Good Friday ~ With Tears and Loud Cries

This is Claude Vignon's painting: Two Angels Presenting the Holy Face. The story of Veronica wiping the face of Jesus along the Calvary way is not found in the gospels. It sounds as if it could though, along with Simon helping Jesus carry the cross and the women of Jerusalem weeping for Jesus, and the myrrh-bearers returning to the tomb on Sunday morning.

Here, two angels hold the towel or veil Veronica offered. Vignon's depiction is different though in that he shows the face of Jesus very awake and alive, looking heavenward. Maybe Vignon was inspired by this verse from the Letter to the Hebrews:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear.  Hebrews 5:7

Another translation says, "in the days of his frailty..."  I like that word choice better because it suggests that in Christ, God has joined us utterly in our vulnerability and weakness. The word frailty leads me to believe that Jesus offered cries and tears for every suffering face on this planet. At Gethsemane and Calvary, Jesus saw all of human suffering throughout history, and instead of changing the channel (as we do) he offered up cries and tears from his all-knowing and feeling heart.

But there is more. The painting reveals deep shadow and light. Look closely! The splendid angels are threaded with golden light and their wings are iridescent. Their brightness invades and dispels the deep shadow around them. 

Shadow is a personal word too. One Christian blogger who is not afraid of psychology says: "Everything our mind will not allow into the light, for various reasons, ends up in the shadow, where it has an impact on us beyond our normal awareness." 

Lent is ending now: the springtime, yearning for the light. Light will shine into the darkness on Holy Saturday night. And these days, the sun is pushing back the winter's darkness. Shadow is my forbidden self - my "don't even go there" self. The prophet Isaiah calls it my "land of darkness," or "land of gloom." (9:2)

These angels are lifting up Veronica's towel (Veronica = true image). Maybe during these last Lenten hours I can lift up my own untouched, unturned self, something of my shadow: the comparing, the competing, the judging, the anger, the regrets, the worrying, the blaming, the guilt, the fear. Consciously lift it up into the light. Then I will be free. Be encouraged!

Good Friday: What is happening?

Paolo ~ Venetian Crucifix ~ Byzantine Influence

The whole creation was changed by fear,
when it saw you, O Christ, hanging on the cross.
The sun was darkened and the foundation of the earth was shaken
for all things suffered with the creator of all.
Of your own will you have endured
this torment for our sakes.
Therefore, we the faithful glorify your great compassion.

And seeing you hanging on the cross, O Christ,
The Virgin Mother cried:
"O my son, where is the beauty of your form?
I cannot bear to look upon you crucified unjustly.
Make haste, then, to arise my Son, 
that I may see on the third day your resurrection from the dead."
Byzantine Service of the Twelve Gospels

Notice the two-toned background over the Jerusalem wall and around the cross in the painting. It feels like a tunnel that might take us beyond: beyond our pre-occupations, beyond our usual thoughts, beyond our unfeeling.

The Apostle John is close to Jesus on the right, but behind him are the soldiers geared up in metal, with shields, helmets and swords. 

And on the left is a tight cluster of women supporting Mary, Jesus' Mother, who is in a great collapse of sorrow. 

We're so familiar with the crucifix, it's easy to admire but in a kind of disconnect. What's happening in this scene? Maybe it's like a mother who bleeds to give birth to her child and then throughout her life, immediately willing to suffer anything, even to give her life for the sake of her child, especially when the child is lost, sick, vulnerable or troubled. Jesus our Mother - Saint Juliana said. And Jesus speaking of himself as mother; "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone those who are sent you! How often have I longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you refused." (Matthew 23:37)

And women collapse still, suffering for love and crying out over the deforming of their children and loved ones by injustice, and hoping against hope for resurrection, healing, life, peace and fairness.