the alien cries to come on Friday: "Crucify him!" Holy Week leads us through his last week, but on Friday we weep. "Crucify him!" words that our sinful lives demanded. We weep because we know him as God among us.
Let us face our sins. Let us face our sorrows and pain. Let us face our fears. For all of it lands upon the body of Christ.
O good Jesus hear me
Within thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to part from thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to thee
That with thy saints I may praise thee
for ages everlasting.
"The proud men have hung me up, still breathing, between the earth and sky. This is their cunning, their art of propaganda, to nail up a living placard, the enemy of mankind ... Speaking of someone's opposition to our schemes, we say lightheartedly: 'I'll soon fix him, never you worry.' Jesus had been a trouble to the priests, but now Pilate had fixed him for them, so they did not need to worry. He could not stir a finger to trouble them any more. If he moved an inch it was an agony. This was the sting of crucifixion, that you had them fixed."
Then he falls into a contemplation of his pierced hands: "Those hands had not been sparing of their healing touch; and yet Jesus did not come to heal the body; had he been free, he would not, perhaps, have sought out the sick. Those hands, in a gesture of force, had thrown the market out of the Temple. The mere demonstration was enough; if they had been free, they would not have armed themselves for revolt. These hands, only yesterday---was it yesterday? How long ago it seemed! these hands, these very hands, had given away the body and blood of Jesus to his friends in bread and wine. Now, they might as well stay where they were, nailed to the beam. For a man who has given his body and blood away has no business left in this world, but to die; to die and make good his bequest."
"O Jesus! nailed to the cross, fasten our hearts there also, that they may be united to thee until death shall strike us with its fatal blow, and with our last breath we shall yield up our souls to thee." (from Saint Augustine's Prayer Book)
Easter is now only a week away, but what a week it will be. Holy Week is a time for us to watch as Jesus enters Jerusalem ... to join in the cries of Hosanna ... but to recognize in our own voice the alien cries to come on Friday: "Crucify him!" Holy Week leads us through his last week, but on Friday we weep. "Crucify him!" words that our sinful lives demanded. We weep because we know him as God among us.
Let us face our sins. Let us face our sorrows and pain. Let us face our fears. For all of it lands upon the body of Christ.
O good Jesus hear me
Within thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to part from thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come to thee
That with thy saints I may praise thee
for ages everlasting.
Comments