FROM THE BOUNDARY: Via Dolorosa – Part two

THE Way of the Cross.

It’s a bit like life really. Almost from the start people start condemning us. ‘Don’t do this’, ‘Don’t do that’, ‘Be like me’. Well sorry, I don’t want to be like you. I have enough to do trying to work out what it is to be like me – and especially now with the silent enemy knocking at my door.

Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem: the Eighth Station (Luke 23: 27-31)

Jesus didn’t mince his words. And us? Do we confront nonsense with silence? Jesus was a teacher. Good teachers sometimes need to get tough. It’s a way of saying, ‘Come on, you can do better than that. I know you can.’ You tease the “better” from them. At root, it’s a sign of love, of faith in the person corrected. You couch the words of correction in a way most effective for the person and situation. One size doesn’t fit all. There are never ‘winners and losers’.

Jesus falls the second time: the Ninth Station (Isaiah 53:5-6)

We all fall again and again, and it really doesn’t matter how old we are. ‘There’s no fool like…’ And sure, we’re prone to self-pity and the greatest loss – the loss of self-esteem. It’s all very natural. Yet if, IF, our course is good and right we mustn’t fear, mustn’t give up. If we can’t run, we walk. If we can’t walk, we crawl. Maybe we stop, helpless like a little injured chick, till strength returns. Maybe we ask Jesus to take over. Miracles come. We’ve let ourselves down. We’re better than that. We try to understand why we’ve fallen. Good: we win. Miracles come.

Jesus is stripped of his garments: the Tenth Station (John 19:23)

Why do we spend our time clothing our nakedness, trying to hide who we really are? We were born naked. They’ll strip us naked when we’re dead. In our lives’ passage, there’ll be times when the world will see us as we really are. GOOD. We’re not phonies are we? Why do we spend so much time carping about what people wear – or don’t? Do clothes make us better or worse, more or less good, caring, compassionate, forgiving? And if YOU, the world, don’t like the mask coverings I wear on my body, so what? My heart is pure, and besides – it’s MY body. Get over it.

Jesus is nailed to the cross: the Eleventh Station (Luke 23: 33-34)

There’ll be those who try to harm me in this life. For them, let me breathe forgiveness. There’ll be those who’ll stand by me. For them, let me breathe gratitude. Either way, let me stand with all who need me, friend or foe, my heart pure, full of wonder, seeking nothing beyond being who I truly am.

Jesus dies on the cross: the Twelfth Station (Luke 23: 44-47)

Death: the last gift of the universe. We all fear it. The older we get, the more contemporaries leave us – and younger too. What’s been the point of it all? I don’t know. But what I do know is that those we love ever rest in our hearts, part of us. Where else would they rest? I think of Pat and Stephen and bless them. Their first passionate loves left them recently. I’ve been there. It’s an odd feeling to survive them, isn’t it? We still see them as they once were, young, beautiful. Yet, the wheel still turns and they ever live within us. We’re next. Then it’s a bit like going into an exam. ‘Over the top. Keep your head down. Look out for sniper fire. My Jesus, I love you.’ Let those be my words on take-off.

Jesus is taken down from the cross: the Thirteenth Station (John 19:38-40)

“Born to die”. In death, we don’t lose our humanity. We share it with the whole world – for always. Our living image ever remains with those who love us and the countless ones who’ve known us. Listen. Those we love, and who’ve loved us, will never finally leave us. They’re there in every moment, every doubt, in all the shadows yet to come. They’re here with us now in our time of trial. Life and death – in spirit there’s really no separation between them.

When my Dad died, I had a small Welsh slate slab erected in the chapel yard next to his cottage. He wasn’t buried there. He’s with my Mom. For years he’d kept sheep, Beulah Speckled Face, and he loved them dearly. On the slab I had inscribed: “A good shepherd – ever in the light”.

You see, that’s you too, whoever you are. You too, living or resting, are “ever in the light”.

Jesus is laid in the tomb: the Fourteenth Station (John 19:41-42)

Nam myoho renge kyo. We’re flowered as the lotus, at one with the ALL. So, despite the fear, remember that Jesus is within us and beside us. We’re never alone. Remember too that perfect love – selflessness – drives out fear. Selfless, we’re not afraid. Selfless, we turn defeat into victory.

Go safely, then – until the next time.

Oneness, from the boundary: “The light of God surrounds me. The love of God enfolds me. The power of God protects me. The presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is” (James Dillet Freeman).