Reflections for Sunday May 1st 2022
Please read Psalm 30; John 13: 1-17; Revelation 1: 4-8
“A tremor in the void…”
‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:20)
A tremor in the void
It began with darkness, a tremor in the void,
the shadow of God moving silently
over the cowering deep.
It began with darkness, a serpent’s lie believed,
a temptation devoured,
a garden left behind.
It began with darkness, a people enslaved,
a murderer in exile, the angel of death snatching a nation’s young.
It began with darkness, the terror of war,
the breaking of kings, invasion and oppression
and a God abandoned, then forgotten.
It began with darkness, a frightened mother
travelling a dusty road, a stable for a delivery room,
a desperate escape into a foreign land.
It began with darkness, the plotting of the pious,
the betrayal of a friend, an arrest in the night,
an unjust trial.
It began with darkness, an innocent man’s arm
forced against a wooden beam, iron nails driven through his
skin tendons ligaments bones
broken body hoisted high
the crowd jeering joking sneering spitting,
his mother, weeping.
It began with darkness,
an anguished cry, a spear thrust into flesh,
life pouring out, sky turning black.
It began with darkness, a tremor in the void,
the eyes of the anointed opening
in the cold heart of a tomb,
and then a voice:
‘Let there be light.’
Poem is © Gideon Heugh, taken from Rumours of Light.
Happy Easter from everyone at Tearfund.
Having loved his own…a reflection on John 13: 1
13:1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end….
So, what is this “end” of which John writes here? To the point of his (Jesus’) death? That end? No. We live on the other side of Easter. We know that the cross, though such an awful thing, was definitely not the end.
By the time John wrote this book, he knew this too. “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” (Dt 33:12)
What about our own ends? That isn’t enough either. Why? Believers are assured that their own individual deaths are not the end. They are the gateway to another horizon. The beginning of another, fuller life.
“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun…” (Amazing Grace, John Newton)
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end….
Is this the end of which John spoke? No…
What about the end of all things? This planet…when we’ve wrecked it beyond repair…or when the light of the sun dies like all stars do? What then?
Is that the end of God’s love?
Is there an end so final that God’s love for his own will dissolve or evaporate?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is no end where the love of Christ… for his beloved… is concerned…
That love, that endless love, is symbolized in the foot-washing. It is symbolized in the cross especially.
Whether you are at the end of your tether; or at the end of your days, there is no end. Love never ends. He loves. Always has. Always will…
Love without end…
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Love without limit…or condition…
Love to the nth degree…
And, if that were all that had been said that night, that would have been lovely, wouldn’t it? Christ said something else – with the words of comfort come the words of challenge – of condition…
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus of the scars…
It was the end of time. Multitudes of people were standing on a great plain in front of God’s throne. Most people stayed back from its brilliant light. But some groups of people edged forward, seemingly without shame or fear. They cried out,
“How dare God judge us? What does he know about suffering?!”
One woman belligerently bared her arm to reveal a numbered tattoo.
“We endured torture, terror and death in the Nazi concentration camps...”
In another group, an African-American boy lowered the collar of his tattered shirt. There, revealed, was an ugly rope burn.
“What about this?” “Lynched by a mob...my crime? Being black..
Hundreds of such groups were dotted across the plain, each with complaints against the God who allowed such suffering in the world. God had it easy, living in heaven in all that sweetness and light. What did he know of all that they had been forced to endure? He’s got it easy with his sheltered, cotton-wool life!
Each group chose a leader…one who had endured most… to represent them, to stand before God. A Jew, a black man, a deformed child, a victim of nuclear war consulted together and prepared to present their case…
Before he could judge them, God must endure what they endured. And so, they sentenced God to live on the earth as a human being.
He should be born a Jew.
He should have his parentage questioned; he should be forced to do labour that is so difficult that even his family would think him out of his mind….
He should know what we know…he should be betrayed by his closest friends; he should have to face false charges and be tried by a jury so prejudiced that he wouldn’t have a hope in hell.
He should be convicted by a judge who was a coward.
He should go through torture…
In the end, he should know total abandonment. He should die in full view of a host of witnesses, the vast majority of which would be glad to see the back of him…
He should be scarred…
Loud murmurs of approval for these sentences echoed around the plain…
And, when the last person had finished pronouncing their sentence on him, there was a protracted silence. No-one uttered a word…
Then suddenly, all knew that God had already served his sentence…
In contrast to the gods of other religions, the Christian God—God in Christ—bled and died for his people and suffers still, bearing all humanity’s hurts until the day when hurts will be no more.
Even now his scars remain. The scars of Jesus are on that glorified body in heaven. And when He comes again, He will bring those same scars with Him. They are proof of wounding. And of healing.
He does not cover up his scars.
We all have scars of some kind, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. They cause us pain; they mark us. What a solace to know that he has scars too. He is not above us but with us. He is our comrade in battle. Here, foolishness to most, is the wisdom of the cross…here is his power…here is his love deep as the ocean.