Watchword for March 2018
“Jesus Christ said: It is finished!”
(John 19,30)
At the end of the month of March we will again be remembering the passion and death of Jesus of Nazareth. I suppose many people, who have not been raised or nurtured in the Christian narrative, cannot understand why one would do this – year after year take the journey to the cross with this man from Nazareth – remembering the various stations of his suffering, recalling his abysmal loneliness and quietly and in deep reverence hear him calling out from the cross: “It is finished!” It is only when we have been guided into this story carefully that we can make sense of this call. It’s His “mission accomplished!” that he voices at the end of a long and arduous mission to represent, to make present God’s glory among humans on earth (cf. John 1,14).
This gracious presence of God among humans was accomplished fully when this man, who is the Son of God, was present in the depths of human suffering – dying as a godforsaken criminal on the instrument of capital punishment of the empire – a cross! It signifies to the whole world that there can never be a place, no matter how godforsaken it may be, where God will not be present – and this presence will not just be a “misery loves company” kind of presence, but the hidden presence of God that assures us that we are safe, that God’s love is for us, despite of what we have done, or who we have become.’
May the time of Lent, which starts off on Ash Wednesday (14 February) and culminates on Good Friday (30 March) be a time for us to be nourished and guided by the story of the Son of God present among us and suffering for us, for our salvation. And may we be comforted and encouraged by the words He speaks at the end of his earthly life: “It is finished! Mission accomplished!”
Pastor Felix Meylahn
