Baring Souls
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John 19: 23-25a
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it.”
This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” And that is what the soldiers did.
Here we stand on the precipice of hope and resurrection. We’ve come so far in this season of Lent. We’re exhausted from the journey and ready for resurrection. After all, we can’t quite experience the glory of Easter without Good Friday.
Resurrection must wait. As much as we would like to rush to celebrate, we must wait. We cannot rush to the end without the experience of this day, when our Lord is crucified and we are cast into despair. We cannot truly rejoice without the indignity of Christ being stripped.
Our Lord was lifted high on the cross, humiliated as he suffered, and the soldiers divided his clothes among themselves. They almost made a game out of who will get this garment, dismissing its former owner while he is lifted above them, suffering for the world.
Our Lord is laid bare, nailed to the cross, and we are stripped bare. We reveal our hearts and souls as they are, not dressed in the fashion of a false narrative of perfection, but imperfect and in need of healing and mercy. We bare our hearts and souls, not for the sake of performative suffering, but for the sake of revelation.
We reveal what we have cast off onto the one nailed to the cross. We offer all of who we are to the one who, for the sake of the whole world, suffered on the cross. It’s in this time of bearing our souls that we move slowly and take a deep breath before moving on.
We experience the ringing silence of a pause, awaiting the release of our Savior into the throws of death. This time of anticipatory grief and expectant joy remind us that the joy of the resurrection cannot come until after the suffering of Good Friday. We are in the midst of this journey, with the beginning behind us and the end within sight.
Every moment of this day is a deep breath of experience, beckoning us to the cross and beyond. Stay with Christ today, and journey with him tomorrow as we await the resurrection to come.
So for today, and to practice for our lives, let us risk just a little and sacrifice a bit of our heart for the sake of God in Christ Jesus. Sacrifice is a journey of love. It isn’t simple, and it is worth our deepest effort.
prayer
Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.