These are some reflections I chose From Christianity Today to put in the booklet we used for the Stations of the Cross on Monday-Wednesay and tonight.
We have become insensitive to the infinite tension which is implied in the words of the Apostles’ Creed: “suffered … was crucified, dead, and buried … rose again from the dead.” We already know, when we hear the first words, what the ending will be: “rose again,” and for many people it is no more than the inevitable “happy ending.” … But the answer of Easter had become possible precisely because the Christ has been buried. The new life would not really be new life if it did not come from the complete end of the old life.
~ Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the FoundationsWhoever heard of a suffering God? The idea is plain daft. God is up in heaven, and there he will stay. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were true? If God came to visit us, like a great king visiting his subjects? Or, even better, if he came among us as one of us, sharing our way of life, with all its tragedy, sorrows and grief?
~ Alister E. McGrath, What Was God Doing on the Cross?The crucified is God’s chosen: it is with the victim, the condemned, that God identifies, and it is in the company of the victim, so to speak, that God is to be found, and nowhere else . …Jesus is judge because he is victim; and that very fact means that he is a judge who will not condemn.
~ Rowan Williams, Resurrection