Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Dear brothers and sisters,
We would rather not remain at the foot of the Cross, gazing up at the tortured body of the Son of God. No, we would prefer to bypass over the sorrowful suffering of Good Friday – as well as the strange and silent stillness of Holy Saturday – and skip straight to the glorious triumph of Easter Sunday. However, in her wisdom, Mother Church knows it is good for us to pause, at least for a day, at the Cross.
It might seem strange to think of Jesus going through his Passion and Death doing so as a resolute and heroic warrior, but that is precisely how the Anglo-Saxons considered that pivotal moment in the history of the cosmos.
In what is one of the oldest works of Old English writing, the unknown author of The Dream of the Rood relates a vision of the Cross in which hears of the Crucifixion of our Lord from the perspective of that sacred wood. After being fixed to the earth, the rood, the rod, the cross, said:
…Then I saw the Lord
of mankind
hasten with great courage, because he wanted to climb upon me.
There I did not dare, against the Lord's word,
to bend or break when I saw the earth's surface
tremble. I could have
felled all those enemies, but I stood fast.
The young hero stripped himself - he was God Almighty,
strong and stout-minded. He mounted the high gallows,
courageous in the sight of many, when he intended to save mankind.
I trembled when that man embraced me; yet I dared not bow
to the ground,
fall to the surface of the earth, but I had to stand fast.
As a rood was I reared. I lifted the mighty King,
the Lord of the heavens; I did not dare to bend.
They drove me through
with dark nails. On me those sores are seen,
open wounds of wickedness. I dared not harm any of them.
They mocked us, both together. I was entirely bedewed with blood
poured out from that man's side, after he sent forth his spirit.[1]
Notice the words the tree uses in reference to what Jesus did; none are passive verbs, but active: Jesus stripped himself, mounted, intended, embraced, and sent forth. These are the actions of one in full control of all that happens, just as Jesus is depicted by Saint John.
What makes these actions heroic and not foolish? His heroism is found in his intention, “because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked” (Isaiah 53:12). He was not forced or coerced onto the Cross against his will; no, like a valiant warrior he went freely and willingly to overcome sin and death, all because of his great love for us.
The tree concludes its understanding of the Lord’s Passion, saying:
I experienced on that
hill
many cruel events, I saw the God of hosts
severely stretched out. Darkness had
covered with clouds the Ruler’s body,
the shining brightness. A shadow passed
dark under the heavens. All creation wept,
lamented the king’s fall. Christ was on the cross.[2]
Yes, Christ Jesus was indeed on that Cross and, dying upon it, he conquered.
Detail, The Crucifixion, BL Egerton 1193, The Melisende Psalter, f.8r
As we adore the wood of that Cross and him who, by his death,
vanquished the ancient enemy, let us mourn the death of our Hero. Let us remain
steadfast at the foot of the Cross. Let us weep with all creation, for truly “it
is the heroism of obedience and love not of pride and willfulness that is the
most heroic and most moving.”[3]
Amen.
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