Out of the Depths
Lenten Meditation Guide Holy Week
John 13:1-35
It was before the Passover festival. Jesus knew that his hour had come and he must leave this world and go to the Father. He had always loved his own who were in the world, and now he was to show the full extent of his love….I give you a new commandment; love one another; as I have loved you, so you are to love one another. If there is this love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples. (13:1, 34-35 NEB)
“Through the centuries [people] have displayed many different symbols to show that they are Christians. They have worn marks in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts.
…
But there is a much better sign – a mark that has not been thought up just as a matter of expediency for use on some special occasion or in some specific era. It is a universal mark that is to last through all the ages of the church….
This passage [John 13:34-35] reveals the mark that Jesus gives to label a Christian not just in one era or in one locality but at all times and all places….”
~ Francis A. Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian, pp. 7, 8
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.
(53:3 NRSV)
“God was executed by people painfully like us, in a society very similar to our own – in the over-ripeness of the most splendid and sophisticated Empire the world had ever seen. In a nation famous for its religious genius and under a government renowned for its efficiency, He was executed by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators. His executioners made vulgar jokes about Him, called Him filthy names, taunted Him, smacked Him in the face, flogged Him with the cat, and hanged Him on a common gibbet – a bloody, dusty, sweaty, and sordid business.”
~ Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957),The Man Born To Be King
Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...
For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.(22:1, 24 NRSV)
“I have called to God and heard no answer, I have seen the thick curtain drop and sunlight die; My voice has echoed back, a foolish voice, The prayer restored intact to its silly source. I have walked in darkness, he hung in it. In all my mines of night, he was there first; In whatever dead tunnel I am lost, he finds me. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? From his perfect darkness a voice says, ‘I have not.’”
~ ChadWalsh (1914-1991), A Widening Light:Poems ofthe Incarnation, ed. by Luci Shaw
John 18:1-19:42
“My kingdom is not of this world – if it were, my servants would have to fight to prevent my being handed over to the Jews. But in fact my kingdom is not founded on all this!” “ So you are a king, are you?”returned Pilate.
“Indeed I am a king, Jesus replied; the reason for my birth and the reason for my coming into the world is to witness to the truth. Every [person] who loves truth recognizes my voice.”(18:36-37 J. B. Phillips)
“When Jesus says that he has come to bear witness to the truth, Pilate asks, ‘What is truth?’ (John 18:38) Contrary to the traditional view that his question is cynical, it is possible that he asks it with a lump in his throat. Instead of Truth, Pilate has only expedience. His decision to throw Jesus to the wolves is expedient. Pilate views man as alone in the universe with nothing but his own courage and ingenuity to see him through. It is enough to choke up anybody.
Pilate asks, ‘What is truth?’ and for years there have been politicians, scientists, theologians, philosophers, poets, and so on to tell him. The sound they make is like the sound of empty pails falling down the cellar stairs. Jesus doesn’t answer Pilate’s question. He just stands there. Stands, and stands there.”
~ Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, p. 94
St Patrick’s Breastplate
“I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me for ever, by the power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation,
His baptism in the Jordan River;
His death on the cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spiced tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;
I bind unto myself today.” ~ Translation in verse by Mrs C. F. Alexander
“He is alive.
Encroaching now on earthly limits
Fracturing sin and death and hell.”
