Holy Week, Good Friday, April 7 – Bystanders on the Way to the Cross

“There were also quite a few women watching from a distance, women who had followed Jesus from Galilee in order to serve him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the Zebedee brothers.” (Matthew 27: 55 – 56, The Message Bible)

                 I don’t know how the women could bear to watch it, even from a distance.

                The men had all fled, save maybe John. After the first part of Jesus’ trial, Matthew tells us that “At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.” (Matthew 26:56, New Living Translation). They cut and ran as the Message puts it. When the going got tough, the not-so tough got going, and hid in the shadows and behind closed and locked doors.

                But the women, supporters, providers, care-givers for Jesus and his ministry, and most of all, close friends to Jesus, endured the horrific spectacle of watching Jesus be crucified. There was nothing they could do or nothing they could say that would or could stop this travesty. They watched from a distance. I am sure that they wept and tried to comfort and support each other through the horror. Women are good at that sort of thing, better than many men.

                The disciples hid; the women endured the Cross.

                From a distance. That phrase haunts me somewhat.

                Do any of us really want to get all that close to the Cross of Jesus? There is a distance of over 2000 years almost between us and that first Good Friday. We view the Crucifixion through the lens of time. We have layered it with theology, interpretations, theories and observations.  Sometime, as good as some of these observations may be, they also keep the true nature of the Cross of Jesus at a safe distance. More theory than an actual event.

                We want to get to Easter, to Resurrection Sunday ASAP. Let’s get past this gruesome reality, put it behind us and move on to bolder truths.

                The women watched from a distance.  Perhaps, if they got any closer, they would hear the hammer blows, see the blood from the nails, observe the pain on Jesus’ face, smell the sweat and blood. In my mind, crucifixions are best experienced from a distance, if truth be told.

                But even from a distance, the Crucifixion is far too real, personal, experiential, in your face. We don’t want to get too close, but neither can we look away. We don’t want to see the grain in the wood, but we feel the heat of the noon day sun.  We don’t want to hear the cries of pain from the hammer blows, but our eyes tell us the story anyway – even from a distance.

                John’s Gospel tells us that three of the women along with John, one of the disciples, withdrew from the distance and came close to the Cross. One of them was Jesus’ mother, Mary. Such courage!  Anyone who has ever lost a child, even an adult one, must feel her anguish at the sight of her son on the Cross. When Jesus was still an infant, an old man predicted that Jesus would be the cause of “the pain of a sword-thrust through you.” (Luke 2:35, TMB) This was that moment come to pass. Yet she and the others drew close to the Cross of Jesus. 

                They shortened the distance between themselves and the Cross. Step by step, they drew closer, until they were close enough to hear the whispered voice of Jesus. Amazingly, even from the Cross, he was still showing compassion for others, still caring about others, still bestowing blessings on others, still forging loving relationships. (John 19:25b -27)

                Here is reason enough to shorten the distance between the Cross of Jesus and ourselves. Only up close and personal, do we not just experience the agony, but we experience the Love. Only at the foot of the Cross of Jesus do we hear him proclaim forgiveness, offer the gift of Paradise, bestow upon us the kinship of faith and fellowship. Only near the Cross of Jesus do we get close enough to experience fully the impact of Jesus’ death, the whole “for us” nature of this event. “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” (Romans 5: 5 NLT)

                The gap between ourselves and God has been filled. It came at a costly price.

                “But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2: 13, NLT)       

                Jesus, keep me near the Cross
                There a precious fountain
                Free to all a healing stream
                Flows from Calvary's mountain.

Dale