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From the newsletter ... |
BRAVEHEARTI'm sure many of you have watched the film "Braveheart", the epic and somewhat glamourised tale of the Scotsman, William Wallace, who attempted to banish the English from his land. It all ends in tears when, for a full ten minutes of screen time, we watch the hero tortured and eventually executed. It moved me to tears. I watched the film on Easter Saturday and couldn't help feeling guilty over tears shed for this screen hero when, so often, around Easter, I remain dry-eyed for what they did to Jesus. I wanted to feel the same emotions for his suffering as I did for William Wallace. Why William Wallace? Why not Jesus? Maybe it has something to do with the immediacy of the big screen. Maybe, because it's hard to see the relevance of an event that took place two thousand years ago. Let me explain, then, how Jesus would have suffered. He was stripped and tied to a whipping post where he was flogged with four or five thongs of leather interwoven with sharp jagged bone and lead. Eusebius, the third century historian, described Roman flogging like this: "the sufferers veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim were open to exposure". Jesus was mocked by a battalion of six hundred men, beaten by them around the face and had a crown of thorns thrust into his head. "He was forced to carry a heavy cross bar on his bleeding shoulders until he collapsed. When they reached the site of crucifixion, he was again stripped naked and laid bare on the cross, six inch nails were twisted side-ways so that the ankles could be nailed between the tibia and the Achilles' tendon. He was lifted up on the cross which was dropped, with a shudder, into the ground. There he was left to hang in the intense heat and unbearable thirst for six hours whilst his life drained away." [Excerpt from Nicky Gumble's book - "Questions of Life"] William Wallace was a hero - Jesus was a King. "Braveheart" ended with the death of Wallace. Life begins with the death of Jesus! The Anglican Historian, Neville Figgis, says "that the criterion of any religion lies in what it has to tell us about death". The two words that confirm Christianity has much to say about death are spoken in the middle of Jesus' hell from the cross - "with me". Spoken to the common criminal who threw himself on the mercy of God. "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise". These are the words that secure a life beyond the grave - even for a common piece of low-life. What did he have to offer? Certainly nothing in the way of human virtue other than his sinfulness. What did he understand about Jesus? Well, very little - certainly no broad doctrine of belief or deep scriptural insight into Christ's identity. But enough to cast his hopes on Jesus and not be disappointed. What Jesus recognised in his face was genuine commitment. It's what he seeks from us today. Not just at Easter, or Christmas or even each Sunday. But every day of our lives. Like the criminal, all we can offer Jesus is our sinfulness and a genuine commitment to follow him. Michael Green, an Anglican Evangelist suggests that, "a finger-hold on Jesus is enough to bring me into an initial relationship with him..." I pray that in this Easter season you will take hold of the words of Jesus, reported in John's Gospel, when he says, "Anyone who comes to me I will never turn away". Cogges Parish | Other articles | Previous issue | 
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© 2002; Published in Cogges Parish monthly newsletter, May 2002 | |