“And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there.” Luke 23:33
Dear People of St. David’s,
I hope and pray that you and yours are well and that you’re enjoying these magnificent, colorful spring days. I hope, too, that your Easter celebration is coming into focus and that part of it includes worshiping God with us at St. David’s, either in person or online. It is such a magnificent day of promise as we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, and the promise for life offered to us in every season.
In my preparations for the celebration of Easter, I am so often drawn to the cross of Jesus and His sacrifice that makes us whole. In fact, I don’t really feel the glory of Easter without spending some time at the cross. I think that’s why the Church in its wisdom, changed Palm Sunday to Passion Sunday; so those of us who can’t make the Good Friday worship remember the suffering and death that precede the resurrection. It’s the only way that Easter makes any sense.
In looking at the cross we see the depths that God is willing to stoop for us and take away our sins. We see the God who knows suffering and who can walk with us in our suffering. We see the depths of our rejection of God, and the cruelty and violence that have infected human life from the beginning to our own day; all of which are visited upon Jesus and His suffering and death on the cross.
And at the cross Christ sees us. He sees us as we are. He sees us distracted by the things and trappings of life caught in our forms of religious observance; dissatisfied with our lot in life, imprisoned by our bad choices, and the bad choices of others. Christ sees us trying all we can to follow, but unable to follow completely.
Just as we see Christ’s agony on the cross, His suffering and death, He sees ours: the agony of sin that separates us from God and one another; the unforgiveness that reduces our lives to something less than God intended; the lovelessness that poisons our hearts and that we endure from others; and the fear of death that hovers over all our lives.
These eyes, Jesus’ eyes, look on us with a love that knows no ending; with a burning desire to set us free from sin and death. When He raises His head to look over the whole world through all time and cries, “It is finished,” it is not a sorrowful crying lament, it’s the voice of triumph; He has accomplished what He has set out to do for now we are restored.
When He opens those eyes that were closed on Good Friday, He will behold us as a people who are forgiven and freed from sin and from death. He sees us as people who can look at others through His eyes of love, because He loved us first and so completely.
Grace and Peace,
The Rev. W. Frank Allen
Rector