Preaching on Good Friday , our Asst Curate Fr Tristan reflected on the images in the East Window at Holy Trinity, Tarleton.
Sermon text:
We behold a church with altars stripped, as Christ was stripped to be crucified. So much of the colour has gone, and we are reminded of our own mortality. From the intimacy of the Upper Room where Christ gave Himself to his disciples, we have watched with Him in Gethsemane, we have seen Judas betray his master, nay his Lord, with a kiss; we have watched as Peter denied Jesus, we have heard the false reports of the priests under Caiaphas, and we have watched Pilate proclaim himself sole judge of truth before the One who is the Truth. For when Pilate declares “what is truth?”, he is saying “what is truth, but whatever I say it is?”
So we have heard what happens when man sets himself up as his own truth—what always happens. Desire for control turns to fear, fear turns into spreading and believing false reports, false reports turn to a desire to blame and do away with the chosen victim: and all to stay in control. Remember that Pilate finds Jesus innocent, but has Him flogged anyway. Remember that Pilate proclaims “Behold the Man”, but learns that he is beholding “the Son of God”. Remember that Pilate is then horribly afraid, but threatens Jesus (the source of life) with death, and allows Him to be mocked by his own soldiers, and then to be handed over to be crucified.
How is it that we should behave when we come to stand before the source of Truth? Can we expect any partiality? What could we possibly give Him as a bribe that he has not created Himself? Nothing will do but to come before our Lord in complete humility of Spirit—to kneel before His Cross and to confess ourselves unworthy by reason of our sins. It is said by Christ “blessed are the poor of spirit, for they shall see God”. That poverty of spirit is what we also term humility. It is what we see in Mary, as she stands beneath the Cross of sorrow. When we come before the Cross, acknowledging our sins, then we acknowledge that we ourselves should be crucified. And what do we behold but God Himself hanging there for our sake?
I would ask you now to take a good look at the East Window. To Christ’s right stand St. John, and his Mother Mary, and Mary wife of Clopas. They represent the believers, close to Christ at the last. To Christ’s left stand the scribes, the pharisees, the chief priests. They represent the unbelievers who called for Christ to be crucified. We must choose one side, or another, in each and every moment of our lives. But now see how at the foot of the Cross there kneels a lonely figure: Mary Magdalene, the penitent sinner. Do you see from the trailing of her cloak how she has moved from Christ’s left side to fling herself on her knees before His Cross? Repentance is possible, because repentance is our response to the gifts of God: of Faith, of Hope, and of Love. Look how the Magdalene is reaching up towards the beauteous feet which trod the earth beneath which her former sins had buried her. She hopes even in her grief that Christ will not die and leave her alone. To sin is to become alone, because it is to depart from God.
The Fall of man started by taking the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That Fall is knowledge-gained-from-experience of what it is to depart from God, to refuse to heed his loving warning that those who break his commands will die. Now on this day, we behold the terrible consequence of that knowledge: man has played the judge and has crucified his God. By refusing to listen, man has fulfilled the outcome of his own Pride. Caiaphas has judged how God is to be worshipped. Pilate has judged and condemned an innocent man. And Peter, just to remain near at hand, has denied that he ever knew Jesus.
And yet, …. as we look upon the wood of the Cross and see what our knowledge of good and evil brings about: we also behold the Tree of Life. Look straight up from the Cross, and in the topmost light you will see revealed the Tree of Life. For Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He reveals our sins to us on the Cross in order that we might repent of them; in order that He may take them upon His own shoulders; in order that we may have life. When He cries: “I thirst”, He is thirsting for our faith, for a faith that does truly believe that He can conquer all sinful habits in us, and heal all our past hurts until they no longer have any hold or sway over our lives. Christ has said “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Therefore, we must come to the Cross and repent of our sins. We must come and look upon the One whom we have pierced. We must come and recognise that Christ willed to be crucified in order to save us from our sins. When he hangs upon the Cross, we do not see the triumph of man, we see the triumph of God. Jesus Christ brings good out of evil, life out of death. From His death, He gives the Sacraments to His Church, He gives us His own Mother to pray for us, He wins for us eternal life. He has paid the price for our sins, declaring at the last moment “It is finished”. He has finished the final work of Creation, breaking man’s heart of stone, and giving him a heart of flesh, a heart which burns in love for God, which burns and is not consumed but burns all the more brightly. We must come, and look upon the One whom we have pierced, and thank God for His loving mercy.
