"Sacred Tenderness From the Cross"

Ps. 116:5, NIRV 

    As Jesus encountered the people of his day, again and again we read of his tender response to those in need: “his heart went out to her”; “he was deeply moved in spirit”; “I feel sorry for [them]”; “he was moved to the depth of his being with pity”; “I have compassion on these people.”^[1]  These are only a few responses among many—including those in which Jesus simply acted with compassion and “tender mercy”^[2] to meet needs, without giving voice to his emotions.  This was Jesus’ response to anyone who came to him (without duplicity).^[3]

     We are approaching Holy Week and especially Good Friday: where 

we see Jesus’ suffering and the final encounters of his earthly ministry.  

And amazingly, even here, even in his suffering--even from the cross!--

we find the same themes as above.  Each of Jesus’ encounters with 

another is one of tender compassion and concern for the other person.  

Jesus voices three responses to others from the cross.  In each case he 

puts aside his own anguish and is “deeply moved in spirit” for the 

other(s).

     Jesus' first expression of tender compassion is for the very ones who are crucifying him: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."^[4]  Beyond his physical suffering, we believe that upon the cross Jesus is taking the weight of all that has gone awry in our wayward world upon his own shoulders.  This is a great mystery.  We will never be able to completely explain it, but what a weight he bears! (see Isa. 53:5-6; Rom. 4:25; 2 Cor. 5:21).  And still, in his suffering he has the greatness of spirit to think about those present--to be moved with pity and compassion for them.  "Father, forgive them," he says.  The crowd is mocking him, throwing jeers at him, while the soldiers are torturing him and even gambling for his clothing with an utter lack of concern.  And yet Jesus has concern that they should be forgiven for they do not know--they are blind to--what they are doing.  (And Jesus has the same concern for us whenever we become blind to the harmful effects of our actions; see Act 13:38-39.  We seek the forgiveness that--save one--the soldiers did not bother to concern themselves with; Lk. 23:47-48.)

     Jesus next concern is for the one we call the “good thief.”  There are ancient legends about this “good thief.”  One is that he was something of a Robin Hood: stealing from the rich to give to the poor.^[5]  But the truth is that we really do not know about his past.  We only know his present on the day that we now call Good Friday.  He realizes that Jesus is a blameless man and that he is not.  Another thief is being crucified as well; he mocks Jesus.  But the “good thief” scolds the other and then requests: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (the words of a beautifully haunting Taizé hymn-prayer in recent years).  And Jesus answers without reservation: granting "tender mercy" and forgiveness and saying, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk. 1:78, 23:42-43, NIV).

     Speaking recently of a similar situation and our own need for grace and forgiveness, Pope Francis spoke of a God who is “rich in mercy.”  We can be “touched with tenderness from His hand.”  And Pope Francis reminded us of how “the father welcomes his son” (story of the returning prodigal son, Lk. 15:11-22): “He will hug you with great love.”^[6]

     Then, finally, Jesus reaches out to his mother from the cross.  He knows that she is suffering.  Perhaps he knew of Simeon’s prophecy to Mary when he was only a babe: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”^[7]  And now that is just what is happening, and he cannot even reach out to touch her, hold her, comfort her.  But he can still show the depth of his concern.  Mary is aging, and we believe she is now a widow.  Jesus turns to the one who was known as “the disciple whom he loved”—often identified as John and the only disciple recognized as being present at the cross.  Then Jesus says to his mother: “Dear woman, here is your son.”  And to the “disciple whom he loved” he says: “Here is your mother.”  Then we are told: “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home” (Jn. 19:26-27, NIV).  Jesus tenderly makes certain Mary has a place of love and safety before he leaves this earth.

     The author Edward Farrell once said that all the names in scripture are our names.^[8]   At some moment in our lives each of us has been—or will be—something like each of the persons Jesus addresses from the cross.  And we know what Jesus response is: it is a response of grace/mercy and total concern for us.

     To see Jesus is to see LOVE—tender vulnerable love reaching out to our wayward world.  The world could do the very worst to him, and it did!  There really aren't adequate words to describe it—perhaps that is why each of the Gospel accounts of what happened on that terrible Friday is so short.

     St. Clare of Assisi loved to focus her meditations upon the two times when Jesus was most vulnerable: in the crib and on the cross.^[9]  It was then that she was moved to the deepest love; it was then that she saw most clearly how tenderly defenseless Jesus had made himself to extend Love, Grace, mercy, and forgiveness to us (Phil. 2:6-8).

     Some early masters (painters) captured Jesus tender vulnerability in the crib (manger) in their masterpieces in a special way.  In their paintings Jesus has actually been taken out of the manger: the slender, naked baby lies defenselessly upon a bit of straw or perhaps even upon the bare, cold stone or dirt floor of the cave-stable.  In some renditions a cow and donkey are at the manger.  Perhaps it is feeding time for them, and the poor little babe has been displaced.  He lies cold and utterly exposed upon the earth.^[10]  The artists may have recalled the thought: Naked we come into this world.^[11]  In their works Jesus’ tender, defenseless exposure is portrayed for all the world to see, just as it would be at the end—upon the cross.   (See Note 10: these masterpieces can be found on the Internet.)

     In the crib and on the cross we see God’s tender love and the complete availability and vulnerability of this love.  Love throws itself open to us; it allows us to do with it as we will—even to death on a cross (Phil. 2:8).  And perhaps, like Clare of Assisi, we will never be able to forget such tender, defenseless love—which is all for us.  It is a supreme example of sacred tenderness.  And it is not only the sacred tenderness of Jesus--but also of our God.  In Jesus we see “a mirror of the Father’s heart” (Martin Luther).^[12]

“Everything God does is right--the trademark on all his works

 is love”; Ps. 145:17, The Message paraphrase.

* 🦋 *

We close with thoughts for meditation, prayer/poetry/proverbs:

"YOUR Beating Heart (a Meditation)"

                         

       “[A]nd all is tenderness of love.” - Julian of Norwich ^[13]

🦋 ♱ 🦋

                                 

“Meditations on 'The Third Day'”            

(As clusters of crimson buds appear upon the maple,

coinciding with Holy Week.)

Nature is a sister;

    She speaks to us of God.

The red upon the maple tree

Is from God’s crimson rod.

Last week the red had not appeared—

    Three warm days . . . it has!

Nature’s touch is from God’s hand:

    Mystical and sad,

Beautiful and torn—

Wounded Majesty.*

But nature our sweet sister

    You rise eternally! ^[14]

*See Isa. 53; Rom. 4:25.

(With reflection upon 1 Cor. 15:3-8 and a line from The Apostle’s 

Creed: “The third day he rose again from the dead . . .”)

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An opening to prayer/meditation:

   

      (With reflection upon Lk. 15:4; Ps. 108:6; Rom. 9:25, RSV.)

     

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“Three Trunks (a Lenten Meditation)”

“His crown of thorns is twined / with every thorn, / 

His cross is every tree.” – Joseph. M. Plunkett

    (Upon the loss of much of my very favorite tree in Lent—the

activity of city workers. This was not the only loss at that time--

others being more significant. Yet always there is the reassurance

that follows next on Easter morn. Also with reflection upon

Acts 5:30, 13:29-31, 38-39.)    

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“To Win Me (Meditation upon the Shepherding Arms)” 

“[O]ver the hills comes the wiser Shepherd.  For his is a

shepherd’s heart, and He is restless until He holds His

sheep in His arms.” - Thomas R. Kelly ! ^[15]

* * * 

“Upon Picking a Dried Flower in a Field in Eastertide” 

“Life is changed, not taken away.”

—Dorothy Day

  

Once-upon-a-time, last summer,

You were a beauty, fine and grand!

What was your color?  What your aroma?

What was  the secret the bee came to scan?

Here you are now . . . gray and brittle.

Beauty?  Yes!  But, oh so slight:

GONE the gentle swaying magic,

GONE the barest Trace of  Life.               

 Still . . . I pick you, fascinated--

Search to see if SEEDS remain .

Nothing dies that is not carried  

on in nature’s . . . Vast Domain.  

Why have you endured all Winter?  

Grown stiff to brave Wild Days?  

What is it you Tell the World?  

“Nothing Dies; there’s Only Change”?

"Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death,

is your sting? . . .  But thanks be to God, who gives us

the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ";

1 Cor. 15: 55, 57; NRSV, NRSVCE.

* * *

(See additional blog posts after the "Notes"--Newer/Older Posts.)

……………………..

Notes:

1. In order: Lk. 7:13, NIV; Jn. 11:33, NIV; Mk. 8:2, CEB; Mk. 6:34, Barclay;
Mk. 8:2, NIV.  (For Barclay translation: William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark
[Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, 2001], p. 178.)

2. James 5:11, KJV, NIRV (although this is said of the Father [Lord], it
applies to Jesus as well).  Also see Lk. 1:78, NIV, ASV and an entire post

discussing such "tender mercies": "God’s Generous 'Tender Mercies'

(Which We Withhold?)";

https://sacred-tenderness-christian-tradition.blogspot.com/2016/07/gods-generous-tender-mercies-which-we.html

3. For Jesus’ grief regarding those who did come to him with duplicity, see Mk. 2-3:6

(especially 3:5).

4. Lk. 23:34, NIV.

5. William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press,

1975, 2001), p. 339.

6. Deborah Castellano Lubov, “Pope Francis: ‘No One is Excluded from The Mercy of

God!’ ” ZENIT: The world seen from Rome, 3/13/15;
www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-no-one-is-excluded-from-the-mercy-of-god.

7. Lk. 2:35, NIV.

8. Fr. Edward J. Farrell in discussion in a PRH class (see www.prh-usa.com or www.prh-international.org).  
Fr. Farrell was also Spiritual Director at Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, MI. And,

among his many books, see "Prayer is a Hunger" (Dimension, 1972).

9. Sister Frances Teresa, This Living Mirror: Reflections on Clare of Assisi
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995), pp. 49-50, 58, 61, 118.

10. See artwork by Gentile da Fabriano, Hugo van der Goes, Sano di Pietro, Lorenzo
Monaco, Giovanni di Paolo, Leonardo Boldrini.  (One can Google the title “The
Nativity” and each artist’s name individually.)

11. This thought is a combination of Job 1:21 and 1 Tim. 6-7.

12. Martin Luther, Large Catechism (1529).

13. Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, ed. Grace Warrack (London:
Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1901, 1949), p. 102 (Chap. 48), Long Text.

14. Meditations, prayer/poetry/proverbs by Lorraine B. Eshleman.

15. Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Row,

1941), p. 51.