April 6, 2009

Online Stations of the Cross

10. Jesus is stripped of his garments

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

They took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let’s not tear it," they said to one another. "Let’s decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
"They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."
John 19:23, 24

Jesus was numbered among the "transgressors." For the Roman soldiers who had duty at Golgotha that day, he was just another victim of a heinous form of execution. In times of rebellion, the Romans crucified thousands of Jews and other dissidents, leaving them as rotting symbols of what happens to those who don’t follow the rules. Crucifixion had lost its ability to appall.

The guards that day had become calloused by what they had seen and experienced. Today we would say they were victims of "post traumatic stress disorder," having had to experience things that their minds and bodies were not formed for. Were they naturally cruel? Perhaps some of them. Others were merely victims of circumstance.

If we allow it to, the Cross can show us areas where we have lost our ability to be appalled. We, too, become hardened by the world we live in. Production becomes more important than the persons involved in it; getting somewhere seems more important than courtesy; money seems more valuable than dignity. As we ponder Christ being stripped of all remaining dignity, where do we find our own coldness, our own hard outlook? Who is God challenging us to see with compassionate eyes?

What thou, my Lord, hast suffered
Was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior,
Tis I deserve thy playce;
Look on me with thy favor,
Vouchsafe me to thy grace.
Bernard of Clairvaux

Holy God
Holy and Mighty
Holy Immortal One
Have mercy upon us.

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