Procession
Good Friday thoughts
I've just been to a Good Friday Procession in El Escorial near here.
As an ancient annual tradition all over Spain they do processions commemorating the stations of the cross, Jesus' Death and Jesus' Interment. I went to see the one for the Interment, and after waiting a couple of hours in the rain it looked like I wasn't going to get to see anything (they were double-backing to avoid the ancient statues from getting wet), but we found a place where the procession was passing on their way back.
A solemn procession punctuated by drums and what can only be described as eerie music being played by three clarinets, contained men carrying a large (gaudy) statue of the virgin Mary holding the dead Christ and another of Jesus laid in state in a glass coffin not dissimilar to that shown in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (At the point that this particular statue passed I was ready to shout: "But He's alive now you know!" but thought better of it as I might have got mobbed by the devout and silent crowd) The people walking with the statues and playing hte instruments were men and children dressed in what looked to be monks robes (tied with a rough rope at the waist, some black, some white) with hoods that ended in a point above their heads and with nothing more than holes for eyes. If that description is not enough for you, just think Ku Kux Klan and you've got it. I have no idea of the significance of these outfits, but this, combined with the music, the statues and the general feeling gave me a horrible feeling of oppression. I don't wish to say anything against the slight differences of interpretation which lead this denomination to approach easter so differently from the way I do, but for me, that didn't feel right. If anything, I felt completely wrong. It was good to experience it in a way, as a cultural thing, but it's not something I'll be rushing back to in a hurry.
Yes, I know Jesus had to die, and it is horrible that he had to go through all that He did, but if you stop there aren't you missing something infinately more important? Aren't you just telling half the story?
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ” (1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4)
For me, the resurrection is of infinite importance, because surely, without it, Satan is Victorious. He has taken not only an innocent victim who commited no sin in the stead of all sinners, but He has effectively killed God... So who now can stop him from doing whatever he pleases?
Having said that, without the horror of Good Friday we would not have the wonder of Easter Morning. But without the wonder of Easter Morning, how could we possibly say Good Friday is GOOD? It would be a completely innacurate description in every possible way!
What happened on Good Friday is important though, I don't want to belittle it in any way. My Jesus chose to go to that cross even though there was a chance He might never come back. Yes, He knew that Prophets had said that he would rise, but did He know that as a certainty? Am I being controversial in suggesting that his humanness may have allowed Him to have doubts in those terrible moments? And even if He didn't doubt, even the knowledge of the glorious finale could not have comforted Him in the face of being separated from His Father, His very being, His essence, His beloved.
Jesus, I thank you that you did not turn away from the rescue mission of Good Friday. I thank you that you went through with it despite the agony it was to you. I can never repay you.
But LORD, I also thank you so much that you're not still on that cross. I thank you so much that you're not a statue in a glass coffin but you're alive and kicking! I thank you and praise you that you didn't just DIE for me, but that you ROSE for me, that you broke death in two and sent satan packing.
Mighty, victorious, RISEN King, I worship at your feet.